{
  "reviewedAt": "2026-09-18",
  "locale": "en",
  "translationKey": "cost-service",
  "status": "editorial synthesis of catalogued evidence",
  "diagram": {
    "title": "Cheap generation is only part of the bill",
    "description": "Follow the cost from the power plant to electricity available when Switzerland needs it.",
    "generation": [
      {"id": "renewables", "title": "Solar & wind", "items": ["Build, finance and connect", "Maintain, replace and retire"], "condition": "Output depends on sun and wind."},
      {"id": "nuclear", "title": "Nuclear", "items": ["Build, finance and connect", "Maintain, fuel, manage waste and close"], "condition": "Plan for maintenance and unexpected outages."}
    ],
    "services": [
      {"id": "hydro", "title": "Hydro & storage", "text": "Water, charging energy, losses and renewal. Reserve energy for later use."},
      {"id": "reserve", "title": "Other supply & reserves", "text": "Other generators or imports. Pay for availability, fuel and delivery when called."},
      {"id": "network", "title": "Networks & flexible demand", "text": "Move electricity to users. Pay for connections, grid capacity and agreed changes in use."}
    ],
    "service_note": "Choose the combination each portfolio needs. Hydro and storage have limited energy; owners need viable contracts.",
    "tests": ["Winter nights", "Cloudy, calm spells", "Plant outages", "Dry years"],
    "result": "Compare the cost of the whole supply plan",
    "result_detail": "Same demand. Same reliability requirement. Same accounting boundary.",
    "accounting": "Count each cost once. Show owner returns, customer bills and public guarantees separately.",
    "limitation": "This is a cost map. Box sizes show no prices or cost shares. The required mix and its total price must be calculated."
  },
  "findings": [
    {
      "id": "generation",
      "statement": "Generation cost covers a stated asset boundary and duty cycle; it does not independently establish equivalent dependable delivery or an investment's market value. Fuel, maintenance, finance and lifecycle obligations belong in a complete plant assessment.",
      "sources": ["eia-lcoe-method-2026", "cost-chapter-calculations"],
      "locator": "EIA printed pages 1–5; cost-ledger IDs construction, construction-finance, operations-maintenance, fuel and the waste/decommissioning entries; concept-review cost-boundaries",
      "limitation": "No numerical claim about present Swiss solar/wind versus nuclear generation-cost rankings. Published LCOE boundaries can omit some lifecycle costs."
    },
    {
      "id": "shared-services",
      "statement": "A mixed portfolio can use hydro, storage, other generation, imports and demand flexibility to provide supply. Storage needs charging and has losses; hydro has physical and economic limits; owner participation needs a business case.",
      "sources": ["cost-chapter-calculations", "owner-model-v1", "portfolio-2035-model"],
      "locator": "comparison-contract.json connections and technology/finance requirements; cost-ledger storage, networks and reserve entries; owner-model hydro and battery economics; portfolio model method and parameters",
      "limitation": "Services are selected jointly and can substitute for one another. The diagram assigns neither every service nor all common grid costs to a single technology. Costs and available service are project-specific."
    },
    {
      "id": "equal-test",
      "statement": "Compare portfolios with common hourly demand, reliability, weather and accounting requirements. Include plant outages, drought, trade constraints, timing, losses and incremental networks. Separate physical costs, owner receipts and payer transfers to avoid double counting.",
      "sources": ["eia-lcoe-method-2026", "cost-chapter-calculations"],
      "locator": "EIA duty-cycle and value discussion; comparison-contract.json; cost-ledger.json; double-counting-checks.json",
      "limitation": "A method requirement and editorial proposal, not a completed Swiss least-cost or probabilistic adequacy calculation. Insurance and accident liability need explicit treatment; unavailable private inputs remain unresolved."
    },
    {
      "id": "extension",
      "statement": "The existing Gösgen and Leibstadt extension study compares incremental operation beyond 60 years under specified investment and finance assumptions. A new reactor requires a separate construction and delivery case.",
      "sources": ["bfe-lto-2026-background", "cost-chapter-calculations"],
      "locator": "Existing claim IDs cost-kkg-lto-base and cost-kkl-lto-base; charts.json observations and original source locators",
      "limitation": "The extension prices do not cover Beznau or establish safety authorization. Assumed sufficient prefunding and no additional dismantling costs must remain visible."
    },
    {
      "id": "recommendation",
      "statement": "WattInfo recommends retaining safe and economically viable existing nuclear, procuring credible replacement-service costs before closure decisions, and obtaining complete new-nuclear offers. A low generator LCOE alone is insufficient grounds to exclude nuclear. Neither LCOE nor an isolated LFSCOE result proves a cheapest Swiss portfolio.",
      "sources": ["eia-lcoe-method-2026", "bfe-lto-2026-background", "idel-2021-author-preprint", "matsuo-2022-publisher-pdf", "cost-chapter-calculations"],
      "locator": "EIA methodology pages 1–5; BFE extension scenarios; Idel 2021 manuscript model and variants; Matsuo section 1.3; project comparison contract",
      "limitation": "Explicit editorial judgment. Swiss bids, construction outcomes, network costs, complete reliability and owner contracts remain necessary to establish a preferred costed national portfolio."
    }
  ],
  "input_paths": [
    "data/website-costs-2026-09-17/concept-review.json",
    "data/cost-metrics-2026-09-17/cost-ledger.json",
    "data/cost-metrics-2026-09-17/comparison-contract.json",
    "data/cost-metrics-2026-09-17/double-counting-checks.json"
  ]
}