Energy complaints rise 47% year on year, with billing the main issue

Complaints entered in Portuguese energy companies’ complaint books rose by 47% year on year in the third quarter of 2026. Executive Digest, reporting ERSE figures, puts the July–September total at 6,442.

The total was 12% below the preceding quarter. A retreat from the heavier complaint volumes earlier in the year therefore coexists with an increase against the same period of 2025.

Billing led with 1,933 complaints. Supply contracts, unfair commercial practices and interruptions to service were other prominent issues.

ERSE received 1,679 requests to intervene in disputes during the quarter, up 58% year on year. That measure is distinct from the 6,442 entries in companies’ complaint books.

The statistics identify areas of consumer dissatisfaction. They do not establish that every complaint was upheld or resulted in compensation, and the release does not introduce a new energy tariff.

The quarterly bulletin records 608 complaints about supply contracts, 466 about unfair commercial practices and 419 about interruptions. Together with billing, these subjects account for 53.2% of entries in company complaint books.

Over the latest four quarters, electronic complaint books represented 84% of submissions. Billing also led requests for ERSE’s intervention. The regulator says 98% of intervention cases were handled and answered within 90 days, a processing measure rather than a statement that every request was decided in the consumer’s favour.