Switching electricity supplier in Greece: your rights now and under the draft law

Households in Greece can change electricity supplier without paying for the switch, a rule already set out in law 4986/2022.²⁵³ What changed on 26 August 2026 is the treatment of unpaid bills: a supplier that is owed money can now flag the customer as overdue (an «Εντολή Επισήμανσης του Πελάτη ως υπερήμερου», an order marking the customer as in default) in the network operator's system, and other suppliers can see that flag.¹ΕΛ¹ A separate draft law, open for public comment until 10:00 on 24 October 2026, would add protection for customers with a complaint pending.²

This guide sets out the rules as the official texts state them. For the colour-coded tariffs themselves, see our guide to Greek electricity tariffs. For the rest of the draft law, including the cut to the public-service (ΥΚΩ) charge, see our article on the bill.

Who sets the rules?

Three bodies matter here. The Ministry of Environment and Energy, ΥΠΕΝ (Υπουργείο Περιβάλλοντος και Ενέργειας, Ypourgeio Perivallontos kai Energeias), issues the Electricity Supply Code, the rulebook that every supplier must follow.¹ The regulator is ΡΑΑΕΥ (Ρυθμιστική Αρχή Αποβλήτων, Ενέργειας και Υδάτων, Rythmistiki Archi Apovliton, Energeias kai Ydaton), the Regulatory Authority for Waste, Energy and Water.¹² The distribution network and the meters are run by ΔΕΔΔΗΕ (Διαχειριστής Ελληνικού Δικτύου Διανομής Ηλεκτρικής Ενέργειας, Diacheiristis Ellinikou Diktyou Dianomis Ilektrikis Energeias), known in English as HEDNO.²⁵²³⁷

The Supply Code dates from 2013 (ΦΕΚ Β' 832/2013).¹ Ministerial decision ΥΠΕΝ/ΔΗΕ/94417/1420 amended it, and was published in the Government Gazette (ΦΕΚ Β' 5272) on 26 August 2026.¹ The decision was signed on 20 August 2026 by minister Stavros Papastavrou and deputy minister Nikolaos Tsafos, and applies from the day of publication.¹

Is switching supplier free in Greece?

Yes. Switching electricity supplier carries no charge for households and small businesses under law 4986/2022, which says the switching process "carries no financial burden" for them, in our translation.²⁵ΕΛ³ The draft law of October 2026 repeats the same sentence word for word, so this is not a new right.²³

Law 4986/2022 gives households a right to withdraw from a new supply contract without penalty within 14 days, or a longer period if agreed, if the supplier did not hand over certain contract information that the law lists.²⁵³

An early-exit fee is allowed only on fixed-price, fixed-term contracts, the "blue" tariffs.³⁵⁴ Under law 4986/2022 the fee must be agreed in the contract, be proportionate, not exceed the supplier's direct financial loss, and be made clear to the customer before signing.³ The supplier has to prove that loss.³ Green, yellow and orange tariffs can be left at any time without a fee, as iEnergeia reported in December 2023.⁴

How do I switch electricity supplier?

1. Compare offers. ΡΑΑΕΥ's energycost.gr lists the tariffs on sale, turns all charges into one price per kWh, and can read the QR code on your bill.¹²¹³ It also compares your current tariff even if it is no longer sold.¹²
2. Check your current contract. If it is a blue fixed-price contract, look for an early-exit fee before you leave.³⁴⁵
3. Share your details through gov.gr if you wish. Since 5 February 2025 a gov.gr service lets you consent, with Taxisnet credentials and a one-time code sent to your mobile, to your identity, contact, tax and address data being passed to the new supplier.¹⁴¹⁵ The contract itself is still signed with the supplier.¹⁴¹⁵
4. Sign with the new supplier. The Supply Code treats the signed contract with the new supplier as your written authority to end the old one, and accepts a contract signed on paper or digitally.¹ The old contract can be ended either by you or by the new supplier on your behalf.¹
5. Wait for the start date. The new supplier must file a meter "representation declaration" with the network operator within 3 days of signing.¹ The old contract ends on the day before the new supplier's representation starts, and the network operator sets that date.¹
6. Pay the old supplier's final bill. Switching does not free you from what you owe the previous supplier, which can pursue the debt "by every lawful means", in our translation.¹ The 2013 text of the Supply Code says a final bill must be sent within six weeks of the contract ending; we found that rule only in the 2013 text and could not confirm it is unchanged.¹⁹

How long does a switch take?

The Supply Code does not set a total number of days for the switch.¹ Law 4986/2022 does: the switching process may take no more than 21 calendar days from when the switch order is notified to the network operator, and from 1 January 2026 the technical switch for electricity customers is possible on any working day and takes up to 24 hours.²⁵ΕΛ We found no figures on whether this is met in practice. We could not confirm on a consolidated text whether this provision of law 4986/2022 has been amended since 2022.²⁵³ The European Commission adopted rules on 14 April 2026 so that the technical switching process can be completed within 24 hours across the EU by the end of 2026.¹⁸

Can a supplier refuse me if I owe money?

