Passing on of cost shares for public lighting, clocks and concession fees to electricity consumers

Facts

A. is the owner of a property in U. and received electricity from the Industrielle Werke Basel (IWB) in 2014. The IWB issued him an invoice that included cost shares for public lighting and clocks as well as a concession fee to the Canton of Basel-Stadt. A. filed an objection against these cost items, which was rejected by the IWB and later by the Court of Appeal.

A. then filed a complaint with the Federal Supreme Court, requesting to be exempted from paying these cost shares.

Considerations

1. Regarding the costs for public lighting and clocks

The Federal Supreme Court considers the passing on of these costs to electricity consumers as permissible. While not every electricity customer directly benefits from public lighting and clocks, this infrastructure serves the general public. Since the costs are not passed on to a special group, but to all electricity customers, this does not violate the principle of equality.

2. Regarding the concession fee

The Federal Supreme Court sees a violation of the principle of legality here. The legal basis in the IWB Act does not specify…