How to switch electricity company without ever losing supply

The number one fear when it comes to switching electricity company is the same for everyone: "what if I end up with no power?". The short answer is that you don't. And the long answer is worth reading, because there are three or four things about this process that are worth knowing and that nobody tells you.

Why you never lose supply: there are two companies, not one

This is the piece that explains everything. Two separate companies are involved in your supply:

• The distributor owns the cables, the meter and the infrastructure in your street. It's assigned to you by geographical area and you don't get to choose it. It's the company that keeps the supply running and the one you call if there's an outage.
• The retailer is the one that sells you the energy and issues your bill. This one you do choose, and it's the one you switch.

When you switch retailer, the distributor stays exactly the same. Nobody comes to your house, nobody touches the meter, nobody disconnects anything. The switch is administrative: it's a change to the sales contract, not building work. Supply is continuous by design.

What you need in order to switch

Surprisingly little:

• Your CUPS, the 20- or 22-character code that identifies your supply point. It's on your bill, and we explain it in what the CUPS is and where to find it.
• Your details as account holder and a bank account for the direct debit.
• Nothing else. You don't need to ring your current company, or cancel anything, or ask permission. The new retailer handles the entire process with the distributor.

You don't have to cancel your previous contract yourself. In fact, you shouldn't: cancelling it before the switch has gone through is the one way to genuinely end up without supply.

How long it takes under the 2026 rules

Spain's Real Decreto 88/2026, in force since February 2026, set specific deadlines: a change of retailer must be completed within a maximum of 10 working days from the contract being signed. Only in exceptional cases can that be extended by a further five working days, and only if complex work on the installation is required.

In practice, the switch usually takes effect in the next billing cycle. You may receive one last bill from your previous company for the days you had already used: that's normal, and it isn't a charge for switching.

What they can't charge you for

This is where the 2026 rules were particularly clear:

• On the domestic tariff (2.0TD) no fee can be charged for switching retailer. If somebody mentions an "administration cost" or a "switching fee", it has no legal basis.
• Domestic contracts on a variable price cannot have a lock-in period: you can leave whenever you like.
• On domestic contracts at a fixed price, there may be a penalty before the first renewal, but it is capped at 5% of the value of the energy still to be supplied.
• Outside the domestic segment, the maximum lock-in is one year and the penalty has the same 5% cap.

And on top of all that, the right of withdrawal still applies: you have 14 calendar days from signing to change your mind at no cost and without giving reasons, even if the process has already started.

How to tell whether you have a lock-in period

Look for it in your contract, not on your bill — the bill almost never says. The words to search for are "permanencia", "compromiso de duración" or "penalización por baja anticipada". If you have the contract as a PDF, Ctrl+F settles it in ten seconds.

If you can't find it, ask your retailer: they're obliged to provide you with your contract terms. And if the answer is that there's no lock-in period on record, keep it in writing.

Before you sign: the five things to check

Switching is easy. Switching well takes rather more than looking at the cents per kWh in the advert:

1. The price including tax. Almost every offer is advertised without it. Comparing one with tax against one without inflates the difference by 25%.
2. The power term. It's charged 365 days a year whether you use electricity or not. An offer with cheap energy and expensive power can work out worse for you.
3. Whether the price is promotional. Plenty of offers have one price for the first year and then renew at a considerably worse one. Ask what happens in month thirteen.
4. Any added services. Maintenance plans, insurance, call-out cover. They aren't energy, they slip in when you sign up and then stay for years.
5. The fixed management fee, common on indexed tariffs and on some fixed ones.

And one general recommendation: don't decide over the phone. If somebody calls you with an offer, ask them to send it in writing and compare it at your own pace. And if you hadn't asked for that call in the first place, it's worth knowing that since 2026 unsolicited sales calls about electricity to private individuals are prohibited.

The step almost nobody takes first

Before switching company, check whether your company is actually the problem. We've seen a lot of bills where the overcharge wasn't in the tariff but in more contracted power than the home needs or in services nobody had asked for. In those cases, switching retailer without fixing that simply carries the same problem over to another company.

Go through the 5 signs you're paying too much first and, if you have power to spare, how to lower it.

The quick way to find out whether it's worth it

You can do it by hand: note down your power, your consumption, your price including tax and your extra services, and compare them against whatever offers you have on the table, in annual cost.

Or upload your bill. At luzgasia our AI reads it in seconds and tells you what you'd pay on the tariffs we have, with taxes included and with the tax treatment of your own region. And if your current tariff is already good, we'll tell you so: a comparison tool that always finds a saving is no use to anyone.

It's free, with no strings attached and no sales calls: you see your analysis first and decide afterwards. Analyse your bill now.