14/11/2025

ERSE – the Energy Services Regulatory Authority – launches today a Public Consultation that proposes to update the time periods applicable to the electricity tariffs in mainland Portugal, as announced at the launching of the public consultation on the revision of the Electricity Sector Tariff Regulation.

The proposed change aims to adapt the time periods to changes in electricity consumption and production patterns, hence promoting a more efficient use of the networks and a better match between the time periods and the actual usage profile of the electricity system. In the long term, this will reduce the need to invest in electricity transmission and distribution networks, thereby reducing network costs for all consumers.

This process is taking place in a context where 99% of customers connected to normal low voltage (NLV) already have smart meters (according to the "Status report on smart electricity grids in mainland Portugal"), thus allowing for the potential application of the new time periods to all NLV consumers.

This proposal is a continuation of the exploratory study included in the document "Tariff Structure of the Electricity Sector in 2025", which received contributions from the Tariff Council, and that was later developed and refined throughout 2025.

For customers with three time‑periods and four time‑periods structures, the main change is the scheduling of peak hours mainly at the end of the day, eliminating peak hours in the morning and early afternoon.

For customers in the two time-periods option, the proposal is to delay the start of the non off-peak period by one hour in the daily cycle – starting at 9 a.m. and ending at 11 p.m. – and by half an hour on weekdays in the weekly cycle – starting at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 12:30 a.m.

The proposal maintains the current daily durations of peak, mid-peak, normal off-peak and super off-peak periods, as set out in the "Electricity Sector Tariff Regulation", adjusting only the start and end of each period to the use of the electricity networks.

On the other hand, the proposals also include a set of simplifications, including the definition of a uniform daily cycle throughout the year, with no differentiation between winter and summer legal time, and the maintenance of a single weekly cycle, thus ending the optional cycle that only applied to Very High Voltage (VHV), High Voltage (HV) and Medium Voltage (MV) customers.

Each customer can assess the proposed change for their individual profile using one of the calculators developed for this purpose.

Comments from all interested parties are requested by 23 January 2026.

After the public consultation closes and the contributions received have been analysed, ERSE will approve the final version of the new time periods, which, according to the proposal, will not come into force before 1 January 2027.

The decision on the new time periods will certainly benefit from the contributions and discussions that will be presented to ERSE by the various stakeholders in the public consultation. Considering the relevance of this matter and the need to ensure an informed application of the new time periods, a public session will be held to present the various contributions received, as well as the communication obligations to consumers by network operators and market agents.

Access the Public Consultation

Access the Questions & Answers

Download the support calculator:

• for customers in NLV
• for customers in VHV/HV/MV/SLV.