Yes. Article 28 of the Supply Code, as amended on 26 August 2026, says a supplier does not have to accept an applicant who owes overdue money to that supplier or to any other supplier.¹ΕΛ The same applies while an active overdue flag is on the applicant's record, and if a disconnection order (εντολή απενεργοποίησης μετρητή φορτίου, literally a meter deactivation order) for debt was filed against the applicant at least twice in the 12 months before the application.¹ΕΛ Debts to other suppliers and repeated disconnection orders were already grounds in the 2013 text; the active flag is new.²⁴¹ΕΛ

Article 42 goes further and blocks some switches outright. A switch is not allowed if a supplier has filed a meter disconnection order, or if active overdue flags have been filed by three or more different suppliers.¹ Suppliers have access to the active flags of existing and new customers in the network operator's system.¹ Because the disconnection order is filed together with the flag, a single supplier's unpaid-bill procedure is enough to block a switch until the orders are lifted, by our reading of Articles 39 and 42.¹ΕΛ¹

A switch is not allowed in Greece once three or more suppliers hold active overdue flags against the customer, under the Supply Code as amended on 26 August 2026.¹

New suppliers also have to tell customers, in a clearly visible field of the offer application form (Αίτηση Προσφοράς), that the supplier may ask the network operator for up to two years of consumption history and any history of overdue flags or disconnection orders.¹ Supply contracts must now contain an express clause on the customer's consent to other suppliers being told of overdue debts, overdue flags and disconnection orders when the customer asks to switch.¹

The aim, as Worldenergynews reported on 28 August 2026, is to stop what it called «ενεργειακός τουρισμός» ("energy tourism", in our translation): moving from supplier to supplier and leaving debts behind.¹⁶

When does the debt-flagging system start?

The decision has applied since 26 August 2026, but it does not give a start date for the flagging platform.¹ Insider.gr reported on 13 October 2026 that ΔΕΔΔΗΕ was signalling an early-November start for the platform, but that suppliers' readiness could push the whole timetable back to the end of the year or early 2027.⁶

The first flags can be filed only for debts that became overdue on or after 1 January 2024.¹ If, when the rules are first applied, a customer has active flags from at least three suppliers, the right to switch is restricted automatically.¹

What happens if I don't pay an electricity bill?

The amended Article 39 of the Supply Code sets the steps in this order.¹

1. Payment period. The time to pay runs from the day the bill is sent and cannot be shorter than 20 days for small customers, or 25 days from posting for a paper bill.¹ A due date on a Sunday or public holiday moves to the next working day.¹ Every supplier must offer at least one way to pay free of charge, even after the due date.¹
2. First missed deadline. The unpaid amount, with default interest, appears separately on the next bill and must be paid by that bill's deadline.¹
3. Second missed deadline. The supplier must contact the customer within 5 days, remind them of the debt and offer an instalment plan.¹ The customer must reply within 5 days.¹
4. Refusal or broken plan. If the customer refuses the plan or does not keep to it, the supplier files the overdue flag and a meter disconnection order at the same time, and tells the customer in writing about both.¹ΕΛ Written notice can be on paper or electronic.¹
5. Ten days. If the flagged customer does not pay or settle within 10 days of being told of the disconnection order, the supplier may end the contract.¹ΕΛ
6. Paying clears the flag. When the customer pays or agrees a settlement, the supplier files orders lifting the flag and the meter disconnection on the day of the payment or settlement, and they are carried out that day.¹

The order matters: under the text, the flag and the disconnection order are filed together, and the 10 days run towards a possible end of the contract, not towards the disconnection order.¹ΕΛ¹ΕΛ Insider.gr reported that some suppliers may want to file only a flag, as a way to press for payment; the published text does not provide for that for current customers.⁶¹ΕΛ

If you have already switched and leave the old supplier's final bill unpaid, the old supplier follows the same contact-and-offer steps and, if you refuse or break the offer, flags you as overdue (without a disconnection order).¹ Paying or settling lifts that flag the same day.¹

If you owe money: a checklist

• Answer the supplier's instalment offer within 5 days.¹
• Ask for a settlement: the Code requires suppliers to offer debt-settlement schemes based on reasonable, transparent and proportionate criteria.¹
• Keep written notices: the notice of the disconnection order starts the 10-day period.¹ΕΛ
• Pay or settle to have the flag and the disconnection lifted the same day.¹
• If you dispute the bill, read the next section before the deadlines run.¹

Can I be disconnected while I dispute a bill?

