Contents area

Print page

Facts and figures

Income statement

Expenses

Around three quarters of expenses incurred by MeteoSwiss relate to the provision of weather and climate services (data collection, information processing, expert services). Personnel expenses were around CHF 1.2 million above the budget, primarily due to the temporary recruitment of ICT specialists for consultation purposes. Like last year, external specialists were needed to implement complex mission-critical projects (more specifically the migration to Windows 10 and next-generation data transfer). Operating expenses were CHF 2.9 million below the budget, due to both the fact that various projects and plans (cf. proposal to create new reserves) were delayed and the additional CHF 1.2 million required in personnel expenses was offset in operating expenses.

The CHF 1.1 million rise in ICT operating expenses was predominantly down to additional project costs (migration to Windows 10, geo-redundant/crisis-proof computing, next-generation data transfer and GENOVA).

Consultancy expenses were around CHF 0.6 million above the budget as a result of various projects (e.g. EPFL radar innovation, OWARNA2 and Postproc Veri).

Capital expenditure was above the budget, mainly because replacements had to be purchased for the measuring stations (wind profilers) and for mission-critical ICT infrastructure. However, depreciation is slightly below the budget.

Revenue

MeteoSwiss generates revenue by providing meteorological services to customers both within and outside the Swiss federal administration, e.g. by preparing weather data for customers requiring information about aviation weather conditions. It also receives third-party funding from research projects. Around 72% of the drop in revenue is attributable to the lower chargeable costs for aviation weather calculations (new cost ceiling for aviation weather -CHF 2.9 million; the FDHA-DETEC agreement on reduced charging in the years 2020-22 -CHF 2.9 million; lower data charging for aviation weather in accordance with the Ordinance on Meteorology and Climatology (MetClimO) -CHF 0.8 million). The remaining fall in revenue is due to the full revision of MetClimO (-CHF 1.9 million) and the waiver of the charging of data costs within the federal government (-CHF 0.5 million).

Income statement in million CHF Account
 2019		 Budget 2020 Account 2020 Δ VA20 - R20
Deviation from
 the budget
 2019 absolut		 Δ VA20 - R20
Deviation from
 the budget
 2019 relative
MeteoSwiss 89.9 90.6 95.7 5.1 5.6
Expenditure / expenses 117.8 125.1 121.0 -4.1 -3.3
Functional expenses (overall budget) 90.3 95.9 94.4 -1.5                    -1.6
with an impact on financing 75.5 80.9 79.3 -1.6                     -2.0
with no impact on financing 2.4 2.8 2.6 -0.2                  -5.6
internal service charges 12.4 12.2 12.5 0.3                     2.1
of which personnel expenses 54.1 55.3 56.5 1.2                     2.2
with an impact on financing 54.1 55.3 56.5 1.2                    2.2
of which IT 11.6 12.4 13.5 1.1                       8.7
with an impact on financing 9.4 10.3 11.1 0.8                     7.8
internal service charges 2.2 2.1 2.4 0.3                   13.2
of which consultancy and commissioned research 1.7 1.7 2.4 0.6                     38.0
with an impact on financing 1.7 1.7 2.4 0.6                     38.0
of which investments 1.4 1.9 2.5 0.7                 37.5
with an impact on financing 1.4 1.9 2.5 0.7                  37.5
Transfer expenses 27.5 29.2 26.6 -2.6                  -8.9
with an impact on financing 27.5 29.2 26.6 -2.6                -8.9
Revenue and investment income -27.9 -34.5 -25.3 9.2 -26.7
Functional revenue (overall budget) -27.9 -34.5 -25.3 9.2 -26.7
with an impact on financing -20.8 -26.9 -17.5 9.4                    -34.9
with no impact on financing 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0   
internal service charges -7.1 -7.6 -7.8 -0.2                       2.1

Personnel indicators

Staff structure Mother Tongue Education Age structure
Number of employees Number of employees Number of employees Number of employees
Women full-time 37 German 205 University 239 Under 20 5
Women part-time 84 French 80 University of applied sciences 20 20 to 29 34
Women total 121 Italian 35 Higher professional education 42 30 to 39 72
Men full-time 160 Romanic 0 Federal Baccalaureate 25 40 to 49 118
Men part-time 108 English 5 Vocational education 62 50 to 59 128
Men total 268 Other 64 No vocational education 0 60 to 65 32
Fixed-term 62     Apprentices 1    
Unlimited 327            
Total number of employees 389            

Contributions to international organisations in million CHF

Contributions to international organisations in million CHF      
  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
WMO 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.6 2.0 2.2 2.2 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.6 2.7 2.5 3.2 3.6
EUMETSAT 10.3 9.0 7.9 8.9 10.1 9.8 8.4 7.9 8.5 14.3 15.6 18.8 21.4 20.2 18.9
WRC 1.1 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
ECMWF 1.9 2.2 2.0 1.7 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.7 2.2 2.2 2.0 2.2 2.2 2.2
European Cooperation
(EUMETNET, ECOMET)		 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4
Total 15.0 14.0 13.0 13.8 15.5 15.2 13.8 13.1 13.9 20.1 22.1 25.3 27.9 27.5 26.6
                                   
WMO World Meteorological Organization (Genf, CH)
EUMETSAT European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Darmstadt, DE)
WRC World Radiation Center (Davos, CH)
EZMW Europäisches Zentrum für mittelfristige Wettervorhersage (Reading, GB)
EUMETNET Netzwerk europäischer Wetterdienste (Brüssel, BE)
ECOMET European Cooperation in Meteorology (Brüssel, BE)

Expenditure credit outside the overall budget refers to mandatory contributions made by Switzerland to international organisations and institutions in accordance with Switzerland's obligations under international law.

Cost and service accounting

At 26.9%, the revenue-to-cost ratio for the project groups (including customer and third-party-funded projects) is slightly under the budgeted ratio of 36%.

Cost and performance accounting in million CHF    
  Account 2019
 Budget 2020
 Account 2020
  Earnings Expenses Earnings Expenses Earnings Expenses
Weather and climate data (PG 1) 5.0 24.2 6.2 24.5 2.7 27.7
Weather and climate related information and expert services (PG 2) 22.9 66.1 28.3 67.0 22.7 66.7
Total 27.9 90.3 34.5 91.5 25.4 94.4
Revenue to cost ratio   30.9%   37.7%   26.9%

BAZL veröffentlicht Bericht über die Prüfung der Flugwetterkosten der MeteoSchweiz

To the top of the page
Last modified 04.03.2021