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Understanding Your Energy Bill in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

What each line on your electricity and gas bill means, which parts you can change by switching, how VAT works, and what to do about estimated bills.

The Portugal Brief 9 min read

Understanding Your Energy Bill in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You have an electricity or piped gas contract in mainland Portugal and want to understand each line.
  • Your bill looks too high, or is based on an estimate, and you want to check it.
  • You are thinking of switching supplier and want to know what can actually change.

Not for you if: you still need to open an electricity contract or choose your contracted power. Read Setting Up Electricity in Portugal first.

Every electricity and gas bill in Portugal has the same parts. A network charge set by the energy regulator, ERSE, is the same whoever supplies you. The energy price is what suppliers compete on. Taxes and charges set by the state come on top. Electricity VAT is split: the first 200 kWh a month pay 6% if your contracted power is 6.9 kVA or less, and the rest pays 23%. Switching supplier is free and takes at most three weeks.

The two markets

You buy energy from a supplier (comercializador). You can choose either of two markets:

  • The free market (mercado livre). Suppliers set their own prices. Most homes are here.
  • The regulated price. ERSE sets it once a year. You get it from a supplier of last resort (comercializador de último recurso). For electricity on the mainland, that is SU Eletricidade. For gas, it depends on your municipality.

ERSE changes regulated electricity prices each January and regulated gas prices each October. They are not set every quarter. Regulated prices are due to stay available until the end of 2027. For electricity, any home up to 41.4 kVA can choose them. For gas, any customer using up to 10,000 m³ a year can.

You can also ask your free-market supplier for a price equal to the regulated one. It must answer within 10 working days. If it says no, you can move to the supplier of last resort with no loyalty penalty.

What is on an electricity bill

ERSE requires every electricity bill to show the same information. These are the lines you will see:

  • Power (termo de potência). A daily charge for your contracted power, in kVA, times the days billed. You pay it even if you use nothing.
  • Energy (termo de energia). The kWh you used in each time period, times the price. This is the part suppliers compete on.
  • Network access tariff (tarifa de acesso às redes). It pays for the transmission and distribution networks and the running of the system. ERSE sets it, and it is the same on both markets. It is usually built into the power and energy lines, and the bill must show its total.
  • General economic interest costs (CIEG). Costs of national energy policy, such as payments to municipalities and support for some power plants. ERSE does not set them, but they are passed on in the price.
  • DGEG fee (taxa de exploração DGEG). A small fixed fee paid to the state for the use of electrical installations.
  • Electricity consumption tax (imposto especial de consumo, IEC). A small tax per kWh.
  • Audiovisual contribution (contribuição audiovisual, CAV). €2.85 a month, which funds public broadcasting. See The Audiovisual Levy (CAV) on Your Electricity Bill in Portugal.
  • VAT (IVA). See "How VAT works" below.

The bill must also show your real and estimated readings, the billing period, any social tariff discount, and supplier and fault contacts.

On the free market, your bill must also show the difference between what you paid and what you would have paid on the regulated price. Use that line to judge your contract.

What is on a gas bill

A piped natural gas bill follows the same pattern:

  • Fixed term. A daily charge, whatever you use.
  • Energy. Your meter measures gas in m³, but you pay for it in kWh. The bill shows the conversion factor used. It depends on the energy content of the gas and on the temperature and pressure at your meter.
  • Consumption band (escalão de consumo). Your yearly use puts you in a band, and the band sets your prices.
  • Network access tariff. Set by ERSE and the same on both markets.
  • Natural gas consumption tax. A tax on petroleum and energy products (ISP), charged on the gas you use.
  • VAT. See below.

The bill must show real and estimated readings, the billing period, and any social tariff discount, just as an electricity bill does.

How VAT works

Electricity, if your contracted power is 6.9 kVA or less:

  • The first 200 kWh in each 30-day period pay 6%. The rest pays 23%.
  • Families of five or more get 300 kWh at 6%. Ask your supplier how to prove your household size.
  • At 3.45 kVA or less, the network access part of the power charge also pays 6%.

