Electricity & gas in Estonia: your rights

The market

The electricity market has been fully open since 2013: anyone with a network contract can choose their electricity seller. Household gas contracts can also be compared and changed. Your network operator stays the same.

Energy regulator

Konkurentsiamet

Dispute resolution

Tarbijavaidluste komisjon (Tarbijakaitse ja Tehnilise Järelevalve Amet) · free

First complain to the seller in writing; it must answer within 15 days. If it doesn't answer or you disagree, apply online to the committee. Network-fee questions go to Konkurentsiamet.

Compare prices not run by the state

Elektrihind.ee (Konkurentsiameti usaldusmärgisega)

Switching supplier

Switching is free: sellers may not charge households a switching fee. The new seller registers the contract at least 14 days before it starts, so a switch takes about two weeks. Only fixed-term contracts may carry a proportionate early-exit fee.

Price rises

The seller must notify you of any contract change, including price, at least 30 days before it takes effect, with the bill or in writing. If you disagree, you may terminate the contract. As a household you can end an electricity contract with 14 days' notice.

Regulated price

There is no regulated price any more: the state universal service ended on 1 July 2024. Without a contract you get the general service (üldteenus), priced from the monthly exchange price plus costs and a margin, usually the most expensive option.

Help if money is tight

There is no social energy tariff. Low-income households can apply to their local government for subsistence benefit (toimetulekutoetus), which can cover electricity and household gas costs as housing costs.

Protection against cut-off

For unpaid network bills you get a written notice first; cut-off is allowed after 15 days. It is 30 days if you prove serious illness or job loss. From 1 October to 30 April, homes heated mainly by electricity get 90 days.

If your supplier goes bust

If your supply contract ends or your seller fails, your network operator becomes your supplier until you sign a new contract, directly or via a seller it has chosen by tender. The operator's website names that seller.

Power cut

Report power cuts to your network operator (Elektrilevi: 1343, 24/7). Faults in the distribution grid must be fixed within 12 hours in summer and 16 hours in winter; if limits are exceeded, the operator must reduce your network fee.

Cooling-off period

For contracts made by phone, at your door or elsewhere off-premises you can withdraw within 14 days without giving a reason. A phone deal binds you only after you confirm it in writing.

Smart meter

Nearly all homes already have remotely read meters, so you don't need to submit readings. Elektrilevi is replacing hourly meters with 15-minute meters by 1 March 2035. From 1 September 2026 you can ask for a meter giving near-real-time data.

Solar panels

Since 1 August 2026, customers with a two-way meter are billed on the net difference between electricity taken and fed in within each 15-minute period. Surplus fed into the grid is sold under your contract with an electricity seller.

Free energy advice

If you can't pay energy bills, contact your local government's social worker. Subsistence benefit can cover electricity and gas costs, and a disconnection notice must list social-welfare and payment options.

Fixed and dynamic contracts

Electricity packages are mainly exchange-price (börsihind), fixed-price, or a mix of both. In a fixed-term contract the seller generally may not change the electricity price during the contract term. Early exit from a fixed-term contract can cost a penalty.

• The ministry advises an exchange-price package if you want and are able to shift your use to cheaper hours, and a fixed-price package if you don't want to follow exchange prices. (mkm.ee)
• A 2025 draft amendment would oblige sellers to hedge risks so that the price agreed in a fixed-term contract stays valid until the end of the term; its adoption is not confirmed here. (kliimaministeerium.ee)

Energy sharing and communities

Energy sharing between consumers is not yet in law. In August 2026 the Ministry of Climate sent out a draft amendment to the Electricity Market Act transposing the EU energy-sharing rules; planned entry into force is spring 2028.

• Under the draft, renewable producers could share their electricity between consumers with different metering or connection points within one metering period, and one connection could have several metering points with different sellers. (kliimaministeerium.ee)

Heating without the gas grid

District heating (kaugküte) companies must have their maximum heat price (piirhind) approved by Konkurentsiamet, which decides within 30 days of a proper application. The company must publish the approved price at least 30 days before it applies.

• If a bill is unpaid, heat needed to heat a home may be cut between 1 October and 30 April only 90 days after the written notice. (konkurentsiamet.ee)

Grants for heat pumps and insulation

Owners of small houses can get EIS's grant to replace a solid-fuel heater with a heat pump, pellet or wood boiler, or a district-heating connection: up to EUR 10,000, 50% (up to 70% in some towns). The round is open until the budget runs out.

• Applications are submitted in the E-toetus environment run by Riigi Tugiteenuste Keskus. (eis.ee)
• Apartment associations apply to EIS for the apartment-building reconstruction grant in announced rounds; the last round (EUR 80 million) was open 15 September to 15 October 2025. (eis.ee)

Charging an electric car at home

Apartment associations (outside Tallinn and Tartu) with at least 10 parking spaces can get a grant from KIK for EV charge points and extra grid capacity. Dynamic load management is required and chargers must use renewable electricity only.

• The round is open until the budget runs out; applications go through the E-toetus environment. (kik.ee)

Back-billing and estimated bills

Under Elektrilevi's network terms, if a meter error exceeds the allowed limit, either side can ask for recalculation for up to 12 months (no limit if caused intentionally or by gross negligence). Unmetered use not caused by you is estimated for at most 12 months back.

• If your meter is not read remotely, you can take a reading on the last day of the month and report it within 2 days; it is then used for billing. (public-docs.elektrilevi.ee)

Energy costs for tenants

If the lease doesn't say who pays side costs (kõrvalkulud) such as electricity, water and heating, the landlord pays them by law. An agreement that the tenant pays must be in a form that can be reproduced in writing.

• Rental disputes go to court or to the local government's rent committee (üürikomisjon), which handles money claims up to EUR 3,200; its decision can be taken to court. (justdigi.ee)

Grid connection

Elektrilevi must send a connection offer within 30 calendar days of a proper application. If it is late with its obligations under the connection contract, you can claim a penalty of 0.06% of the connection fee per day of delay.

• Complaints go first to Elektrilevi (answer within 15 calendar days). Private customers can then turn to the Consumer Disputes Committee; breaches of the Electricity Market Act can be reported to Konkurentsiamet. (public-docs.elektrilevi.ee)