What percentage does ProKilowatt pay?

It depends which route, and one of the two is not published. The programme-route conditions document gives a maximum of 30% of investment costs, with programmes sized between CHF 150,000 and CHF 3,000,000. The SFOE page for the project route gives a ceiling of CHF 6 million per application and an annual budget of CHF 70 million, but no percentage. Do not carry the 30% across to a project application without confirming it.

Can a single factory apply to ProKilowatt directly?

Through the project route, yes, with a submission window running from 3 November 2025 to 1 November 2026. The programme route is applied for by engineering firms and industry associations that run a scheme for many participants, not by an individual plant for its own site. For many factories the practical route is to join a programme that an association already has approved.

Does the systems-management exclusion rule out a monitoring system?

Not established. The 2026 programme conditions document, as read on 22 September 2026, excludes systems-management installation, meaning Leittechnik and building automation. How far that reaches into a metering and control layer is not settled by the text we read. Confirm the wording in the German original, and get the SFOE's view in writing if the project depends on it.

What about cantonal funding?

It was not researched for this study, and that is a real gap. Swiss cantonal energy programmes vary materially between cantons such as Zurich, Bern, Vaud and Geneva, and for a mid-size industrial measure the cantonal scheme is often the larger and more accessible one. Start with your canton's energy office before working on a federal tender.

Is there a Swiss equivalent of Germany's EEW Modul 3?

Not one we found. EEW Modul 3 names energy-management software, sensors, analogue-digital converters and control technology as eligible costs at 25 to 45%. No Swiss federal scheme we read names that equipment category in the same way. ProKilowatt funds electricity-efficiency measures without itemising metering hardware and software, and it excludes systems-management installation.

Home / Factory digitalisation funding in Western Europe and Türkiye: the 2026 map

Funding · Switzerland · status 22 September 2026

Switzerland: ProKilowatt, its two routes, and the exclusion a monitoring vendor has to read

Switzerland is the thinnest page in this series, and deliberately so. The federal route is real but awkward for a single plant, one exclusion sits uncomfortably close to our product category, and the cantonal layer was not researched.

In shortProKilowatt, run by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, funds electricity-efficiency measures through competitive tenders. The programme route pays a maximum of 30% of investment costs, CHF 150,000 to CHF 3,000,000 per programme, and its 2026 deadline was 1 May 2026. The project route takes up to CHF 6 million per application, with a window from 3 November 2025 to 1 November 2026. Status as of 22 September 2026.

Two routes, and only one of them is for a single factory

ProKilowatt is the Swiss Federal Office of Energy's competitive tender instrument for electricity-efficiency measures. It runs on two tracks, and they are not interchangeable.

Programme route (Programme): maximum 30% of investment costs, with a size band of CHF 150,000 to CHF 3,000,000 per programme. The 2026 programme deadline was 1 May 2026; the budget was at least CHF 30 million. Programmes are applied for by engineering firms, industry associations and similar bodies that then run the scheme for many participants — not by an individual factory for its own site.
Project route (Projekte): up to CHF 6 million per application, with a submission window from 3 November 2025 to 1 November 2026. This is the route a single site uses.
Overall budget: the SFOE page gives CHF 70 million a year across the instrument.

Sources disagree — or rather, they are silentThe SFOE page for the project route gives the CHF 6 million ceiling and the annual budget but no funding percentage. The 30% figure comes from the programme-route conditions document, which is a different track with different applicants. Do not assume 30% applies to a single-site project application. If you need a project-route percentage, ask the SFOE or read the current Ausschreibungsunterlagen; this page will not invent one.

The exclusion that matters for a monitoring project

The 2026 programme conditions document, as read on 22 September 2026, excludes a specific list of measures. Four of the five are unambiguous. The fifth is the one to read carefully.

Lighting measures.
New-build and replacement buildings.
“Systems management” installation — Leittechnik and building-automation installation.
Fuel substitution with non-renewable energy.
Measures already implemented before approval.

Read this in the German originalThe scope of the “systems management” exclusion is not settled by the document as we read it. Depending on how narrowly Leittechnik is drawn, it may exclude building-automation installation only, or it may reach further into control and supervisory layers. That distinction decides whether a metering and control project is in or out. Confirm the wording in the German original before you build a Swiss application around it, and get the answer in writing from the SFOE if the project depends on it. We are not going to guess in either direction.

The last exclusion on the list — measures already implemented before approval — is the ordinary trap. It applies in every country in this series and it catches the same people every time: a plant that has already ordered the hardware, or has a signed contract, and then looks for a grant. The order of operations is application, approval, purchase order. Not the reverse.

What we did not research, and will not pretend to have

This is a genuine gap in the underlying study, stated here rather than papered over.

Cantonal energy programmes were not researched at all. Swiss cantonal energy funding varies materially — Zurich, Bern, Vaud and Geneva each run their own. For many industrial sites the cantonal programme is larger and easier to reach than the federal tender. Start with your canton's energy office, not with Bern.
The CO₂-levy exemption and target-agreement route via act and EnAW was not researched. It is a different mechanism — relief against a levy in exchange for a binding reduction target, rather than a grant — and for an energy-intensive site it can be worth more than a subsidy. It also generates a measurement obligation, which is where metering becomes a cost of compliance rather than a discretionary project.
Klimastiftung Schweiz states that it supports Swiss and Liechtenstein SMEs with contributions of roughly CHF 3 million a year in total, and CHF 23 million granted for innovation projects since 2008. The page read gave no per-project maximum, no eligibility detail and no 2026 deadline. Treat it as a possible avenue to investigate, not a quantified route.

