The Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) is a public corporate body provided with administrative and financial autonomy of its own as well as its own assets, its purpose being the regulation of the natural gas and electricity sectors. ERSE is governed by its Statutes, approved by Decree-law nº 97/2002 and emended by Decree-law nº 212/2012 and Decree-law nº 84/2013, by the legal provisions that are specifically applicable to it, and complemented by the regime of public business entities. ERSE is independent in the exercise of its functions, within the framework of the law, without prejudice to either the orientating principles of the energy policy fixed by the government, under constitutional and legal terms, or to the acts subject to ministerial supervision under the terms of the law and of its Statutes. The aims of ERSE’s activities are: to protect the interests of consumers, in particular the vulnerable customers, with regard to prices, service quality, access to information; to ensure the existence of conditions of economic and financial balance by the activities of the regulated sectors exercised in the public interest, when managed properly and efficiently; promoting as regulator and accordance with applicable law, competition in the energy markets; to encourage efficient energy use and protection of the environment; and also to arbitrate and resolve disputes, encouraging the settlement of disputes outside of the courts.