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Energy Law Quarterly - Home Charging Infrastructure
Publications
2 July 2026
Background
Electric mobility is regarded as a key element in achieving Switzerland’s climate targets (climate neutrality by 2050). One of the obstacles is considered to be the lack of opportunities to charge vehicles at home, which slows down the purchase of electric cars. People living in rented apartments or in flat ownership often find it difficult to install a charging station for their electric vehicle. A new federal legislative amendment is intended to grant tenants and flat owners a right to charging infrastructure and impose corresponding obligations on property owners.
The Federal Council has submitted the proposed legislative amendment for public consultation. The consultation period runs until 12 October 2026.
Right to a Charging Station
The core of the proposal is the planned new Article 45c of the Energy Act (EnG). It grants persons who use a parking space together with their home an enforceable legal right: they may require the property owner to install a so-called “basic installation” for charging electric vehicles.
This basic installation includes the electricity supply line to the parking space, a system for measuring electricity consumption for each individual user and, in parking facilities with more than two parking spaces, an intelligent load management system. This is intended to prevent the building’s electricity network from being overloaded when several vehicles are charged simultaneously. The charging station itself, which must be compatible with the basic installation, is then installed by the users at their own expense.
With this solution, the Federal Government aims to prevent a proliferation of incompatible charging solutions and to ensure that installations comply with technical and economic industry standards. Individual charging solutions would in future have to be replaced if additional parking space users exercise their legal entitlement.
Who Pays?
According to the proposed legislation, the property owner bears the costs of the basic installation. The Federal Government’s explanatory report estimates the investment required for retrofitting at between CHF 500 and CHF 1,500 per parking space. Since this investment increases the capital value of the property and goes beyond ordinary maintenance, the costs may be passed on to the tenants of the connected parking spaces through an increase in rent.
The estimated additional monthly cost is between CHF 5 and CHF 10 per parking space, regardless of whether the tenant uses an electric vehicle or not. This carries a certain degree of social controversy. In practice, property owners are likely to retrofit entire parking garages in order to achieve economic efficiency. This means that tenants without electric vehicles will also have to pay more for their parking spaces in the future. The Federal Government accepts this effect and considers it an “incentive to switch from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles.”
Reasonableness: A Flexible Concept
The new obligation imposed on property owners is not absolute. A property owner is only required to carry out the installation if it is “reasonable” to do so. But what does reasonable mean? It is an open-ended legal concept that will have to be defined through practice.
The Federal Government provides some initial guidance: disproportionately high costs, an unreasonable restriction on the use of a parking garage, technical obstacles, heritage protection requirements, planned construction projects, or only a short remaining tenancy period may render an installation unreasonable.
In the event of a dispute, the matter will be decided by the civil courts, following mandatory conciliation proceedings. Each case will require a balancing of the user’s private interest, the public interest in promoting electric mobility, and the financial and technical burden placed on the property owner.
Not Only Advantages
The Federal Council’s proposal implements Parliamentary Motion 23.3936 and facilitates access to charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in rental properties and flat ownership. It creates a legal entitlement and promotes standardised and safe charging solutions.
However, the new right applies only to parking spaces directly associated with residential premises. The Federal Council deliberately opted for this narrower approach in order to focus on “home charging.”
In addition, the reasonableness requirement introduces an open-ended legal concept that creates legal uncertainty and carries the potential for disputes between tenants and landlords, as well as within flat owners’ associations.
Finally, passing on the costs to all tenants renting parking spaces, irrespective of the type of vehicle they own, may in some cases be perceived as unfair.
Conclusion
With this legislative amendment, the Federal Government is taking a step forward. It is a measure aimed at achieving the target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by accelerating the electrification of the vehicle fleet.
The proposal is intended to close existing gaps in charging infrastructure. It creates legal certainty where, until now, the goodwill of the landlord has often been decisive.
The price of this approach is additional regulation, the success of which will depend largely on how the concept of reasonableness is interpreted and applied in practice by those concerned and by the courts.
For the time being, however, the outcome of the consultation process remains to be seen. The right to a charging station has therefore not yet been adopted.
An article by Marc Grüninger, Patrizia Lorenzi
