The Swiss transmission system is connected to foreign partners via numerous 380/220 kV transfer points. Because there are only a limited number of transfer points for delivering electricity over national borders - for example between Germany and Switzerland – capacities are limited. To ensure that congestion doesn’t occur at these transfer points, the available capacities are allocated according to market-based procedures. They are "auctioned".

The companies taking part in these auctions define the group of auction participants.