An Estonian household buys electricity on an open market: you pick a seller, and a separate, regulated network charge from Elektrilevi arrives on the same bill whoever you choose. Heat in a city apartment comes from a district-heating pipe at a tariff the Competition Authority approves, water from a single municipal company at a tariff the same authority approves, and rubbish through a carrier the city assigned to your street. The parts you can shop for are the energy component of electricity and, if you have it, gas; everything else is a monopoly with a published price. Below: what those prices are, what a kilowatt-hour really costs once the network, the levies and 24% VAT are stacked on top, and which contracts you sign yourself and which the building signs for you.
Table of Contents
How the electricity market works
Two contracts sit behind one meter, and Elering, the state transmission operator, is the authority on how they work. The network contract (võrguleping) is with the distribution operator that owns the wires in your area, which for 95% of the country's distribution network is Elektrilevi; it carries the electricity and reads the meter. The electricity contract (elektrileping) is with a seller of your choice, who buys the energy on the market and bills you for it. You cannot choose your network operator. You can choose your seller freely, and switching is free.
Sellers offer five kinds of package, and Elering names them. A pure exchange-price package (börsihind) charges you the Nord Pool day-ahead price for each pricing interval plus the seller's margin. A monthly-average package charges the average exchange price for the month. A fixed-price package locks a price per kilowatt-hour for a term, typically six months to three years. A hybrid splits your consumption between fixed and exchange. A green package adds a certificate of renewable origin. On the exchange, the price for each interval is set where the supply and demand curves that all the market participants submitted for the next day cross; since October 2025 that happens in quarter-hour intervals rather than hourly, and where a meter cannot yet be read every quarter-hour, the hourly reading is split into four equal parts.
There is also the general service (üldteenus), and it is worth understanding because it is what you are on by default. If a small consumer, meaning a connection point up to a modest amperage, has a valid network contract but no electricity contract, the network operator must still supply electricity, and it does so at a price the Electricity Market Act regulates: the exchange price plus a margin and the network operator's justified costs. For Elektrilevi customers that general service is provided by Enefit, and Enefit's own consumer-education site describes it plainly as the most expensive way to buy electricity. You land on it when you move into a flat, sign the network contract and forget the second contract; the remedy is to sign a package with any seller.
The universal service (universaalteenus) was a different thing and it has ended: a regulated price the Competition Authority set on a confirmed production cost, which Parliament's own summary of the reform gives a life of 1 October 2022 to 30 April 2026. If anyone tells you to "take the universal service", that option no longer exists for a household.
Switching costs nothing and never interrupts supply. Elering's rules require at least 14 days' notice through the Estfeed data hub, a new contract can start at midnight on any calendar day, and signing with a new seller automatically ends the old contract. Check your existing one first: a fixed-price package with a term may carry an early-termination charge, the seller's condition rather than the market's.
Who sells electricity and what they charge
Elektrilevi keeps the list of sellers that hold a valid open-supplier contract with it, and that list is the answer to "who actually sells to households today". It includes Enefit (formerly trading as Eesti Energia), Alexela and Alexela Energia Teenused, Elenger Grupp (the former Eesti Gaas), Elektrum Eesti, Ignitis Eesti, Olerex Energia, Silpower, Sunly Retail, Viru Elektrivõrgud, VKG Energia and Volton, among others. The brand 220 Energia is gone: Alexela's own notice records that 220 Energia OÜ was merged into AS Alexela on 11 June 2024 and the old website now redirects to Alexela, so a 220 Energia contract is now an Alexela one. Eesti Energia the retail brand is also gone; the seller on the list is Enefit OÜ, and the price pages live at enefit.ee.
The cards below cover the sellers whose public price pages carry a dated household tariff; Enefit shows its prices only inside its self-service, so its card carries no per-kilowatt-hour figure. Elektrum Eesti, VKG Energia, Ignitis and the others on Elektrilevi's list are equally valid, and the bill structure in the next section applies to every one of them.
None of the sellers on this page has paid for placement, and none of the links below is an affiliate link: each goes to the seller's own public page. The cards run incumbent first, then the two sellers with open price pages, and that order reflects no commercial relationship. Some other pages on this site carry commission links, and those are marked where they appear.
