Axpo Holding AG is a Swiss energy company headquartered in Baden, in the Canton of Aargau, and the parent company of the Axpo Group. Established in 2001 through the reorganisation of the former Nordostschweizerische Kraftwerke AG (NOK), it is wholly owned by the cantons of northeastern Switzerland and their cantonal electricity companies.
The group is active in electricity generation, power grids, energy supply and energy trading, as well as energy services and long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs). In Switzerland, its generation portfolio is based mainly on hydroelectricity and nuclear power, while its international expansion has focused particularly on solar and wind power, electricity and natural-gas trading, and the marketing of renewable generation. The group also participates in gas-fired combined cycle power plants and is active in biomass, biomethane, battery storage and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
In the 2024/25 financial year, Axpo operated more than 150 power plants together with partners and, through these facilities, its shareholdings and long-term power procurement agreements, supplied around 40% of the electricity consumed in Switzerland. Outside Switzerland, the group operates in more than 30 countries and 40 markets in Europe, North America and Asia. As of 30 September 2025, it employed 7,480 full-time equivalents.
History
Origins and establishment of Axpo Axpo's origins date back to the development of electrification in Switzerland in the late 19th century. Motor AG, a predecessor of the companies that later formed the group, was founded in 1895. In 1908 it connected the low-head Beznau hydroelectric plant in the Canton of Aargau with the Löntsch storage power plant in the Canton of Glarus by means of a 27 kV transmission line about 100 kilometres long.
In 1914, the cantons of Aargau, Glarus, Zurich, Thurgau, Schaffhausen and Zug established Nordostschweizerische Kraftwerke AG (NOK), which took over the Beznau and Löntsch plants. NOK completed its first own hydroelectric power station at Eglisau, on the Rhine, in 1920.
The integration of the Swiss power grid into the European system progressed over the following decades. In 1958 the networks of Germany, France and Switzerland were interconnected at 220 kV, and in 1967 the Laufenburg interconnection was expanded to 380 kV. The node became known as the "Star of Laufenburg" and developed into one of the origins of the interconnected electricity grid of continental Europe.
NOK also entered nuclear generation. Unit 1 of the Beznau Nuclear Power Plant began operation in 1969, becoming Switzerland's first commercial nuclear power plant, and unit 2 entered service in 1971. Following the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, the Swiss Federal Council decided not to build new nuclear power plants as part of a reorientation of the country's energy policy. In 2016, Swiss voters rejected in a referendum an initiative that would have imposed operating-life limits on existing plants and accelerated the phase-out of nuclear power.
In the late 1990s, the progressive liberalisation of the European electricity market led NOK's shareholders to reorganise their holdings. In 2001, NOK, its shareholder cantons and the respective cantonal electricity companies created Axpo Holding AG, headquartered in Baden. NOK, Centralschweizerische Kraftwerke AG (CKW) and EGL AG, later incorporated into Axpo Solutions AG, were placed under the holding company. The company was formally incorporated on 16 March 2001.
International expansion and diversification During the 2000s, Axpo combined investment in Swiss electricity infrastructure with an expanding international energy supply and trading business. In 2005, the "Linthal 2015" project was launched in the Glarus Alps, expanding the Linth–Limmern complex with a 1,000 MW pumped-storage power plant. The Limmern plant entered service progressively in 2016 and 2017 after around ten years of planning and construction; the investment amounted to approximately CHF 2.1 billion.
The former NOK was renamed Axpo AG in 2009 and Axpo Power AG in 2012. The reorganisation accompanied a clearer separation of generation, grids, supply and international activities.
Between 2013/14 and 2015/16, falling wholesale electricity prices and the appreciation of the Swiss franc led to significant impairments of power plants and power procurement contracts. The group recorded net losses of approximately CHF 730 million in 2013/14, CHF 990 million in 2014/15 and CHF 1.252 billion in 2015/16. Recovering prices and cost-reduction measures contributed to a return to profit in 2016/17.
At the same time, the group expanded renewable energy activities outside Switzerland. In 2015 it acquired the German company Volkswind, a developer and operator of wind farms in Germany and France. The same year, the Global Tech I offshore wind farm in the North Sea entered service; Axpo holds a 24.1% stake in the project. In 2019, it completed the acquisition of the French company Urbasolar, which develops, builds and operates photovoltaic installations.
International expansion was accompanied by growth in energy trading and long-term contractual solutions, including power purchase agreements (PPAs). In 2018/19, according to the group's accounts, the Trading & Sales business recorded what was then its best result, supported in part by demand for PPAs and the expansion of international activities.
2022 energy crisis In 2022, the sharp rise in European energy-market prices, associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and reduced availability of the French nuclear fleet, substantially increased the collateral requirements faced by companies that had sold their electricity production forward. Although these hedging positions did not necessarily imply equivalent economic losses, they created very large liquidity requirements across the sector.
