Energy Complaints in Portugal Swell 47 Percent in a Year, With Billing Still the Biggest Grievance: How to Challenge a Bill

Consumers lodged 6,442 complaints against electricity, gas and other energy companies in the third quarter of 2026, 47 percent more than in the same quarter of 2025. The figures come from the Boletim do Apoio ao Consumidor de Energia (Energy Consumer Support Bulletin), published on 21 October by the Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (ERSE, the energy services regulator). They count complaints made in companies' Livro de Reclamações (Complaints Book), on paper or online.

Complaints still fell about 12 percent from 7,293 in the second quarter, and were well below the 9,584 recorded from January to March. ERSE calls this a trend towards normalisation after a significant increase early in 2026, though more slowly than requests for information. The bulletin does not say what caused the early-2026 surge.

Billing tops the list

Billing drew 1,933 complaints in the quarter, about three in ten. Next came supply contracts (608), unfair commercial practices (466) and supply interruptions (419). Together these four made up 53.2 percent of the total; meter readings and service quality sit in the remaining "other" group.

Over the last four quarters, electricity accounted for 68.9 percent of complaints, dual electricity and gas contracts for 15.8 percent and natural gas for 10.6 percent. Electric car charging took 3.2 percent and fuels and LPG 1.5 percent. The bulletin does not name or rank individual suppliers. Most (84 percent) now arrive online.

More people ask the regulator to step in

ERSE received 1,679 requests to intervene in disputes in the quarter, 11 percent fewer than in the second quarter but 58 percent more than a year earlier. Billing was again the main subject, with 540 cases (32.2 percent), followed by contracts (237) and technical service quality (203). Over the past year, consumers' claims were wholly or partly met in 39 percent of cases.

How to complain about an energy bill

• Supplier first. Use your contract's channels or the Livro de Reclamações in a shop or online at livroreclamacoes.pt. The company must reply within 15 working days, and ERSE gets a copy automatically, so you do not need to send it twice.
• Then ERSE. If there is no reply after 15 working days, or you disagree with it, ask ERSE to intervene through the form on its website. It can recommend a solution and fine companies that break the rules, but it cannot order a supplier to correct your bill.
• Arbitration for a binding answer. Electricity, natural gas and piped LPG are essential public services, so a household consumer can take a dispute to a consumer arbitration centre and the supplier must abide by the ruling, which carries the weight of a first-instance court judgment. It is free or very cheap.
• A disputed bill protects your supply. A complaint that gives concrete evidence of a billing error stops the supplier cutting you off for not paying that bill until it has replied.
• Old charges expire. Under Lei 23/96 (the essential public services law), a supplier's right to be paid for energy lapses six months after it was supplied, and its right to collect the difference on an underpaid bill lapses six months after that payment. You must invoke this, preferably in writing; ERSE says it does not get you back money already paid.

If you fall behind on a bill, the supplier must send written notice 20 days before any cut, and household electricity cannot be cut on a Friday, the eve of a public holiday, a holiday or a weekend. Low-income households may also qualify for the electricity social tariff. ERSE's final 2027 tariffs, which we covered in proposal form, are due by 15 December.