Enefit (formerly Eesti Energia)
The incumbent, with seasonal packages
Key features
- Provides the regulated general service
- Seasonal package: exchange summer, fixed winter
- Explicit moving guidance, network contract first
Account details
- Fixed package
- Kindel: six months to three years
- Exchange package
- Muutuv: open-ended, quarter-hour billing
- Seasonal package
- Hooajakindel: exchange summer, fixed winter
- Published price per kWh
- Only in self-service
Summary
- Provides the regulated general service
- Seasonal package: exchange summer, fixed winter
- Explicit moving guidance, network contract first
- No public per-kilowatt-hour price
- Some fixed contracts carry termination fees
- Comparison needs a self-service login
Alexela
Fixed day and night prices published
Key features
- Prices published openly and dated
- Home package fixes the fee, not energy
- Exchange packages are open-ended
Account details
- Fixed price, day
- 14.9 c/kWh
- Fixed price, night
- 12 c/kWh
- Fixed pricing period
- 6 months
- Exchange package
- Nord Pool + 0.47 c/kWh, €2.02 a month
- Home exchange package
- Nord Pool, no margin, €4.99 a month
Summary
- Prices published openly and dated
- Home package fixes the fee, not energy
- Exchange packages are open-ended
- Fixed price guaranteed only 6 months
- VAT treatment not stated
- Monthly fee is extra to network fees
Elenger (formerly Eesti Gaas)
Gas and electricity on one invoice
Key features
- Every published price states VAT treatment
- Flexible gas price published monthly
- One account for gas and electricity
Account details
- Fixed price from
- 12.07 c/kWh incl. VAT
- Fixed terms
- One to three years
- Exchange package
- Nord Pool + 0.67 c/kWh
- Gas and electricity
- One joint invoice
Summary
- Every published price states VAT treatment
- Flexible gas price published monthly
- One account for gas and electricity
- The fixed price is a floor
- A long fixed term bets against exchange
- No seasonal hybrid like Enefit's
Enefit is the general-service provider for Elektrilevi customers, so a flat with no chosen package is already billed by Enefit at a regulated price and moving onto a package is a formality — which also means many households pay Enefit without ever having chosen one. Its Kindel fixed packages run six months, one year or three years, the Muutuv exchange package is open-ended and billed per quarter-hour, and Hooajakindel takes exchange prices from April to September and a fixed price from October to March, which no other seller here offers. It publishes monthly exchange averages incl. VAT, so you can see what the variable package would have cost, and its moving guidance is explicit: the network contract first, then the electricity contract from the same date. Some fixed contracts carry an early-termination fee, stated in the contract terms.
Alexela is the one to read if you want the fixed price before signing anything: the figures are on the public page, dated by the pricing period, and both exchange packages are open-ended. The Home package adds no margin at all — €4.99 a month incl. VAT, free to switch or end — and its 12-month price period fixes the fee rather than the energy price, which stays at pure exchange. Two cautions. The fixed price is only guaranteed for 6 months, after which it is re-set, and the fixed-price page carries no VAT label, so confirm in the contract whether the 14.9 and 12 cent figures are gross. The monthly fee of €2.02 or €4.99 sits on top of the network's own monthly fee.
Elenger suits a house or older flat with a gas hob or boiler that wants one supplier and one bill. Every published price says whether VAT is included, which makes comparison honest: fixed terms run up to three years, each published with VAT, and the exchange margin is stated gross, so it can be added straight to the monthly averages Enefit publishes. A green option is offered, and the flexible gas price is published month by month, incl. VAT, on a public history page. The fixed figure is a floor rather than a quote — the exact price depends on the term and the day you sign — and a long fixed term is a bet on the exchange: the summer months of 2026 were far below any fixed price.
Whichever seller you pick, the meter, the network fee and the levies are identical. The only things that differ are the energy price per kilowatt-hour, the seller's monthly fee, and the term. That is why the next section matters more than the cards.
What a kilowatt-hour really costs
Elering lists the parts of a household electricity bill: the energy, the network charge (võrgutasu), electricity excise (elektriaktsiis), the renewable-energy charge (taastuvenergia tasu), and VAT on the lot. From 2026 there are two more lines, both collected through Elektrilevi on behalf of Elering: a balancing-capacity cost and a security-of-supply charge. Elering's own estimate is that the two new items together add about €3 to €4 a month to an average household.
The network charge is the biggest fixed part. Elektrilevi's price list in force from 1 June 2026 was approved by the Competition Authority on 2 March 2026, and for the standard apartment package, Võrk 1, it is €3.48 a month plus 9.57 cents per kilowatt-hour transmitted, both with VAT. Elektrilevi announced the new list as an average rise of 3.4% over the list that ran from August 2025 to the end of May 2026, driven by the cost of buying transmission from Elering and by inflation, and put the monthly-fee increase at €0.69 for an apartment and €1.26 for a house on a larger main fuse. Houses and larger flats sit on other network packages with their own monthly fee and transmission rates, and you may change package, but changing again inside 365 days costs €4.96.