Electricity above 6.9 kVA: energy pays 23%.

The CAV always pays 6%.

Gas: the fixed part of the network access tariff pays 6% for low-pressure customers using up to 10,000 m³ a year, which covers normal homes. The rest of the bill pays 23%.

The same VAT rules apply on the free market and the regulated price.

Readings, estimates, and catch-up bills

If your supplier has no real reading, it bills an estimate. To avoid paying on estimates, send a meter reading every month, on the dates shown on your bill. Use your supplier's channels, or the network operator if that is the contact shown. With a smart meter, readings are usually sent automatically.

When a real reading arrives, the supplier corrects the estimates with a catch-up bill (acerto). Your rights:

  • If the correction is in your favour, the credit must appear on that same bill.
  • If you owe money, you can ask to pay it in instalments.
  • If the error was not your fault, you pay no interest.
  • Large catch-up bills on electricity: if the catch-up is 25% or more of your average use over the last six months, the bill must offer an automatic plan of up to 12 monthly instalments. You can still pay it all at once if you tell your supplier.

Old bills expire. A supplier must claim payment for electricity or gas within six months of supplying it. If you were undercharged, it has six months from your first payment to claim the difference. You must raise this yourself, in writing if possible. It does not get you back money you have already paid.

Comparing offers and switching

Compare with ERSE's simulator. ERSE's free price simulator on its website compares the free-market offers for electricity and gas. Enter your contracted power, time option, and yearly use. Your yearly use is on your bills or your supplier's online area.

When you compare, look at the whole year:

  • Check how long any discount lasts and what the price is afterwards.
  • Choose between a fixed price, locked for the contract term, and an indexed price, which follows the wholesale market. Since a law published on 29 June 2026, every supplier with more than 200,000 customers must offer at least one fixed-price contract lasting at least a year.
  • Ask for the contract summary (ficha contratual) before you sign. It shows the prices, loyalty period, and any extra services.

Switching, step by step:

  1. Find your installation code on a recent bill: the CPE for electricity, or the CUI for gas.
  2. Compare offers on ERSE's simulator.
  3. Sign with the new supplier, online, by phone, or in a shop. You do not need to contact the old one.
  4. The switch happens within three weeks, with no visit and no interruption to your supply.
  5. Your old supplier sends a final bill within six weeks.
  6. Check your first new bill for the right code, contracted power, tariff, and readings.

Loyalty periods. A loyalty period (período de fidelização) for home customers can last at most 12 months. It must come with a specific benefit, such as a discount, and it does not renew automatically. Leave early and you pay the charge set in your contract, so time your switch for when the period ends.

If you signed online, by phone, or away from the supplier's premises, you can cancel within 14 days without a reason. If a salesperson came to your door, you have 30 days.

Help for low-income households

The social energy tariff is a discount on electricity and natural gas for low-income households. In 2026 the electricity discount is 33.8% of the regulated price before taxes, and you pay no electricity consumption tax. For gas, the discount from 1 October 2026 is 31.2%, and you pay no natural gas consumption tax. The discount is the same on the free market and the regulated price.

You usually do not apply. DGEG, the energy directorate, checks tax and Social Security data, and your supplier applies the discount. See Getting the Social Energy Tariff in Portugal for who qualifies.

If something is wrong

  1. Check the basics: your CPE or CUI, contracted power, tariff, time option, and whether the reading is real (leitura real) or estimated (estimativa).
  2. Send a real reading if the bill is an estimate.
  3. Complain to your supplier in writing, or in the complaints book (Livro de Reclamações), which is also online.
  4. If that fails, contact ERSE or a consumer arbitration centre.

Under the June 2026 law, a supplier cannot cut your electricity off while a complaint or dispute about your bill is open. Once you are more than 60 days behind, it must offer a payment plan.

This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Prices and rules change; check the official source before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

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