Electricity & gas in Spain: your rights

The market

Households can freely choose their electricity and gas supplier. Next to the free market there are regulated options: the PVPC for electricity (up to 10 kW) and the TUR for gas (up to 50,000 kWh a year). New retail rules (Real Decreto 88/2026) apply since February 2026.

Energy regulator

CNMC - Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia

Dispute resolution

Juntas Arbitrales de Consumo / entidades de resolución alternativa acreditadas · free

First complain to your supplier or distributor; they must answer within 15 working days. If not satisfied, go to consumer arbitration (Juntas Arbitrales de Consumo), the ADR body your company belongs to, or your region's consumer office.

Compare prices official

Comparador de ofertas de energía (CNMC)

Switching supplier

The new supplier arranges the switch. Electricity: within 10 working days of signing (15 in complex cases), and no switching fee for normal household tariffs (2.0TD). Gas: free and within 3 weeks.

Price rises

Your electricity supplier must warn you in writing, separately from the bill, at least one month before changing contract terms or prices, and tell you that you can leave at no cost. Fixed-price contracts cannot change the price during their term, except for regulated components.

Regulated price

PVPC: regulated electricity price for individuals and micro-businesses up to 10 kW, sold only by reference suppliers; it changes every hour with the wholesale market. TUR: government-set gas tariff for up to 50,000 kWh a year, sold by last-resort suppliers and updated quarterly.

Help if money is tight

Electricity bill discount for vulnerable consumers: 42.5% (57.5% for severely vulnerable) until 31 December 2026, then 35% and 50%. Apply through a reference supplier (comercializadora de referencia). Beneficiaries also receive the bono social térmico heating aid automatically.

Protection against cut-off

For PVPC customers and individuals up to 10 kW in their main home, the supplier must send a formal payment demand; supply can be cut only two months later. Bono social users get a 3.5 kW minimum supply for six months first. Life-support and some vulnerable homes can never be cut. No cuts on holidays.

If your supplier goes bust

If your electricity supplier loses its licence, you have 8 days after publication in the BOE to sign with another supplier. Otherwise a reference supplier (COR) takes over automatically under the same technical conditions, so your supply continues.

Power cut

For a power cut call your distributor's free 24-hour helpline (shown on your bill), not your supplier. You have a right to compensation when supply quality falls below regulated limits. Planned outages must be announced at least 24 hours ahead.

Cooling-off period

For contracts signed at a distance (phone, online) or away from business premises you have 14 days to withdraw. If you withdraw from a gas switch, your previous supplier continues supplying you.

Smart meter

The rollout is complete: by end-2019 over 99% of household meters (up to 15 kW) were smart and integrated, allowing hourly billing. You can see your hourly consumption on your distributor's website.

Solar panels

Owners of renewable systems up to 100 kW can have surplus power offset on their monthly electricity bill (simplified compensation). Alternatively, surplus can be sold, but not both at the same time.

Fixed and dynamic contracts

Under Real Decreto 88/2026, every electricity supplier with more than 200,000 customers must offer a dynamic-price contract if you have a remotely read meter. The regulated PVPC also follows the market hour by hour. Fixed-price offers exist on the free market.

• Before you sign a dynamic contract, the supplier must explain the opportunities, costs and risks, give you an estimate of your monthly bill based on the previous month, and get your consent (Art. 13 RD 88/2026). (boe.es)
• As a household on the 2.0TD tariff you can end your contract at any time without penalty. Only a fixed-price contract may charge an exit fee before its first yearly renewal, capped at 5% of the estimated energy still to be supplied (Art. 28). (boe.es)

Energy sharing and communities

Collective self-consumption (autoconsumo colectivo, Real Decreto 244/2019) lets several consumers share one installation, for example a building's solar panels. All participants sign a sharing agreement (coeficientes de reparto) and send it to the distributor, directly or through their supplier.