The levies are small individually and add up. The renewable-energy charge for 2026 is 0.84 cents per kilowatt-hour before VAT, unchanged from 2025. The security-of-supply charge, new from 1 January 2026, is €7.58 per megawatt-hour before VAT, which Elering translates as about €2.35 a month for a household using 250 kilowatt-hours. The balancing-capacity charge, also new from January 2026 and first seen on February bills, is €3.73 per megawatt-hour, which ERR reported as about €1.20 a month for the same household. Electricity excise rose to €3.07 per megawatt-hour on 1 May 2026. VAT is 24% on the whole bill, including the network fee and the levies.
The energy component is the part that swings. Enefit publishes the monthly average exchange price for Estonia with VAT: 19.15 cents in January 2026, 19.17 in February, 7.99 in June and 5.46 in July — about three and a half times more per kilowatt-hour for energy in January than in July. A fixed package smooths that, and also means paying the fixed price through a summer when the exchange was far below it.
| Line on the bill | Set by | July 2026 exchange household | Elenger fixed household |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | Seller | 5.46 + 0.67 c/kWh (exchange avg + margin, incl. VAT) | 12.07 c/kWh incl. VAT (from) |
| Network transmission | Elektrilevi, approved by the Competition Authority | 9.57 c/kWh incl. VAT | 9.57 c/kWh incl. VAT |
| Renewable-energy charge | Elering | 1.04 c/kWh incl. VAT | 1.04 c/kWh incl. VAT |
| Security-of-supply charge | Elering | 0.94 c/kWh incl. VAT | 0.94 c/kWh incl. VAT |
| Balancing-capacity charge | Elering | €3.73 per MWh | €3.73 per MWh |
| Electricity excise | State, from 1 May 2026 | €3.07 per MWh before VAT | €3.07 per MWh before VAT |
| Monthly fees | Network + seller | €3.48 network + seller's fee | €3.48 network + seller's fee |
Put the per-kilowatt-hour lines together for July 2026 and an exchange household on Elenger's margin paid roughly 17.7 cents per kilowatt-hour before the excise and balancing lines and before either monthly fee, of which the energy itself was only 5.46 cents. The regulated part of a kilowatt-hour was bigger than the market part all summer. In January the same sum was about 31.4 cents, and the energy was the majority. That is the whole exchange-versus-fixed question in two numbers.
Read the price with the VAT label
Elektrilevi, Elering and Elenger publish prices with and without VAT and say which. Alexela's fixed-price page publishes 14.9 and 12 cents without saying. Before comparing sellers, put every figure on the same footing; a 24% difference is larger than the gap between most packages.
District heating and the winter bill
Most apartment buildings in Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu and Narva are heated from a district network (kaugküte), and the heat price is not a market price: the heat company applies to the Competition Authority, which approves a maximum price per megawatt-hour. The tariffs below are the ones the companies publish on their own price pages, and the same authority approved every one of them.
Utilitas, which heats Tallinn and Maardu, publishes a ceiling of €77.82 per megawatt-hour before VAT, and its smaller networks range from €59.32 in Valga to €71.97 in Haapsalu and €75.17 in Keila. Gren, which heats Tartu and Pärnu, publishes €65.39 for Tartu from 1 October 2026, after a step from €58.97 to €64.69 in May 2025 that it explained by fuel and network costs, and €68.76 for Pärnu. Narva is the outlier at €137.69. Add 24% VAT to each.
You do not buy heat by the megawatt-hour on your own meter. Gren's customer questions explain the mechanics and Utilitas's contract page confirms them: the heat company's meter sits in the building's substation, the company bills the building each month for the megawatt-hours that passed through it, and the building's owner or apartment association (korteriühistu) divides that among the flats by the key the co-owners have agreed. The association also sets the price of hot water where it is made in the building's own heat exchanger. Your January line is your share of the whole building's January consumption at the regulated tariff, so a badly insulated building with an old substation costs its tenants more per square metre than a renovated one at exactly the same tariff. There is no summer-to-winter smoothing unless the association bills a flat monthly average, which some do and many do not.
Ask for last winter's bills before you sign a lease
The tariff tells you nothing about a specific flat. A January bill for the same apartment does. Landlords have them, because the association sends them every month, and a landlord who will not show one is telling you something.
Heating in a house is a different question: a private house on gas, a heat pump or a wood boiler buys fuel or electricity at the prices on this page and has no association in between. A heat pump moves the whole heating cost onto the electricity bill, where the winter exchange prices above land in full.
