The head of the Swiss Federal Electricity Commission (Elcom) believes that a winter energy crisis is almost inevitable..

Speaking on SRF public radio on Saturday, Werner Luginbuhl said that "

The head of Elcom added that although “we are doing everything to ensure that there are no power outages this winter,” the risk has not decreased in recent weeks..

On Tuesday, Elcom laid out plans that would require hydropower operators to hold back more reserves, which are typically traded on the open market, to help offset an expected winter shortfall..

And on Wednesday, the Swiss government said the country would voluntarily try to cut its gas consumption by 15% this winter, in line with European Union targets.. The Ministry of Economy is also preparing a four-stage plan to eliminate the deficit, which may include restrictions on private use of energy..

Luginbuhl told SRF it's too early to tell whether the measures will be sufficient: after all, unknown factors are at play, including the availability of gas imports, the situation with nuclear reactors in neighboring France and the severity of the winter..

Regarding claims that the situation has been exacerbated by Switzerland's energy policy in recent years, in particular the goal of phasing out nuclear power, Luginbuhl said that is not the case..

“The situation is clearly related to the war in Ukraine,” he said.. The whole of Europe is in the same situation: “no country was left unaffected”.

Earlier it was reported that the EU countries agreed to reduce gas consumption in winter by 15%. Nevertheless, Europe is able to survive the winter, despite Russia's gas blackmail.