Fernando Brunner (73) can breathe easy
Warm winter saves Ticino entrepreneurs from bankruptcy
The free market has become a cost trap for many small and medium-sized companies. The entrepreneur Fernando Brunner (73), for example, was threatened with bankruptcy. Now he can breathe easy.
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Fernando Brunner (73), hotel owner and restaurateur from Locarno TI, is hoping for falling electricity prices.
Myrtle MuellerOutside Reporter News
The horror of autumn is still in Fernando Brunner (73) bones. The contract with his electricity provider expired at the end of the year. The Società Elettrica Sopracenerina sent a cost estimate for the new annual contract. And he had it all. If the hotelier still paid 200,000 francs in electricity bills in 2022, he should shell out 900,000 francs for 2023!
“We can’t do that,” said Fernando Brunner to Blick at the time. The Ticino owns four hotels and two restaurants in Locarno TI and Lugano TI. Brunner did not sign the new contract, waited for the price development – and played with fire. After all, prices could have continued to rise.
“I hope the daily price will continue to fall”
Fernando Brunner is lucky. Thanks to the warm winter, electricity prices are falling. Now the Ticino only pays 35 to 40 centimes per kilowatt hour instead of the 90 centimes calculated in the cost estimate. “My next bill comes at the end of January,” says Fernando Brunner. “I hope it stays at this daily price.”
But the current price is still too high. “Before the crisis, the price was seven centimes per kilowatt hour.” Due to the extreme price increase, he will not sign a new contract at the moment. He would rather continue to pay the daily price in the coming weeks in the hope that it will continue to fall. If electricity stays that expensive, there will be consequences. “Unfortunately, then we’ll have to raise the room rates slightly.”
“Like playing the lottery”
Waiting and hoping for lower prices is “speculation like playing the lottery,” says the hotel owner and restaurateur. “But what should we do?”
Cost estimates for the next three years have so far remained unattractive. Fernando Brunner has only signed a contract for 2026. “The electricity provider made me an offer for 15 centimes per kilowatt hour. That’s okay with us. Who knows what the energy market will look like then.”
The Ticino has one big wish: “Switzerland must become independent again. After all, it has every opportunity to supply its population with its own energy.”