How to reduce fixed costs in Switzerland: health insurance, rent, Serafe and contracts, date by date

You reduce fixed costs one item at a time, when a deadline allows it: basic health insurance (your notice must reach the insurer by 30 November), rent after each publication of the reference interest rate, phone and subscriptions before they renew. On average a household pays CHF 689 a month in basic health insurance premiums and spends CHF 1'449 on housing and energy (Federal Statistical Office, FSO, 2023), so that is where to start.

Updated October 2026. Sources: Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), priminfo.admin.ch and press release of 29 September 2026; Federal Office for Housing, reference interest rate; serafe.ch; Budgetberatung Schweiz (the Swiss budget counselling association), pages Krankenkasse and Das Geld wird knapp; FSO, Household Budget Survey 2023 (viewed on 13 October 2026). The FOPH, priminfo, Federal Office for Housing and Budgetberatung pages are in German.

How do you reduce fixed costs in Switzerland?

You check, item by item, what your contract or the law lets you change, and when. Fixed costs are the costs that come back every month or every year with an amount and a date set by a contract or by law: rent, health insurance, other insurance, the Serafe fee (the radio and TV fee), phone, internet and subscriptions (list with the averages). The method is the same for all of them:

1. List every cost with its amount, its date and its notice period.
2. Start with the big items: housing and energy, basic health insurance premiums and transport weigh the most (averages in the table below).
3. Ask, for each one, whether you can change provider, model or term, and whether you have a right or an exemption.
4. Put the deadline in your calendar and act in good time.

What can you change on each fixed cost?

Health insurance: premium, model and deductible

Basic insurance gives the same benefits at every insurer, but premiums differ (priminfo). For 2027 the average premium will be CHF 412 a month, 5.0% more than in 2026 (FOPH). The premium calculator on priminfo.admin.ch sorts premiums and lets you search for models that limit the choice of care providers. From the 2027 premiums it groups them into four categories by first point of contact: PRAXIS (a designated medical practice), PHARM (a partner pharmacy of the insurer), TEL_DIG (phone or online) and FLEX (several to choose from); the medical treatments stay the same.

These are maximums, not promised amounts. Formula: a higher deductible pays off only if the yearly premium difference (monthly difference × 12) is larger than the extra you would pay out of pocket in a year with treatments.

On a modest income your canton can pay part of the premium straight to the insurer (premium reduction): each canton decides, and in some it is automatic while in others you must apply (priminfo; Budgetberatung Schweiz). If you work at least eight hours a week and your employer insures you against accidents, you can have accident cover removed from your basic insurance (priminfo).

Rent: the reference interest rate

The mortgage reference interest rate has been 1.25% since 2 September 2025, and the Federal Office for Housing left it unchanged on 1 September 2026; the next publication is on 1 December 2026. The rate that counts is the one in force when you signed the lease or at the last rent change you did not challenge. If your rent is based on a higher rate, a fall of 0.25 percentage points in principle gives you the right to a 2.91% reduction of the net rent (heating and ancillary costs stay the same); the landlord may offset it against other factors, such as inflation. Write to your landlord, preferably by registered letter: they must answer within 30 days. If they refuse or do not answer, you can go to the conciliation authority within 30 days, at the latest 60 days after your request (Federal Office for Housing).

Serafe fee

In 2026 the fee is CHF 335 a year for a private household and, according to serafe.ch, it falls to CHF 312 on 1 January 2027 (details in the guide to the Serafe fee). People who receive supplementary benefits to the state pension (AHV) or disability insurance (IV) are exempted on request; deafblind people, if no other liable person lives in the household, and diplomats without Swiss citizenship are exempt by law. People on social assistance are not exempt, because the fee is already included in the basic social assistance amount (serafe.ch).

When in the year should you act?

What should you not cut?

Basic health insurance: everyone in Switzerland must have it and insurers may not refuse you (priminfo), so you switch insurer, you do not drop it. In general, do not cut these either:

• The reserve for your deductible: priminfo describes a high deductible as suited to people in good health with money set aside for the unexpected; Budgetberatung Schweiz advises putting the amount aside and, if you cannot, choosing the lowest deductible.
• Cover against damage you could not pay yourself: before you cancel, ask what damage would be left to you, and do not cancel the old supplementary policy before the new one is confirmed (Budgetberatung Schweiz).
• Payments to your insurer: debts for which you have received a reminder can block a change (priminfo).

When money is tight, Budgetberatung Schweiz suggests cutting household and personal spending first and fixed costs only afterwards, because they often have notice periods.

Are groceries a fixed cost?

No, they are a variable cost: there is no contract and no notice period, and you decide every week. On average a household spends CHF 638 a month on food and non-alcoholic drinks at home, 6.2% of gross income (FSO 2023).

Other guides cover groceries and the rest of the budget: how to save on groceries in Switzerland, the 50-30-20 rule and how much to put aside each month.

How do you keep track of fixed costs from today?

Open a sheet with the amount, the date you can act and the notice period for each fixed cost (for the full budget there is the household budget template), put 15 and 30 November in your calendar and compare it every month with what left your account.

For groceries only, you can keep track in Rappn, a free Swiss app (iOS and Android) that compares the current promotions of seven Swiss retailers and turns receipts into a spending overview: you photograph a receipt, upload it from your gallery or enter a purchase by hand, and the app sorts your purchases into categories and shows your spending by month, next to your own monthly average; you can export your receipts as PDF or CSV. Rappn does not cover rent, insurance or taxes. Rappn is building an AI assistant for groceries: you can join the waitlist.