Gas, water and waste
Gas reaches a minority of homes, mostly older Tallinn flats with a gas hob and houses with a gas boiler. The structure mirrors electricity: a network contract with the gas distributor, and a supply contract with a seller. Gaasivõrk, the distribution operator, publishes a household network tariff from 1 September 2026 of €7.32 a month plus 0.8955 cents per kilowatt-hour, both with VAT; the network contract itself is free and is concluded by sending the form to the operator. The main seller is Elenger, the company that was Eesti Gaas until it renamed itself, and its flexible household package is priced month by month and published a month in advance: €0.54 per cubic metre with VAT in January 2026, €0.80 in May, €0.84 in September and €0.96 for October, plus a monthly fee of €2.02. Gas excise rose to €66.58 per thousand cubic metres on 1 May 2026. A flat that only cooks on gas will find the two monthly fees larger than the gas.
Water and sewerage come from one company per town, and the tariff is approved by the Competition Authority the same way heat is. Tallinna Vesi's price list from 1 July 2026 charges Tallinn and Saue households €1.48 per cubic metre for water and €1.39 for sewerage, €2.87 together with VAT, from a pre-VAT total of €2.31; the city's notice put the change at an average of 2.5% and gave Maardu's pre-VAT figure as €3.42. Tartu Veevärk's list from 1 February 2026 is €1.34 for water and €1.76 for sewerage, €3.10 together with VAT. In an apartment building the water company meters the building and the association divides the bill by the flat meters, and it is the association, not you, that has the contract with the water company; in a house you contract directly.
| Service | Who bills an apartment | Who bills a house | Tariff set by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity energy | Your seller, direct | Your seller, direct | Seller, on the open market |
| Electricity network | Elektrilevi, direct | Elektrilevi, direct | Competition Authority |
| District heat | Apartment association | Not applicable | Competition Authority |
| Water and sewerage | Apartment association | Water company, direct | Competition Authority |
| Gas | Seller and Gaasivõrk, direct | Seller and Gaasivõrk, direct | Seller; network by the Competition Authority |
| Waste | Apartment association | Assigned carrier, direct | Carrier's contract with the city |
Household waste is organised by the municipality. Tallinn's rules divide the city into collection zones, each with a carrier that won the tender for that zone, and you cannot choose another. An apartment building's association holds the contract and sets the container schedule; a house owner contracts with the assigned carrier directly. Separate collection of biowaste has been compulsory since June 2023, packaging goes to the separate packaging containers outside the paid scheme, and the price per emptying depends on container size and frequency in the carrier's contract for your zone.
Tenant, landlord and the newcomer's checklist
The default rule in the Law of Obligations Act is that a tenant owes rent, and owes the ancillary costs (kõrvalkulud) only where the lease says so. Nearly every Estonian lease does say so, and the usual split is that the tenant pays the consumption-based utilities and the landlord keeps the owner's costs. The apartment association's monthly invoice lists both kinds on one sheet, which is why the split has to be written down.
Usually the tenant's — consumption and the services the flat itself uses:
- Electricity, on a contract in the tenant's own name or reimbursed to the landlord.
- Heat and hot water, the flat's share on the association invoice.
- Cold water and sewerage by the flat meter.
- Waste collection, the flat's share.
- Gas, if the flat has it.
- Internet and television, contracted by the tenant.
Stays with the landlord — ownership costs, whatever the lease says:
- Repair fund contributions (remondifond).
- Repayments of a loan the association took for renovation.
- Land tax and building insurance.
- Any charge not directly related to the use of the flat.
Repair fund and association loan repayments are the lines people fight over. A lease clause that shifts them onto the tenant is void under the same Act, because they are not costs of using the flat but of owning it; a landlord may of course set the rent higher to cover them. If the association invoice simply arrives at the flat and you are asked to pay it in full, ask which lines are yours.
The other thing a newcomer needs is the order of operations, which Enefit's moving guide and Elektrilevi's contract page set out. The network contract comes first, and it does not have to be in the owner's name: Elektrilevi will sign it with any person who consumes electricity at that address, through its self-service, for free. The electricity contract is signed second, with a start date matching the network contract. If a previous occupant has ended the network contract and nobody signs a new one within 30 days, Elektrilevi switches the meter off and reconnection is a paid service. Ending the network contract later ends the electricity contract with it.
Both contracts are signed online with an Estonian ID card, Mobile-ID or Smart-ID, which is why the personal code comes first; until you have one, the usual arrangement is that the landlord keeps both contracts in his own name and passes the bills on, and the lease should say so. Bills arrive as an e-invoice to your Estonian bank, where a standing order can pay them. The personal code and bank account pages cover those steps.
Why You Can Trust This Guide
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still get the universal service (universaalteenus) as a household?
