The Electricity Social Tariff Will Again Mean 33.8 Percent Off the Regulated Price in 2027, With No Application Needed

Portugal's electricity social tariff will give the same discount next year as this year. A dispatch from the Minister of Environment and Energy, published in the Diário da República (official gazette) on 13 October, sets the discount that applies from 1 January 2027 at a level giving 33.8 percent off the transitional end-user tariffs (tarifas transitórias de venda a clientes finais), before VAT and other taxes, levies and charges.

The decision is Despacho n.º 12419/2026 (Dispatch 12419/2026), Série II, n.º 198, signed on 8 October by the minister, Maria da Graça Carvalho. The figure has not moved: Despacho n.º 12372/2025, published on 21 October 2025, set the discount from 1 January 2026 at 33.8 percent in the same terms. The new text says that, with it, support for these households "is maintained".

What the 33.8 percent applies to

The discount does not come off the whole bill. Under Article 198 of Decreto-Lei n.º 15/2022 (Decree-Law 15/2022), which organises the national electricity system, the social tariff is a discount on the network access tariff (tarifa de acesso às redes) paid by normal low-voltage customers, the part of every bill that pays for the grid. The energy minister fixes its size by dispatch after hearing the Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (ERSE, the energy regulator), and the new dispatch records that ERSE was consulted.

Because every customer pays the access tariff, the discount is the same whether a household buys from the regulated supplier or on the free market, ERSE explains in its October 2026 notes on the social tariff. The 33.8 percent is the yardstick: the access-tariff discount is sized to equal that share of the regulated price, excluding taxes, and it applies to both the daily power charge and the energy charge. Beneficiaries are also exempt from the special consumption tax on electricity (IEC), some get 1.85 euros a month off the audiovisual levy (CAV), and the VAT on each of those amounts is saved as well.

ERSE gives one worked example, at the regulated prices in force since 1 October 2026 (when, as we reported, the regulated tariff rose 2.7 percent). A couple with no children on 3.45 kVA, using 1,900 kWh a year, would pay 38.15 euros a month; the social discount is 13.44 euros, bringing the bill to 24.71 euros. That saving includes the tax exemptions. What the unchanged percentage is worth in euros in 2027 will depend on next year's tariffs, which ERSE had not published on its tariffs page by 13 October; the 2026 tariffs were approved by ERSE Directive 1/2026 of 7 January.

Who qualifies

The conditions are set out by the Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia (DGEG, the energy directorate) on its eligibility page. The electricity contract must be in your own name, used only for domestic purposes in your permanent home, with contracted power in normal low voltage of 6.9 kVA or less. On top of that, you must either receive one of these from Segurança Social (Social Security):

• the solidarity supplement for older people (complemento solidário para idosos);
• the social integration income (rendimento social de inserção);
• unemployment benefits;
• child benefit (abono de família);
• the social disability pension of the special disability scheme, or the supplement to the social inclusion benefit;
• the social old-age pension;

or belong to a household whose total annual income is 6,272.64 euros or less, plus 50 percent for each member with no income, including the account holder, up to a maximum of 10. The household is the customer and the dependants defined in the income tax code, and the income ceiling is worked out by the Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (AT, the tax authority). ERSE's table puts the ceiling at 9,408.96 euros where two members have no income and 12,545.28 euros where three do. Each beneficiary can have the discount on only one connection point.

None of these conditions, in the decree-law or on DGEG's and ERSE's pages, refers to nationality. A foreign resident who meets them, with the contract in their own name for the home they live in, is in the same position as anyone else. Our guide to the social energy tariff covers each condition in detail.

Automatic, but worth checking

Nobody has to apply. Since 1 July 2016, DGEG says, it has drawn up the list of beneficiaries from suppliers' customer data after checking eligibility with the tax authority and Social Security. ERSE says the supplier then writes to the customer, who has 30 days to object; if they say nothing, the discount is applied. Eligibility is rechecked monthly with Social Security, and every September with the tax authority. The decree-law requires the discount to be shown clearly and separately on the bill, and a June decree keeps it in place when a beneficiary switches supplier, as we reported at the time.

If you believe you qualify and the discount is not on your bill, ERSE's October 2026 leaflet says to ask Social Security or the tax authority for proof of your situation and hand it to your supplier. DGEG also takes review requests through its online information and complaints form or by letter to Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia, Tarifa Social de Energia, Av. 5 de Outubro, 208, 1069-203 Lisboa. It has no in-person service for the social tariff. Its general line is 210 308 536 on working days, although DGEG's own bulletin for April to June reports that the line was out of action for that quarter because of technical problems. Complaints about how a supplier applies the discount go to ERSE, through the electronic complaints book.

How many households benefit

DGEG's quarterly bulletin counted 735,186 electricity social tariff beneficiaries in June 2026, and a quarterly average of 728,130, which it puts at about 7.1 percent of mainland Portugal's population.

Natural gas has a separate social tariff with its own dispatch and a gas year running from October. ERSE puts its average discount at 31.2 percent from October 2026 to September 2027.