Under the current Code, a supplier may not file a disconnection order or end the contract for unpaid debt where the customer has filed a bill-dispute form («Έντυπο αμφισβήτησης λογαριασμού κατανάλωσης») with the supplier and has gone to a competent authority or court.¹ The text says this applies until the customer obtains an interim order (προσωρινή διαταγή, a temporary court order pending a full hearing) or a suspension of enforcement (αναστολή εκτέλεσης) of the disconnection or of the termination, as the case may be.¹ If the customer loses, the debt carries the legal rate of default interest.¹ While the dispute is pending, the supplier may refuse to renew the contract, with at least 30 days' written notice.¹

The draft law would go further. Its Article 6 would bar a supplier from ending a contract or disconnecting a customer over matters on which the customer has a pending complaint to the supplier (if not filed more than twice), or a case before the Energy Ombudsman (Ελληνικός Ενεργειακός Διαμεσολαβητής, Ellinikos Energeiakos Diamesolavitis; literally "Hellenic Energy Mediator"), the consumer authority or another out-of-court body.² That protection would lapse automatically if the application were rejected as manifestly vague, unfounded or abusive, or if the 90-day deadline for the dispute passed without a result.²

How do I complain about my supplier?

1. Complain to the supplier first. The 2013 text of the Supply Code requires a reply within 10 working days and at least two levels of review; we found that rule only in the 2013 text.²⁰
2. Then use myRAE. ΡΑΑΕΥ's myRAE platform forwards a complaint to the supplier, and mediation is possible only if that complaint did not succeed, according to reports from 2024.⁹¹⁰
3. Then the Energy Ombudsman. The Energy Ombudsman is an out-of-court dispute body within ΡΑΑΕΥ, separate from the Greek Ombudsman (Συνήγορος του Πολίτη), and started work on 1 February 2024.⁹¹⁰ Its ENOMOS platform received 270 requests in the first half of 2026, Energygame reported in June 2026.¹⁷

Requests to the Energy Ombudsman go through ΡΑΑΕΥ's ENOMOS platform (Energy Ombudsman Operating System), according to reports from 2024.⁹¹⁰ The procedure is free for consumers, ends within 90 days of a complete file, and produces a recommendation that is not binding on either side.⁹¹⁰¹¹ It includes disputes over charges, contract clauses, consumption levels and unclear bills.⁹¹¹

Who counts as a vulnerable customer, and what protection applies?

ΔΕΔΔΗΕ says suppliers cannot order a disconnection for overdue debt to customers on the vulnerable-customer register from November to March and in July and August.⁷ Registered customers also get at least 40 days to pay bills.⁷

ΔΕΔΔΗΕ lists three groups.⁷ Group A is households on the social residential tariff (ΚΟΤ), who are included automatically.⁷ Group B is households with a member who depends on life-support medical equipment, under the ΚΟΤ income criteria.⁷ Group C is people aged 70 or over in a household where all other adults are also 70 or over, under the ΚΟΤ income criteria raised by €8,000.⁷ Property criteria do not apply to groups B and C.⁷

Groups B and C apply through idika.gr, and registered customers must apply again each year, within one month after the income-tax return deadline.⁷⁸ The August 2026 amendment does not mention vulnerable customers.¹

What else would the draft law change?

The draft law has been in public consultation (#1731) on opengov.gr since 10 October 2026, is open until 10:00 on 24 October 2026, and is not yet law.² It would apply from publication in the ΦΕΚ unless an article says otherwise.²

• Fixed-price contracts. Every customer could ask for a fixed-price contract of at least one year from at least one supplier, and from every supplier with more than 200,000 customers.² Suppliers could not change its terms on their own or end it early.²
• Key-terms summary. Before signing or renewing, customers would get a summary of the total price and its breakdown, the type of pricing, the supplier's contacts and any one-off payments, offers, extra services or discounts.²
• Termination fees. ΡΑΑΕΥ would monitor and act against abusive practices and "impermissible termination fees", in our translation.²
• Dynamic pricing. A supplier would need each customer's consent before moving a contract to dynamic pricing.²
• More than one contract. Customers could hold more than one supply contract or energy-sharing agreement at the same time.²
• Supplier of last resort. Customers left without a supplier through the old supplier's fault would be served by the supplier of last resort (Προμηθευτής Τελευταίου Καταφυγίου, the supplier that steps in when another fails) for at least six months.² ot.gr reported on 12 October 2026 that this is up from three months.²¹

Key dates

• 26 August 2026: the amended Supply Code, with debt flags and new switching rules, applies from publication in the ΦΕΚ.¹
• 24 October 2026, 10:00: public consultation on the draft law closes.²
• Early November 2026 (signalled, not fixed): the start ΔΕΔΔΗΕ is signalling for its flagging platform, according to Insider.gr, which reported that the timetable could slip.⁶
• November 2026 to March 2027: winter period in which ΔΕΔΔΗΕ says registered vulnerable customers cannot be disconnected for debt.⁷