Private consumption association
A private consumption association (PCA) is a model in which several electricity consumers within a property or development jointly use the electricity produced on site – usually from a photovoltaic system. The aim is to maximise self-consumption, reduce the electricity costs of consumers, shorten the payback period for producers and make a direct contribution to sustainability.
The solar power produced is distributed internally and measured. If the electricity produced is not sufficient to supply the entire PCA (e.g. at night), the remaining electricity requirement is covered by the public grid.
How does a PCA work?
Own consumption means using self-generated energy either directly yourself or making it available to others on site without using the grid operator's network. With a PCA, you sell the solar power you generate yourself directly to residents or local businesses. A PCA can be established if at least ten percent of the energy requirement is produced on site.
The members of a PCA share one grid connection and act as a single customer vis-à-vis the distribution network operator. The electricity costs are billed independently within the community.
Please note that due to the physical adjustments required to your installation, an installation notification from a licensed electrical contractor is also required to form a PCA.
Primeo Energie is happy to offer you comprehensive support in setting up and operating a PCA.
If your planned association complies with the principles and conditions of a PCA, you can register the association here.
The advantages of a PCA
A merger is beneficial for all parties and increases the attractiveness of residential and commercial properties in many ways:
- Since you can sell the locally produced electricity to other participants (such as tenants) at a higher rate than feeding it back into the grid, your investment pays for itself more quickly. You are less dependent on any future reductions in feed-in tariffs.
- At the same time, participants in the PCA benefit from lower (solar power) prices compared to purchasing electricity from the grid alone. This makes your property more attractive.
- In addition, the ecological and sustainable supply of electricity from your own roof is an important contribution to climate protection.
Our full-spectrum PCA service
We support you in the planning, establishment and administration of your self-consumption community and take care of everything for you, from consulting and operation to billing.
What sets us apart:
- High level of expertise: Energy industry expertise, 50 years of experience in site development, access to an extensive pool of specialist consultants
- Comprehensive range of services: Data measurement and storage, real-time visualisations, billing service (including customer service)
- Additional services: Electric mobility, charging and sharing solutions (e-cars, e-bikes, e-scooters), battery storage, HVAC measurement and billing services
- Economic support: Attractive financing options and additional income, e.g. via the control energy market
References
Frequently asked questions
- Management of the association: coordination of participants, communication with network operators
- Measurement and billing: you ensure transparent billing – either organised yourself, with the help of digital platforms or with a service provider such as Primeo Energie.
- Establishing a contractual basis: You define the rules within the PCA – for example, on electricity distribution, pricing, operating costs or refunds for surplus production.
- Legal situation: You ensure that all requirements for grid connection points, measurement technology and legislation (e.g. EnV, EnG, StromVV) are met.
- Registration with the grid operator: You register the PCA with the distribution grid operator.
Please note that you must operate the metering infrastructure within the PCA yourself (private metering with your own meters and not metering by the distribution network operator; the latter only meters and invoices for the connection point).
The billing to be carried out by you as the operator can therefore be a challenge. Alternatively, service providers are available for these tasks (e.g. online self-service portals or Primeo Energie).
A simple calculation example:
Assuming you can sell your solar power to participants at 23 pence per kWh and the feed-in tariff to the grid is 13 pence per kWh, you achieve a benefit of 10 pence per kWh.
If you are able to sell 20 megawatt hours of electricity within the PCA, your benefit is £2,000 (20,000 kWh x 10 pence/kWh).
The greater your production and sales, the more profitable the PCA can be operated.
The following requirements must be met in order to establish a PCA: The self-generated energy must account for at least ten percent of the energy required on site (the connected load). Several property owners in the immediate vicinity of the energy-producing facility can join together. Alternatively, the owners can pass on the energy to local residents. However, residents are free to choose whether they wish to join the association for their own consumption or continue to be supplied by a network operator. At a later date, a resident can only opt out of self-supply if the owner has not satisfactorily fulfilled their basic supply obligation. This also applies if the resident moves out!
Absolutely! The only decisive factor is that the energy you produce yourself is used on site and is not fed into the distribution network operator's grid. The term ‘on site’ is clearly defined as:
• Contiguous plots of land, at least one of which borders the plot on which the production facility is located.
• Properties that are only separated by a road, railway line or watercourse – provided that the respective property owners agree.
What to do with excess solar power from your own photovoltaic system? With PCA, you don't have to worry about that: if you don't want to sell the energy you don't need yourself on the electricity market, the distribution network operator will take it off your hands and pay you for it – they are obliged to do so.
The term itself explains what characterises own consumption: according to Article 16 of the Energy Act (EnG), the energy generated by the operator of the system must either be used by the operator themselves and/or made available directly on site to other consumers. As soon as the grid operator's grid is connected between the system and the consumers, there is no own consumption.
There are various consumption scenarios:
- The system produces exactly as much energy as is needed during the same period. No additional energy is fed into the grid.
- The system generates more energy than is currently needed. This can then either be stored or fed into the grid. The grid operator remunerates the feed-in accordingly.
- The system generates less electricity than is currently needed. In this case, energy can be taken from storage or obtained from the grid.
Yes. Private consumption is possible in conjunction with photovoltaics, biomass, and wind installations – regardless of the size of the respective production facility.
Primeo Energie shall inform the ZEV representative (e.g. the administration) of any tariff changes. This representative is contractually obliged to forward the information to the respective parties of reference.
Primeo Energie uses a dual tariff model consisting of a standard price for grid connection and a solar tariff in accordance with the Energy Ordinance (EnV, Art. 16a and 16b). By signing the rental agreement, you are joining the PCA. The standard price for grid connection includes all basic supply charges.
The grid and solar tariff enables fair distribution of electricity from the grid and from the photovoltaic system. The solar tariff reflects the proportion of self-consumption in the solar energy produced on site.
The share of solar power is allocated as a percentage of total consumption from the available amount of solar power. Consumption volumes are measured at the respective electricity meter and photovoltaic meter. Calculations are made at 15-minute intervals.
As a contractual partner, you represent PCA vis-à-vis Primeo Energie. You are usually a property owner or property manager and act as the point of contact for consumers and Primeo Energie. Primeo Energie will forward any changes to tariffs and other adjustments to you.
The remuneration for the sale of the solar power generated is referred to as the ‘production remuneration’. This remuneration is paid at the same frequency as the consumption bills, which you can choose (12x, 4x or 3x per year).
By signing the rental agreement, you become a member of the PCA. Primeo Energie acts as the billing service provider for your PCA and invoices the parties involved directly.
Please contact our customer service team by email at zev-service@primeo-energie.ch or rcp-service@primeo-energie.ch. Primeo Energie will correct the incorrect billing with your basic provider on your behalf.
All participants in the PCA must pay the same tariff. The solar tariffs can be set by the PCA representative, whereby the standard tariff may not exceed 80 percent of the grid connection (EnV, Art. 16a and 16b).
Register on the myPrimeo customer portal with your customer number and contract account number. If you are part of a PCA standard, you can use the same login details for the Primeo Energie PCA app.
The Primeo Energie PCA app is only available to customers with the PCA standard. You can view your consumption data up to the previous day in the myPrimeo customer portal.
Please contact the administration or representative of your PCA.
A uniform charging station type must be installed for static load management.
Your electrician must install and approve the charging station. The charging station will then be checked by Primeo Energie and integrated into the billing system.
The rates are contractually fixed and correspond to the dual rates for residential electricity.