The model household
Every figure on Ortena that says “per year” applies to a model household with stated assumptions — not to yours. Here are those assumptions, with their derivation and a note on which come from federal statistics and which are stated modelling calls.
| Assumption | 1 person, 2-room flat (default) | Family with 1 child, 4-room flat | Family with 2 children, detached house |
|---|---|---|---|
| Household size The household types used by the federal price comparisons. Two adults are assessed under the married tariff — that is the ESTV's tariff axis, not a statement about marital status. | 1 adults, 0 children | 2 adults, 1 children | 2 adults, 2 children |
| Taxable income Taxable income after all deductions, not gross salary. CHF 60,000 taxable is roughly CHF 75,000–80,000 gross after AHV, BVG and professional expenses; BFS puts median gross household income at about CHF 7,900 a month. Round, because a more precise figure would imply a household that was measured. | CHF 60'000 | CHF 80'000 | CHF 100'000 |
| Taxable wealth Taxable wealth after deductions and allowances. It does NOT feed the annual total: at these amounts the wealth tax is zero across much of Switzerland because of the cantonal allowances (Zürich and Bern levy nothing on CHF 50,000), so it would move the total by a stated assumption rather than by a municipal difference. It appears here because it shapes the case used for the ESTV cross-check — a reader who wants their own wealth tax enters it in the tax calculator on the municipality page. A stated assumption, not derived from a statistic. | CHF 50'000 | CHF 100'000 | CHF 300'000 |
| Water consumption Reproduced from the federal comparison rather than estimated: the Preisüberwacher reports CHF 87.30 for Winterthur at CHF 1.59/m³, and only 55 m³ yields 1.59 after rounding (54 → 1.62, 56 → 1.56). Matching the federal consumption is what makes our total comparable to theirs. | 55 m³ per year | 155 m³ per year | 210 m³ per year |
| Electricity consumption ElCom's standard profiles — H1 “2-room flat with electric stove” at 1,600 kWh a year, and the larger profiles likewise. Our electricity data is priced against these same profiles, so the mapping is exact rather than analogous. | 1'600 kWh per year | 2'500 kWh per year | 7'500 kWh per year |
| Waste bags One 35-litre bag a week. The Preisüberwacher does not publish the bag count behind its waste comparison, so unlike the water figure this cannot be reproduced from it. It feeds no calculation today, because no waste fee data has been collected yet. A stated assumption, not derived from a statistic. | 52 bags of 35 l | 104 bags of 35 l | 130 bags of 35 l |
What the total contains
The annual total currently sums 2 categories. The catalogue's remaining categories count in the denominator but contribute nothing until fee data has been collected for them — which is why every total states how many categories it rests on.
- Health insurance premiums
- Income tax
Comparison between municipalities applies a coverage floor of 2 categories: a municipality with fewer collected gets no rank. Its own figure still appears on its page — hiding it would be a different dishonesty from wrongly ranking it as cheap.
Formula version v2.