Commercial Relations

Code

The commercial relations between agents in the electricity sector is ruled by the Commercial Relations Code (Regulamento de Relações Comerciais - RRC) approved by ERSE, which currently covers both the electricity and the gas sectors, and applies across the entire national territory.

The Code covers the following main issues:

Identification of stakeholders, activities and roles in the electricity sector
Principles and general rules of commercial relations, including public service and universal service obligations
Commercial relations between transmission and distribution grid operators, electricity producers and suppliers, namely for billing and payment purposes
Customer relations (supply obligations, entering into a contract, invoicing and payment, as well as interrupting and restoring supply)
Market scheme (contracting modalities, registration of agents, scheme of organised markets and bilateral contracting, choosing and switching supplier, monitoring framework for the operation of electricity markets)
Commercial conditions for grid connection
Measuring, reading,consumption and generation data provision
Dispute settlement

The implementation of some of the rules established in the RRC depends on the approval of supplementary rules, of a more detailed and procedural nature. The approval of supplementary rules usually starts with the submission of justified proposals by regulated companies (as recipients of established obligations) and involves a prior consultation procedure, as well as seeking the opinions of ERSE’s advisory bodies.

Regulation No 827/2023 approves the Commercial Relations Code for the Electricity and Gas Sectors, repealing Regulation No 1129/2020, of 30 December. Previous Codes are made available online at ERSE’s Legal Instruments.

The Rectification Declaration Nº 830/2023, of 31 October, rectifies the Regulation Nº 827/2023, that approves the Commercial Relations Code for the Electricity and Gas Sectors.

Commercial Relations Code for the Electricity and Gas Sectors (ebook)

Interpretative Note – Scheme of supply interruption due to the fault of the customer

Other legal instruments

Directive No 4/2023 4/2023, of 20 December (Profiles of electricity consumption, production and self-consumption applicable in 2023 (Annex))
Directive No 29/2022, of 22 December (Incentives for the Optimised Management of CO₂ Emission Permits in the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira)
Directive No 15/2022, of 28 June (Special amendment in the scope of risk management and guarantees in the Eletricity Sector)
Directive No 5/2022 of 31 March (Extension of the period for supplementary supply under Regulation No 951/2021 of 2 November)
Directive (extract) No 1/2022 of 7 January (Profiles of electricity consumption, production and self-consumption applicable in 2022 (Annex))
Regulation No 951/2021, of 2 November (Regulation on exceptional measures within the scope of the Electricity Sector and the Gas Sector)
Regulation No 836/2021, of 7 September (Regulation establishing exceptional measures within the scope of the Electricity Sector and the Gas Sector)
Directive No 7/2021, of 15 April (System of risk management and guarantees in the Electricity Sector and the Gas Sector)
ERSE Regulation No 2/2021, of 16 February (Regulation establishing exceptional measures in the framework of the Electricity Sector and the Gas Sector )
Directive No 5/2021, of 24 February (Definition of the parameter of charges borne by producers under a special scheme within the scope of the transitional rule in article 8 of Decree-Law No 76/2019)
Directive No 16/2020 of 9 December (Profiles of electricity consumption, production and self-consumption applicable in 2021 (Annex))
Directive No 13/2020, of 13 July (Bodies qualified to integrate the marketing deviation unit in compliance with the Procedures Manual for Overall System Management)

Regulation No 356-A/2020, of 8 April (Regulation establishing exceptional measures within the scope of the Electricity Sector and the Gas Sector)

Interpretative Note to Regulation No 356-A/2020
Directive No 4/2020, of 20 March (Wholesale market competitive balance scheme)
Regulation No 255-A/2020, of 18 March (Regulation establishing Extraordinary Measures in the Energy Sector due to the Covid-19 Epidemiology Emergency)
Interpretative Note to Regulation No 255-A/2020
Q&A on Regulation No 255-A/2020
Directive No 2-A/2020, of 14 February (Scheme of risk management and guarantees in the Electricity Sector)
Implementing Technical Note for Directive No 2-A/2020
Directive No 16/2019, of 6 December (Individual Agent Record Codification)
Directive No 10/2019, of 4 April (Approves parameters mentioned in the RRC concerning grid connections, repealing Directive No 8/2012, of 8 November)
Directive No 7/2019, of 26 February (Pricing of secondary regulation band)
Directive No 15/2018, of 10 December (Supplier-switching procedures in the electricity and natural gas sectors)
Directive No 14/2018, of 10 August (Amendment to Procedure No 5 of the Procedures Manual for Overall System Management of the electricity sector)
Directive No 11/2018, of 16 July (Transitional Scheme of risk management and guarantees in the National Electricity System)
Interpretative Note to Directive No 11/2018
Directive No 10/2018, of 10 July (Implementation of the intraday continuous market and approval of the Procedures Manual for Overall System Management and the Procedures Manual of the Mechanism for Joint Management of the Portugal-Spain Interconnection)
Directive No 1/2018, of 3 January (Operationalisation of the scheme equivalent to transitional tariffs)
Directive No 11/2016, of 9 June (Approves the procedures provided for in the Guide for the Measurement, Reading and Provision of Electricity Data)
Directive No 5/2016, of 26 February (Guide for the Measurement, Reading and Provision of Electricity Data in Mainland Portugal)
Directive No 6/2015, of 27 April (Provision of pre-contractual and contractual information to electricity and natural gas consumers in Mainland Portugal)
Directive No 26/2013, of 27 December (Wholesale market competitive balance scheme)
Directive No 17/2013, of 23 September (Billing adjustments based on estimated consumption)
Directive No 16/2013, of 20 September (Operationalisation of the exemption from payment of the audio-visual levy under the supplier switching process)
Directive No 9/2013, of 26 June (Payment of compensation for wind power production centres covered by Decree-Law No 35/2012, of 28 February)
Directive No 7-A/2013, of 14 May (Determination of correction, intervention and customer compensation measures resulting from the audit of EDP Distribuição’s bi-hourly and tri-hourly meters)
Directive No 10/2012, of 5 July (Compensation for consumers affected by electricity metering irregularities)
Directive No 5/2011, of 24 November (Terms and conditions for PRE Placement Auctions)
Order No 12605/2010, of 4 August (Multiplicative factors of reactive energy prices and ERSE Recommendation on Fair Information Practices for reactive energy billing)
Order No 7253/2010, of 26 April (Approves reactive energy billing standards)
Order No 9975/2009, of 14 April (Approves the methodology for calculating the value of guarantees related to the supply of electricity), rectified by Rectification Statement No 1450/2009, of 8 June
Order No 3278-A/2006, of 10 February (Approves the minimum set of information to be included in general conditions of electricity supply contracts to be concluded by regulated suppliers, in Mainland Portugal, by the transmission and distribution concessionaire of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, by the transmission concessionaire and bound distributor of the Autonomous Region of Madeira and respective LV and MV customers)
Order No 8733-A/2004, of 30 April (Approves the Procedures Manual for Access and Operation of the Public Service Electricity System of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, which includes general conditions of supply guarantee contracts)
Order No 8733-B/2004, of 30 April (Approves the Procedures Manual for Access and Operation of the Public Service Electricity System of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, which includes general conditions of supply guarantee contracts)
Order No 25101-D/2003, of 31 December (Approves the Remote Metering Guides to apply in the Autonomous Region of the Azores and in the Autonomous Region of Madeira)
Order No 16985-A/2003, of 2 September (Approves the programme for replacing measuring equipment (remote metering) in electric systems of the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira)
Order No 8457-A/2002, of 24 April (Approves the programme for replacing measuring equipment (remote metering) in Mainland Portugal)