A Portuguese consumer rights association has launched a class action against Spain’s electricity grid operator, Red Eléctrica de España (REE), seeking compensation for millions of consumers affected by the massive Iberian blackout that brought Portugal and Spain to a standstill on April 28, 2025.
If the case is allowed to proceed, it could become one of Portugal’s largest consumer lawsuits, with total compensation potentially running into tens or even hundreds of millions of euros, depending on the damages ultimately awarded.
According to CNN Portugal, the action was filed with Lisbon’s Central Civil Court by Citizens’ Voice – Consumer Advocacy Association, which argues it would be impractical for individual consumers to pursue separate legal claims.
The association is seeking compensation on behalf of all private electricity consumers in mainland Portugal affected by the outage.
Citizens’ Voice says consumers suffered not only direct financial losses but also disruption to their daily lives through the loss of electricity, communications, security and basic household services.
The claim covers spoiled food and medicines, damaged electrical appliances, emergency expenses incurred during the blackout, lost income and, in the most serious cases, hardship experienced by people dependent on electrically-powered medical equipment (readers may remember there was at least one report of someone dependent on a ventilator dying as a result of the 12-hour power failure).
The association is not seeking a fixed overall compensation figure at this stage, arguing that material damages vary from case to case and should be assessed later if the court finds REE liable.
It is also asking the court to award compensation for non-material damages, leaving individual amounts to the judge’s discretion.
Citizens’ Voice representative Otávio Viana said that even relatively modest awards could translate into hundreds of millions of euros overall if millions of consumers are ultimately covered by the action.
The lawsuit argues that the blackout was not the result of force majeure, but instead stemmed from alleged failures in the planning, programming and operation of the Spanish transmission network managed by REE.
According to the claim, the operator should have maintained larger stability reserves, operated the system with wider safety margins and responded more quickly to early signs of instability on the Iberian electricity grid.
In addition to financial compensation, the association is asking the court to order REE to introduce structural reforms to the management of its transmission network, including stronger stability reserves, upgraded protection systems, new cross-border emergency response procedures and regular independent technical audits.
It also proposes financial penalties of at least €500,000 for each failure to implement the measures ordered by the court and €100,000 for every day of delay.
The lawsuit, however, faces an initial legal hurdle before any trial can begin.
Portugal’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has argued that the case should be dismissed at the outset, contending that it does not meet the legal criteria for a collective action. Prosecutors point to the vast number of potential claimants, the wide variation in alleged losses and the absence of any direct contractual relationship between Portuguese consumers and the Spanish grid operator.
Citizens’ Voice rejects that interpretation, arguing that the case concerns non-contractual civil liability arising from alleged breaches of legal duties to ensure the safety and continuity of electricity supply – meaning a contractual relationship is not required.
The court must now decide whether the action can proceed.
If it is admitted, affected consumers would automatically become part of the case unless they choose to opt out. They would not need to hire lawyers individually and would not face legal costs if the action is ultimately unsuccessful.
Viana acknowledged that the greatest challenge is likely to be the length and complexity of the proceedings, with the court expected to require extensive technical evidence to determine precisely what caused the collapse of the Iberian power grid and whether, as the association alleges, REE could and should have prevented it.
Source: Executive Digest