No. Parliament's summary of the electricity reform gives the household universal service a life from 1 October 2022 to 30 April 2026, and it has ended. What remains is a free choice of seller and package, plus the general service (üldteenus), which is the regulated default price you pay if you have a network contract but no electricity contract. The general service is the most expensive option, not a bargain, and the way off it is to sign any package with any seller.
How much does it cost to switch electricity seller, and how long does it take?
Switching is free and supply is never interrupted. Elering's rules require at least 14 days' notice, a new contract can start at midnight on any calendar day, and signing with the new seller ends the old contract automatically. The only possible cost is an early-termination fee on a fixed-term package you are leaving, which is a condition of that contract rather than of the market, so read the contract before switching.
What does a kilowatt-hour actually cost me in Tallinn in 2026?
The energy is whatever your seller charges: the monthly average exchange price ranged from 5.46 cents in July to 19.15 cents in January 2026 including VAT, and fixed packages published openly start around 12.07 cents at Elenger and 14.9 cents by day at Alexela. On top of that, every household on Elektrilevi's Võrk 1 package pays 9.57 cents per kilowatt-hour transmission and €3.48 a month, plus 1.04 cents renewable charge and 0.94 cents security-of-supply charge, all including VAT, plus the balancing charge and excise. In summer the regulated part is bigger than the energy.
Why is my district-heating bill so much higher than the published tariff suggests?
Because the tariff is a price per megawatt-hour delivered to the building, not to your flat. The heat company meters the building's substation and bills the apartment association monthly; the association divides that among the flats by floor area or by allocators. A poorly insulated building with an old substation uses far more megawatt-hours per square metre than a renovated one at the same tariff, and a January bill reflects January consumption in full unless the association has chosen to bill a monthly average. Ask the landlord for last winter's association invoices before signing.
Which bills does a tenant pay and which stay with the landlord?
Under the Law of Obligations Act a tenant pays ancillary costs only where the lease says so, and almost every lease does. Consumption-based lines are normally the tenant's: electricity, heat and hot water, water and sewerage, waste, gas and internet. Repair fund contributions and repayments of an association loan belong to ownership, and a clause shifting them to the tenant is void; land tax and building insurance are also the owner's. The association invoice lists both kinds together, so agree the split in writing.
Do I need an Estonian personal code to open an electricity account?
In practice yes, because both the Elektrilevi network contract and the seller's electricity contract are signed in online self-service with an ID card, Mobile-ID or Smart-ID, and billed by e-invoice to an Estonian bank account. Elektrilevi will sign the network contract with any person who consumes electricity at the address, not only the owner, so a tenant can hold it in his own name. Until you have the personal code, the usual arrangement is that the landlord keeps both contracts and re-bills you.
What happens if I move in and nobody signs a network contract?
Elektrilevi's contract page is explicit: if the previous occupant ended the network contract and no new one is signed within 30 days, the meter is switched off and reconnection is a paid service. Sign the network contract first, from the day you take the keys, and the electricity contract from the same date; ending the network contract later ends the electricity contract automatically.
Is gas worth having, and what does it cost?
A flat that only cooks on gas pays two monthly fees that outweigh the gas itself: Gaasivõrk's household network tariff from 1 September 2026 is €7.32 a month plus 0.8955 cents per kilowatt-hour with VAT, and Elenger's flexible package adds €2.02 a month on top of a price it publishes monthly, which ran from €0.54 per cubic metre in January 2026 to €0.96 for October. For a house with a gas boiler the sums are different and the flexible price history on Elenger's page is the place to model them.
Who collects the rubbish and can I choose a cheaper carrier?
No. Tallinn and the other cities run organised waste collection by zone: one carrier wins the tender for each zone and every household in it must use that carrier. An apartment building's association holds the contract; a house owner signs with the assigned carrier directly. The price per emptying depends on container size and frequency in the carrier's contract for your zone. Biowaste must be separated, and packaging goes to the free packaging containers outside the paid scheme.
Fixed or exchange price: which should a newcomer take?
The 2026 numbers frame it. Monthly average exchange prices including VAT were 19.15 cents in January and 5.46 cents in July; openly published fixed prices start at 12.07 cents at Elenger for a term of one to three years. An exchange package wins in a mild year and loses in a cold one, and a fixed package signed in a high-price month locks that month in. A household that cannot absorb a winter bill twice the summer one should fix; one that can, and that will shift washing and charging to cheap quarter-hours, will usually pay less on the exchange.
Compare the packages before the first bill arrives
Enefit, Alexela and Elenger publish their package structures openly, and the network charge is the same whichever you choose. Pick one before the general service picks for you.