Facts
Y. AG operates a high-pressure natural gas pipeline and was obligated by the cantonal authorities to utilize the resulting waste heat for electricity generation. X. AG as the grid operator was supposed to purchase and remunerate this electricity. After a legal dispute between the two companies, the Federal Supreme Court had to decide whether the cantonal regulation on the obligation to purchase and remunerate was compatible with federal law.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court decided that the cantonal regulation on the obligation to purchase and remunerate decentrally generated electricity from fossil fuels is incompatible with federal law. While the former Energy Act did not contain an exhaustive regulation, so that the cantonal regulation was still permissible at the time, the revision of the Energy Act and the enactment of the Electricity Supply Act have now comprehensively reregulated the matter. Federal law now provides for an exhaustive regulation of the obligations to purchase and remunerate.…