Electricity, gas, water and internet: setting up your utilities

Once the home is rented, you need to decide who holds the electricity, gas, water and communications contracts. The renting guide notes that, unless agreed otherwise, the running costs of goods or services for the rented property fall on the tenant and that they should be contracted in the name of whoever pays them (article 1078 of the Civil Code). Each service has its own regulator, and what follows is based on those regulators’ pages. There is no price or supplier comparison here: the official simulators exist for that.

Before you contract

• Documents. To contract electronic communications, ANACOM lists an identification document (for example a passport), a Portuguese NIF, proof of address (for example a tenancy agreement) and bank details (NIB or IBAN). For water, ERSAR says the user must present documents proving the right to occupy the property. See the NIF guide.
• Starting readings. ERSE provides for consumers to communicate their meter reading, and ERSAR for water users to communicate readings. It may be useful to photograph the meters on move-in day, to keep a record of the starting point.

Electricity and natural gas

Market and supplier

ERSE explains that the electricity market has been liberalised since 4 September 2006 and the natural gas market since January 2010: since then every consumer can choose their supplier freely. Anyone who has not yet opted for the free market is still supplied by the supplier of last resort (comercializador de último recurso), under a transitional tariff set by ERSE.

To compare offers, ERSE provides an energy price simulator and publishes quarterly bulletins of commercial offers. There are “dual” offers (electricity and gas in one contract), and ERSE advises checking whether it pays to contract both services together or separately. For electricity there is also a simulator for the contracted power you need.

What you should receive before accepting

• Contract sheet (ficha contratual): a document suppliers must hand over, before the contract, to electricity consumers with contracted power of up to 41.4 kVA and natural gas consumers using up to 10,000 m³ a year. It summarises the services, whether there is a lock-in, additional services, indicative prices, billing frequency and means of payment.
• Additional services (insurance, technical assistance) may be offered in the same contract, but the energy supply does not depend on them, and suppliers must also present offers without them.
• Contracts made at a distance or away from business premises: the supplier hands over a copy of the contract or a confirmation. In contracts made by telephone, the consumer is only bound after signing the proposal or sending written consent, unless the consumer made the contact in order to contract. You can withdraw within 14 days of the contract, at no cost and without giving a reason. If the contract is made at the consumer’s home, the period becomes 30 days.
• Deposit: for domestic consumers, suppliers can only demand a deposit when supply is restored after a cut-off for non-payment.

Lock-in periods

ERSE says a contract may have a lock-in period if it comes with an advantage or benefit, that the contract must say expressly whether one exists and what the penalty is (or how it is calculated), and that it cannot exceed 12 months in contracts with consumers. A lock-in does not renew automatically: the consumer must expressly accept a new period, based on a new advantage. Changes to the contract may amount to a new contract, with a new lock-in.

Switching supplier

You can do it at any time, by signing a new contract. There is no need to end the old one: the new supplier handles everything. According to ERSE:

• supply cannot be cut during the switch, which should be completed within three weeks of the new contract;
• the switching process is free (but there may be a penalty if a lock-in period is running);
• the previous supplier must send, within six weeks, a final settlement invoice, which may be based on an actual reading or on an estimate.

If a supplier wants to change the contract, it must give at least 30 days’ notice and say that the consumer may end the contract without penalty.

The regulated tariff

Customers on normal low voltage (contracted power up to 41.4 kVA) can join the scheme aligned with the regulated tariff, even if they are on the free market. You ask your supplier whether it offers this option. The answer must be given within ten working days and, if negative, in writing, which is enough to contract the supplier of last resort without lock-in costs. ERSE states, on its page (updated April 2025), that the regulated tariff is expected to remain in force until the end of 2027.

Meters and readings

The owner of the meter is the distribution network operator, which installs, maintains and reads it. For consumers with contracted power up to 41.4 kVA, readings are taken remotely and automatically. Without information on the actual reading, the bill is issued on estimated consumption. If, for four months, the operator has no access to the meter and no reading has been communicated by the consumer, an extraordinary reading must be carried out, at a cost set annually by ERSE. If you suspect the meter is not working properly you can ask for an extraordinary check: if the meter is found to be correct, the cost is yours; if a fault is confirmed, the operator pays.