On 2 September 2022, Axpo requested precautionary temporary liquidity support from the Swiss Confederation. On 5 September, the Federal Council made available a subordinated credit facility of up to CHF 4 billion. The Federal Council subsequently submitted a supplementary credit of the same amount to Parliament. The facility was subject, among other conditions, to restrictions on dividend payments and on asset disposals that could jeopardise repayment of any loans, as well as additional reporting obligations to the authorities.
Axpo did not draw on the credit line. As markets partly normalised and collateral requirements declined, the company requested the withdrawal of the facility in 2023. The Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications fully revoked it with effect from 1 December 2023. The company nevertheless remained subject to the reporting obligations applicable under federal law to electricity companies considered systemically important.
Corporate structure
Shareholders Axpo Holding AG is wholly owned by public entities: its shareholders are cantons in northeastern Switzerland and cantonal electricity companies. As of 30 September 2025, share capital amounted to CHF 370 million, divided into 37 million registered shares with a nominal value of CHF 10 each.
The shareholders and their respective holdings are:
Elektrizitätswerke des Kantons Zürich — 18.410% Canton of Zurich — 18.342% AEW Energie AG — 14.026% Canton of Aargau — 13.975% St. Gallisch-Appenzellische Kraftwerke AG — 12.501% EKT Holding AG — 12.251% Canton of Schaffhausen — 7.875% Canton of Glarus — 1.747% Canton of Zug — 0.873%
Group organisation Axpo Holding AG is responsible for the strategic direction of the Axpo Group. The group's management structure is organised into three main areas: Generation & Distribution, Trading & Sales and CKW.
Generation & Distribution brings together the operation and optimisation of the generation fleet—including nuclear, hydro, gas and renewables—and distribution grids, as well as investment in generation and network capacity. Trading & Sales comprises international energy trading, marketing of the group's generation and the development of energy solutions for customers, including long-term supply and procurement contracts. CKW is the group's principal platform for end customers and energy services in Central Switzerland.
Among Axpo Holding AG's principal Swiss subsidiaries are Axpo Grid AG, Axpo Hydro AG, Axpo Power AG and Axpo Solutions AG, all wholly owned. In the 2024/25 financial year, Axpo Holding's stake in CKW AG increased to 85.9%. In the international renewables business, the group controls companies including Volkswind and Urbasolar.
Avectris AG, which had previously been listed among the group's subsidiaries and provided information-technology services, ceased to be part of Axpo in 2020, when Axpo, EKZ and AEW sold the company to GIA Informatik AG.
Financial data The financial development of the Axpo Group since the 2011/12 financial year is shown below. Financial amounts are in millions of Swiss francs. For historical years, subsequently restated figures in the company's financial reports are used where available.
+ Axpo Group financial indicators Financial year Total revenue(CHF million) Net result(CHF million) Employees(year-end)2011/127,3462824,3762012/137,0252124,5092013/146,705−7304,4772014/155,860−9904,2842015/165,416−1,2524,2942016/175,5673104,2222017/184,8501314,4412018/194,8568654,9582019/204,8085705,3502020/216,0566075,3382021/2210,5465945,9372022/2310,4513,3896,4202023/247,6351,5097,0232024/257,3958797,480
From 2013/14 to 2015/16, results were heavily affected by impairments of power plants and power procurement contracts, mainly associated with falling wholesale electricity prices. In 2018/19, by contrast, net income increased to CHF 865 million; approximately CHF 398 million of impairment reversals contributed to this development.
In the 2022/23 financial year, following the severe disruption to energy markets in the preceding year, the group recorded a net result of CHF 3.389 billion. Axpo attributed the increase mainly to the normalisation of financial effects and the performance of its international customer and energy-trading business. In 2024/25, total revenue was CHF 7.395 billion and net income CHF 879 million; the group had 7,480 full-time-equivalent employees at the end of the period.
Activities
Power generation Axpo generates electricity from a diversified portfolio of hydroelectric, nuclear, solar, wind, gas and biomass plants, located mainly in Switzerland and other European countries. At the end of the 2024/25 financial year, generation capacity attributable to the group, calculated in proportion to its holdings in the plants and including long-term procurement rights, amounted to approximately 10,165 MW. Corresponding net generation during the same year was approximately 32,371 GWh.
+ Generation capacity attributable to the Axpo Group at the end of the 2024/25 financial year Technology Switzerland International TotalHydroelectric power4,350 MW—4,350 MWNuclear power, including long-term contracts1,630 MW1,020 MW2,650 MWNatural gas—1,750 MW1,750 MWSolar power10 MW700 MW710 MWWind power2 MW680 MW682 MWBiomass21 MW2 MW23 MWTotal6,013 MW4,152 MW10,165 MW
The figures in the table represent Axpo's proportional share of the facilities, including fully consolidated plants, equity interests and power-procurement rights, and therefore do not necessarily correspond to the full nominal capacity of plants operated or partly owned by the group.
Hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity is Axpo's largest source of installed capacity. The group owns or participates in around 60 hydroelectric facilities in Switzerland and, in the 2024/25 financial year, had approximately 4,350 MW of attributable hydroelectric capacity, with generation of 8,754 GWh.