Eleven Gas Distributors Pitch a €406.8 Million Network Build-Out for 2027–2031 as GEOTA Brands New Pipelines a 'Scandalous' Bet on Stranded Assets

Portugal's eleven natural-gas distribution operators have asked the energy regulator for permission to spend €406.8 million expanding and upgrading the country's gas grids between 2027 and 2031 — a five-year programme that puts the bulk of the money into laying new pipe and signing up new customers, even as the State's own climate plan calls for the country to wean itself off fossil gas.

The proposals were filed as the PDIRD-G 2026 (Planos de Desenvolvimento e Investimento das Redes de Distribuição de Gás — the gas distribution networks' development and investment plans) and are now in the hands of ERSE (Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos — the Energy Services Regulatory Authority), which opened them to public scrutiny on 23 June.

Where the money would go

Of the headline figure, ERSE says €360.5 million is genuinely up for debate; the remaining €46.2 million earmarked for 2027 has already been approved under the previous plan. The operators' breakdown of the full envelope is heavily tilted toward growth rather than greening:

• €249.9 million (61%) to expand and densify the networks — building primary and secondary pipe, new branch connections (ramais) and individual infrastructure to bring gas to customers who do not yet have it.
• €98.4 million (25%) on other distribution infrastructure, including autonomous gas units, medium-pressure networks, asset renewal and regulatory-compliance work.
• €29.2 million (7%) on information systems and digitalisation.
• €29.2 million (7%) on the energy transition itself — preparing the pipes to carry renewable gases such as hydrogen and biomethane.

In other words, for every euro the operators want to spend readying their grids for low-carbon gas, they propose spending more than eight euros wiring up new fossil-gas connections. Four smaller operators whose licences expire in December 2027 — Dianaás, Duriensagás, Medigás and Paxgás — submitted figures for that single year only.

What happens next

ERSE's review runs on a fixed clock. The public consultation lasts 30 business days; the regulator then has 22 days to produce its analysis and a further 30 days to issue a non-binding opinion (parecer). The final word rests not with ERSE but with the government member responsible for energy, who signs off the approved investment. Because the network operators recover approved capital spending through the regulated tariffs every gas customer pays, the size of the plan eventually feeds into household and business gas bills.

The environmental objection

The timing has reopened a familiar fight. GEOTA (Grupo de Estudos de Ordenamento do Território e Ambiente — the Group for Studies of Territorial Planning and the Environment), one of Portugal's oldest environmental associations, has condemned continued investment in new gas networks as “completely alienated from Portugal's decarbonisation objectives and even scandalous in the face of the reality of climate change.”

Speaking for the group, vice-president and energy-and-climate researcher Miguel Macias Sequeira argued that pouring hundreds of millions into pipe that may run for decades risks creating stranded assets — infrastructure abandoned before the end of its useful life — that “could prove ruinous for the Portuguese.” His case rests on a few hard numbers: Portugal imports 100% of the natural gas it burns, with roughly 80% coming from just two countries in 2023; the country's Climate Law (Lei de Bases do Clima) commits it to carbon neutrality by 2050; and electric heat pumps are, GEOTA says, three to five times more efficient than gas for heating a home. The group has urged ERSE to reject plans that, in its reading, collide with both the Climate Law and Portugal's 2030 energy and climate plan.

Why it matters

For residents, the plan is a reminder that Portugal's gas grid is still growing, not shrinking — new neighbourhoods and buildings will continue to be offered mains gas connections over the next five years. For anyone weighing how to heat a home or heat water, the regulatory direction of travel and the economics increasingly point toward electrification, but the infrastructure decisions being taken now will shape what is on offer, and at what price, well into the 2030s. The consultation gives households, companies and civil-society groups a 30-day window to put their views to ERSE before the regulator forms its opinion.