Switzerland compared with its neighbours

What a metering and control project can draw, Switzerland against the two nearest comparable regimes
Programme	What it funds	Rate	Ceiling	Status 22 Sep 2026
ProKilowatt — Programme (CH)	Electricity-efficiency measures run as a scheme by an engineering firm or association	max 30% of investment costs	CHF 150,000 – CHF 3,000,000 per programme	2026 deadline was 1 May 2026; budget at least CHF 30m
ProKilowatt — Projekte (CH)	Electricity-efficiency measures at a single site	Not stated on the SFOE page	up to CHF 6m per application	Submission window 3 Nov 2025 – 1 Nov 2026
Klimastiftung Schweiz	SME climate and innovation projects	Not stated	Not stated	Active; no 2026 deadline on the page read
Cantonal energy programmes	Varies by canton	Not researched	Not researched	Not researched — a real gap in this study
EEW Modul 3 (DE, for comparison)	EnMS software, sensors, MSR technology, installation, training	45% small / 35% medium / 25% large	€20m per applicant	Open
UFI Energiesparmaßnahmen (AT, for comparison)	Industrial efficiency measures including MSR technology	15–30% by size and project value	Investment €10,000 to under €1.0m	Open

Sources: bfe.admin.ch ProKilowatt page, the 2026 ProKilowatt programme conditions document (pubdb.bfe.admin.ch), klimastiftung.ch, BAFA and umweltfoerderung.at, all read 22 September 2026. Amounts are given in the currency each source publishes; no exchange rate has been applied.

What a monitoring project can and cannot get funded here

Can, in principle: a site-level electricity-efficiency project through the ProKilowatt project route, if it fits the tender criteria and the submission lands inside the window that closes 1 November 2026.
Can, indirectly: participation in a ProKilowatt programme that an association or engineering firm has already had approved. This is usually the practical route for an individual plant, because the programme route is not designed for single applicants. Ask your industry association what it already runs.
Uncertain: anything that could be read as Leittechnik or building-automation installation. The exclusion is in the conditions document; its exact reach is not settled by what we read.
Cannot: anything already ordered or installed before approval.
Unknown: the cantonal picture. It is the first thing to check and the thing this page cannot tell you.

The order to work in

Call the cantonal energy office first. It is the layer most likely to fund a mid-size industrial measure and the layer this study does not cover.
Ask your industry association about existing ProKilowatt programmes. Joining an approved programme is faster than launching a tender application.
If the site is energy-intensive, price the target-agreement route against the grant route before choosing. Levy relief and a grant are not the same kind of money.
Get the “systems management” exclusion clarified in writing before you assume the control layer is eligible.
Do not sign the purchase order until you have approval. Prior implementation is an explicit exclusion.

Status and disclosureStatus as of 22 September 2026. Amounts are in Swiss francs as published; no EUR conversion has been applied, because the sources do not give one. Check the current call documentation before committing: SFOE ProKilowatt and the 2026 programme conditions. This is not grant advice. These sites are published by TEEPTRAK SAS, which sells production-monitoring and OEE software. Switzerland is the country where we found the least usable funding detail, and we would rather say so than pad the page.

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Questions

What percentage does ProKilowatt pay?: It depends which route, and one of the two is not published. The programme-route conditions document gives a maximum of 30% of investment costs, with programmes sized between CHF 150,000 and CHF 3,000,000. The SFOE page for the project route gives a ceiling of CHF 6 million per application and an annual budget of CHF 70 million, but no percentage. Do not carry the 30% across to a project application without confirming it.
Can a single factory apply to ProKilowatt directly?: Through the project route, yes, with a submission window running from 3 November 2025 to 1 November 2026. The programme route is applied for by engineering firms and industry associations that run a scheme for many participants, not by an individual plant for its own site. For many factories the practical route is to join a programme that an association already has approved.
Does the systems-management exclusion rule out a monitoring system?: Not established. The 2026 programme conditions document, as read on 22 September 2026, excludes systems-management installation, meaning Leittechnik and building automation. How far that reaches into a metering and control layer is not settled by the text we read. Confirm the wording in the German original, and get the SFOE's view in writing if the project depends on it.
What about cantonal funding?: It was not researched for this study, and that is a real gap. Swiss cantonal energy programmes vary materially between cantons such as Zurich, Bern, Vaud and Geneva, and for a mid-size industrial measure the cantonal scheme is often the larger and more accessible one. Start with your canton's energy office before working on a federal tender.
Is there a Swiss equivalent of Germany's EEW Modul 3?: Not one we found. EEW Modul 3 names energy-management software, sensors, analogue-digital converters and control technology as eligible costs at 25 to 45%. No Swiss federal scheme we read names that equipment category in the same way. ProKilowatt funds electricity-efficiency measures without itemising metering hardware and software, and it excludes systems-management installation.

Sources

Published by TEEPTRAK SAS, which makes production-monitoring and OEE software. Every figure is sourced on the page. Funding rules, standards and reporting duties change: check the official documents before you budget or commit.