Cutter53

Hi,
I'm looking at moving to Spain sometime in the next 6-12 months but have seen posts on Google that the charges for utilities can be triple of those in the UK, please can someone help with answering this, many thanks, Paul

Rosemary

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst myself and BEVS moderate Europe. Please read the Site Rules Site Rules | British Expatriate Community adhere to them so that the site runs smoothly. Moderators are there to ensure that the rules of BE are maintained. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

tebo53

Hi, I've found that utility charges are cheaper than UK. But electricity charges can depend on the rating for your apartment/ Villa. Obviously if you use air conditioning, warm or cold then that will bump up your bills as will running a swimming pool.

My apartment is on low rating electricity and costs me about 35 euro a month. The higher rate is around 55 euro per month.

My water bills are in with my rental but I think it's around 85 euro per year.

We are on bottled gas, its used for cooking and a small heater and costs us about 50 euro per year.

If you intend renting then usually all the "council rates" are incorporated within the rental costs.

There is no TV licence to pay.

Food is slightly cheaper as is eating and drinking out.

Hope this helps.

Steve

Fred James

What do you mean by utilities?

Electricity is expensive but nowhere near three times the UK.

Water is supplied locally and each company charges differently.

Telephone charges vary depending on the company providing the service. ADSL is available almost everywhere via various solutions. In the towns fibre optics are well covered and run at up to 300 mb/sec which is way ahead of the UK where fast broadband is about 10mb/sec.

missile

It really depends on where you are and what your usage profile is.

Utility costs vary throughout UK and Spain. I would suggest you will use less gas / electricity than you currently consume in UK. If you budget for the same cost as you currently pay in UK you will be pretty close.

Cutter53

Thanks for the replies regarding utility costs, I must admit when I saw online that it was 3 times higher I was concerned but thank you for putting my mind at rest.
Paul