The social tariff

The social tariff (tarifa social) is a discount on the bill for economically vulnerable consumers. According to ERSE’s January 2026 leaflet:

• Electricity: you are entitled if you are or may be a beneficiary of certain social benefits (among them the solidarity supplement for the elderly, the social insertion income, unemployment benefit, family allowance and the social old-age pension) or have annual income of up to €6,272.64, increased by 50% for each household member without income, including yourself, up to a maximum of 10. The applicant must be the contract holder, consumption must be exclusively domestic, in a permanent home, and contracted power cannot exceed 6.9 kVA.
• Natural gas: the list of benefits is shorter (it includes the 1st bracket of family allowance), the home must be permanent, supplied at low pressure, with annual consumption of up to 500 m³.
• Automatic award: DGEG identifies the beneficiaries. The supplier tells you it has been applied. If you receive no notice and believe you are entitled, you can ask Social Security or the Tax Authority for a proof of entitlement and give it to the supplier. DGEG adds that there is no face-to-face service for the social tariff.
• The discount must appear identified on the bill and is the same in the regulated and free markets. The leaflet says that in January 2026 the average electricity discount was 33.8% (excluding taxes and duties).

Water

ERSAR classes water supply, sanitation and municipal waste as essential public services, with special consumer-protection rules. According to ERSAR:

• Contracting is a duty of anyone who wants to use the service, with documents proving the right to occupy the property. A domestic user has the right to receive the contract terms and not to pay a deposit to sign up.
• Billing: the right to a monthly bill (or another frequency you choose), to communicate readings in months when the water entity does not send its staff, and to a detailed bill.
• Meter: the right to ask for an extraordinary check if you disagree with the reading. There is a duty to allow access for readings and to report any fault.
• Payment: the right to be warned before the service is suspended for late payment. After a suspension and reconnection there is a duty to pay a deposit, unless you opt for direct debit.
• Social tariff: water entities must build a social component into domestic tariffs, but joining the automatic scheme is voluntary and depends on a decision by the municipal assembly. ERSAR links to a map of the municipalities that have one.

Internet, TV and mobile

ANACOM, on its Communications 4 Expats portal, sets out the rules for people arriving in Portugal.

• Contract and summary. Before concluding the contract, the operator must give you the full terms in a format you can keep, plus a contract summary. The contract only comes into force once the customer has received the summary and expressly confirmed the terms. Until then the operator cannot demand payments or penalties.
• Right of withdrawal. For online or telephone contracts, 14 days from conclusion, without giving a reason. For contracts concluded outside the operator’s store, 30 days. If the operator did not tell you about the right, the period extends to 12 months. If, at your express request, installation began earlier, you pay a proportional amount for the service provided.
• Lock-in. This is a period in which the customer commits not to cancel or change the contract, under pain of a penalty, in exchange for advantageous conditions that must be identified and quantified in the contract. It can be 6, 12 or 24 months (24 maximum), and operators must also offer options without a lock-in, normally at higher prices. The end date and the penalty amount appear on the bills and can be requested from the operator. The operator can only extend or renew the lock-in with the customer’s express agreement, for periods of no more than 24 months and with an identified benefit in return.
• Contract renewal. Before a contract renews automatically, the operator must state the end date of the lock-in, how to cancel and the best prices applicable, and, at least once a year, the best prices available.
• Comparing. ANACOM offers the COM.escolha simulator.
• Portability. Requesting to keep your number when changing operator is free, but you cannot change the nature of the service (from fixed to mobile, for example). Beforehand, check with your current operator whether a lock-in applies and whether your phone is locked to its network.

Cancelling

A cancellation request must contain the customer’s identification, express confirmation of the wish to cancel and the services concerned. It can be submitted in writing, in a store, by telephone (if the system can confirm identity) or in the customer area. The operator is not legally required to issue proof of receipt, so use a means that leaves a record (registered letter or e-mail). If the request is correct, the operator has 5 working days to reply in writing with the effective date of cancellation. If it is incomplete, it has 3 working days to say what is missing, and the request lapses if the customer does not complete it within 30 working days.

During the lock-in you can cancel, but a penalty may apply. According to ANACOM, there is no penalty if the operator breaches the contract (in a bundle that includes internet or telephone, the right applies to the whole bundle). You can also cancel free of charge, by written request at least 30 days in advance with proof, if you change permanent residence because of emigration, become unemployed, become unfit for work or change address (for example because of the sale of a home or the end of a tenancy). It is worth confirming the conditions with the operator.

If something goes wrong

• Complaining. The complaints book (Livro de Reclamações) exists on paper and in electronic format (livroreclamacoes.pt). ERSE points to the electronic complaints book for questions or complaints about the application of the social tariff. For water, ERSAR says the water entity must reply within 15 working days to a complaint made in the complaints book and, if made by another written means, within 22 working days at most.
• Help on communications. ANACOM has a free helpline, 800 206 665, every day from 9am to 1pm; confirm on the ANACOM page.
• Consumer rights in general: see Everyday life in Portugal.