SMAS
Published 8 November 2026, 21:11
SMAS — Serviços Municipalizados de Água e Saneamento (municipal water and sewerage service)
Not an outside company but part of the town hall itself. Under Articles 8–10 of Lei n.º 50/2012, a municipality may set up a municipalised service: it is part of the town administration but is run like a business, with its own board, its own organisation and municipal accounts. Such a service can handle water, sewerage, rubbish collection and street cleaning, urban transport and low-voltage electricity.
Where you come across it. A water contract when you move, bills, direct debit, the connection deposit.
There is no single water supplier for the whole country: in some places it is SMAS, in others "Águas de…", in others a private concession — so both the price and the connection procedure depend on the municipality. Direct debit is cancelled with the service itself, not at the bank. The full name varies from town to town (it may end "e Saneamento" or "de Água e Saneamento"), but it is the same thing.