“People who have been without electricity for several days should not pay for a service that was not provided to them during that time. It is the state’s duty to ensure a fair solution for residents who had to wait more than 72 hours for the restoration of electricity supply,” the Ministry of Climate and Energy (MCE) stated.
Currently, regulations provide for compensation for unplanned power outages lasting more than 24 hours. However, this procedure does not apply if the outage is recorded during a period when at least a yellow warning for adverse weather conditions has been declared.
Therefore, in the case of prolonged power outages caused by storms or flooding, compensation for consumers in Latvia is not automatically granted.
The MCE discussed with the management of AS Sadales tīkls and AS Augstsprieguma tīkls the principle that if a consumer’s electricity supply is absent for more than 72 hours due to a storm or flooding, no fixed fee for connection should be charged to the consumer for the corresponding month.
It should be noted that the ministry is only preparing the necessary amendments to the regulations. However, there is a chance that after their adoption, the new procedure will be applied to consumers affected by this storm.
As reported by [bb.lv](https://bb.lv/statja/nasha-latvija/2026/08/22/otkliuceniia-elektricestva-po-vsei-strane), during the last storm, every third family was left without electricity.