• The installation must be nearby: behind the same transformer, on the same cadastral reference, or within 500 m. Solar or wind plants up to 5 MW connected through the grid may be up to 5,000 m away (RD 244/2019, as amended in March 2026). (boe.es)
• A comunidad de propietarios can be the owner of a shared installation. (miteco.gob.es)
• Renewable energy communities (Real Decreto-ley 23/2020) are open, voluntary entities controlled by their members – citizens, SMEs or local authorities – that produce, use, store, share or sell energy for local benefit rather than profit. (idae.es)

Heating without the gas grid

Bottled butane in 8–20 kg bottles has a maximum price set every two months by the Dirección General de Política Energética y Minas; it includes home delivery. Other bottled gas prices are free. From 15 September 2026 the maximum is 123.4447 cents/kg before taxes.

• The bimonthly maximum price covers bottles of 8 to 20 kg with a tare over 9 kg; prices of other bottles are free. (miteco.gob.es)
• In buildings with central heating, and homes supplied by a district heating network, owners must install individual meters or heat cost allocators where technically viable and cost-effective, so each home pays for its own use (Real Decreto 736/2020). (boe.es)
• Piped LPG (gas por canalización) also has official regulated sale prices, published regularly in the BOE; the latest resolution is of 8 September 2026. (boe.es)

Grants for heat pumps and insulation

Housing energy-renovation grants from the Plan de Recuperación (Real Decreto 853/2021) and IDAE programmes such as PREE are run by the autonomous communities: you apply through your region's calls. Several national calls are already closed, so check your region first.

• Income-tax (IRPF) deductions for home energy-efficiency works: 20% (less heating/cooling demand), 40% (less non-renewable primary energy) and 60% (building renovation). You need energy certificates from before and after the works. (sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es)
• Real Decreto-ley 7/2026 extended the 20% and 40% deductions to 31 December 2026 and the deduction for works in mainly residential buildings to 31 December 2027. (sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es)

Back-billing and estimated bills

If your supplier billed you too little, it may correct at most one year back and you can pay the difference in as many monthly bills as months passed since the error. Overcharges must be refunded in full on the next bill, with interest (Art. 45 RD 88/2026).

• Meters are read monthly (every two months only without remote reading). If the reader cannot access your meter, they must leave a notice; the consumption may be estimated only if you do not provide the reading within 10 working days (Art. 43). (boe.es)
• If a supplier agrees other billing terms with you on the free market, it must still bill on actual consumption at least once a year. (boe.es)

Energy costs for tenants

Under the tenancy law (LAU, Art. 20), costs of services measured by individual meters, such as electricity or gas, are always paid by the tenant. General building costs are only yours if the contract says so in writing, with the yearly amount.

• An electricity contract is personal: its holder must be the person who actually uses the energy, so as a tenant you can put the supply in your own name (Art. 28 RD 88/2026). (boe.es)
• With central or district heating, the building must install individual meters or heat cost allocators where viable, and your bill is split into a fixed part and a variable part based on your use (Real Decreto 736/2020). (boe.es)

Vulnerable and medical customers

If a doctor documents that electricity is essential for medical equipment keeping someone alive at home, including electrodependent people, the supply can be declared essential and can never be cut. Give the medical documentation to your distributor, which records it in the SIPS.

• Bono social households with a child under 16, a member with recognised dependency (grade II or III) or a disability of 33% or more are also protected, with a certificate from public social services (Art. 53 RD 88/2026). (boe.es)
• Severely vulnerable consumers at risk of social exclusion who are being helped by social services are protected in the same way in their main home, with a document from those services. (boe.es)

Grid connection

For a new low-voltage supply up to 15 kW with no network extension, the distributor must give you the technical and economic conditions in writing within 5 working days, and connect and install the meter within 5 working days after you sign the supply contract (Art. 103 RD 1955/2000).

• If the network must be built out after you pay the connection charges (derechos de acometida): 5 working days with no extension, 30 if only the low-voltage network is extended, 60 if a transformer station is needed. Time for permits does not count. (boe.es)
• The distributor must justify in writing the connection charges it asks for; the quote stays valid for at least three months. If you cannot agree on the deadline, the competent regional authority sets it. (boe.es)
• Disputes about access to the transmission and distribution networks can be brought to the CNMC (Art. 12 Ley 3/2013). (boe.es)

Consumer organisation

OCU - Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios