ProKilowatt electricity-efficiency project grant

• You must legally own the equipment affected. Companies, individuals and public bodies can apply, but units of the central federal administration cannot. Implementation and electricity savings must take place in Switzerland.
• Each measure must have a simple payback period of at least four years: divide the investment by annual electricity-cost savings using CHF 0.15/kWh for customers entitled to recover VAT paid on purchases (input VAT) or CHF 0.20/kWh for those without that entitlement. You may instead use an individual price supported by electricity bills; hydropower plants must use a justified individual price for production/distribution measures. Show that the measures or savings would not happen, or would be smaller, without the grant.
• Wait for the award decision before an unconditional decision to proceed, ordering equipment or contracting the work. Funding is secured taking the requested grant into account; permissions and the resources needed to implement the project must be available or credibly obtainable.
• Follow the technology-specific standards and savings calculations in chapter 4 of the 2026 conditions. Replacements without a listed efficiency standard must use best available technology beyond the standard solution. Cooling replacements must comply with the Chemical Risk Reduction Ordinance (ChemRRV). For electric drives above 200 kW per drive, attach an EnergySwitzerland detailed analysis; for drives between 75 and 200 kW, demonstrate a reduction in rated power (total rated power for multi-drive systems).
• Excluded work includes new facilities or buildings, replacement new buildings, energy/process-management systems and related studies, replacing electricity with non-renewable energy, new or expanded district heating/cooling networks, smart metering, voltage reduction/stabilisation, fans below 125 W and cross-flow fans, and savings from reduced production or service. Excluded building measures include building work or added devices that reduce heating or cooling demand, such as replacing windows or adding smart heating controls. Space-heating heat generation, such as heat pumps, is excluded. Measures covered by the cantonal harmonised funding model are excluded, including replacing, modifying or expanding electric heating and residential ventilation with heat recovery. Household-appliance replacement and connecting household appliances to hot water are excluded. In residential buildings, replacing electric water heaters with heat-pump water heaters, preheating or heating water through the space-heating system, or producing all or part of the hot water using renewable energy or waste heat is also excluded. Generally, old electricity-consuming components cannot remain in use in Switzerland; disposal or export must be provable. Replaced cooling equipment may remain as backup only with permanent electrical interlocking and hydraulic isolation through a three-way changeover valve, preventing old and new cooling systems running together. Measures required by law or credited under electricity suppliers’ statutory efficiency obligations cannot be funded.
• Other grants for the same measures are generally prohibited. Exceptions cover grants that do not depend on energy or CO₂ savings, such as sports funding for stadium lighting or tourism-infrastructure support. Deduct permitted third-party grants from eligible investment costs. A supported measure cannot also be registered as a CO₂ compensation project.
• If a binding efficiency target or energy audit applies, funding supports additional savings beyond the target: measures already included can receive support only for extra savings beyond those counted. ProKilowatt-supported measures cannot count towards a target agreement for reimbursement of the grid surcharge. Infrastructure receiving cost-covering feed-in remuneration cannot apply if the measures increase the feed-in of self-produced electricity.
• Start within nine months of receiving the decision; projects can last up to 36 months. Submit the final report within six months of implementation completion, or within six months of completing the measurements needed for monitoring. Demonstrate savings using the required calculations or suitable measured data and submit invoices for eligible costs.
• The award is a maximum. Lower savings or costs reduce it; a resulting payback below four years can remove the whole grant. Abandoned or incomplete projects can trigger repayment. Greater savings do not increase the award.
• The grant is a subsidy. If you are entitled to recover VAT paid on purchases (input VAT), receiving the grant means you must proportionately reduce the VAT amount you can recover.

Stato

chiude 1 nov 2026

Apre

3 nov 2025

Chiude

1 nov 2026

Restrizioni del bando

• 2026 project conditions apply; admissible submissions enter weekly competitive selection.

Submit the project and all attachments through the ProKilowatt Webtool in German, French or Italian during the 2026 application window. Prepare a detailed project description, schedule, costs, existing-equipment data and a verifiable savings calculation. Postal and email submissions are not accepted. The equipment owner must confirm the final submission with their name; a third party submitting must upload the owner’s confirmation.

Applications enter weekly competitive selection once admissible. An unsuccessful project cannot be resubmitted in the same call year. Normally, ProKilowatt can allow one clarification response within a maximum of one month before deciding admissibility. For applications requesting CHF 2–6 million, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy may send a second round of questions if uncertainties or missing documents remain after the first response. Applicants then have another maximum of one month to answer and adjust the application.

The grant is paid after project completion and approval of the final report.