The pan-European exchange of electricity, and therefore electricity trading, contribute to the equalisation of electricity capacities in Europe and simultaneously raise the security of supply in Switzerland.

Electricity trading plays an important role in Switzerland's economy. Swiss electricity traders are dealing increasingly with foreign partners and use the Swissgrid transmission system to dispatch their «goods». A Swiss electricity trader agrees a schedule with its partner: how much will be transmitted when to which partner. All traders submit their schedules to Swissgrid on a daily basis, and Swissgrid uses them to create aggregated schedules. Transmission system operators (TSOs) are responsible for ensuring that the agreed energy volumes are correctly processed. Swissgrid has agreed a uniform, cross-border schedule management with its Austrian, German, French and Italian partners.