Portugal sees surge in power outage compensation

A report released today by the Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) on the technical performance of electricity network operators in 2025 states that: “In 2025, service continuity indicators showed a worsening compared to the previous year, marked, on the mainland, mainly by the impact of the Iberian 'blackout' of April 28.”

With regard to the distribution network, operated by E-Redes, the regulator indicates that “the worsening of the overall indicators was mainly determined by the occurrence of seven high-impact incidents, also classified as exceptional events,” notably the “blackout,” which interrupted all customers for an average period of about 10 hours per customer, Executive Digest reports.

However, the regulator emphasises that “all general standards applicable to medium and low voltage networks were met in the three service quality zones.”

Compensation payments double

According to the report, breaches of individual service quality standards rose by approximately 53 percent in 2025, reaching 111,182. As a result, compensation paid to customers totalled approximately 2.1 million euros, twice the amount paid in 2024.

According to ERSE, Portugal’s electricity transmission network, operated by Rede Eléctrica Nacional (REN), recorded 92 supply interruptions in 2025. Of these, 87 were linked to the “Iberian blackout” and classified as exceptional events.

Despite the overall decline in service continuity, the regulator confirmed that “individual standards have been met at all delivery points.”