missile

I was factoring the cost of converting to pounds LOL :-)

missile

and I am not good at maths :-)

old.sparkles

Stingychips

I could not believe how expensive food is when I arrived in Spain. It’s a lot more expensive than the UK where I live. Only cigarettes abs alcohol are cheaper. Also there is an article today about the ECB not buying up any more Spanish debt anymore so expect things to get a lot lot worse. With Spains lefty government which are hell bent on destroying business with covid restrictions id start to worry if you have a limited income.

olivefarmer

I have seen the size of the product here go down and the price stay the same. Smoke and mirrors like Poundland in the UK.

my favourite wine has gone up today 3.69 to 4.29. No doubt transport costs haven’t helped.

old.sparkles

Weighting down is done to prevent having to raise prices when costs go up - and is not unique to any country.

Transport costs have hit prices here too.

Lynn R

Alsa bus fares have gone up recently, but not by very much. A half price ticket with an over 65 card from where I live to Málaga was €1.71 and is now €1.76. Our local bus fares have not gone up (yet). Two municipalities bordering mine (Rincon de la Victoria and Torrox) have made local public transport free for residents, mine announced last year that they would be doing the same for young people and the over 65s but there is no sign of it happening yet.

I saw that Renfe were advertising AVE tickets for €15 on sale yesterday, today and tomorrow for travel between June and September. Thought I'd have a look for September, went to the website yesterday and got a message saying the waiting time was over an hour and there were 145,000 people ahead of me in the queue! So I gave up on that one.

SanNico

Take a look on Trainline, there’s no wait and they have the same offers

bobd22

I was looking at UK rail fares thd other day in relation to an upcoming trip. They seemed very expensive no low cost ones that I used to find. I also think the way Spain has acted with its subsidising petrol and diesel is better as its subsidy is given direct at the pump. So pump price displays actual cost but when paying you get refund or if as I did the other day you put x amount in and pay at the pump you get extra fuel to equivalent of the rebate. I put 25 euros of petrol in but got just over 28 Euros of petrol. Many in the UK seem to think the reduction Sunak announced seems to have just been absorbed and disappeared at the pumps. Cheap alcohol may change in Spain I have read duty on alcohol and cigarettes is under review as its the lowest in the EU.

growinspain

Yeah, 0,22 cents for a beer (Consum) with no "extracts" but all natural ingrediants is pretty cheap...

Ronnyone

I was in UK last week. The local Tesco was definitely cheaper than my Consum and basically for me I felt overall things were about equal. The only thing that makes Spain feel cheaper is the housing side of things. Plus most Brits get income / pensions from uk so there is a slight advantage with exchange rate. 20 odd years ago when I first live in Spain the rate was around £1 to 1,50 € so it was very cheap and people just kept on saying that for years and it just became a constant belief. Nowadays I would say it's about the same but I no longer think of Spain as cheap. However on a different note- got a flight to Edinburgh in 2 weeks for 7,00€!!!!! That is staggering- the bus to the airport is more!!!

Lynn R

It will be interesting to see if these measures achieve the desired effect of reducing the cost of electricity by 40% for consumers on the regulated tariff. It won't affect those of us on free market tariffs.

https://elpais.com/economia/2022-04-...de-la-luz.html

Ronnyone

Incidentally I have just received a text from Iberdrola saying that you can arrange for someone to come to your home and assess your circumstances and discuss which of their plans is best for you and the service is free for all customers. They even say they will phone to see if you want to arrange this.

Lynn R

I know this is not about something as essential as food or energy prices, so forgive me if it appears rather frivolous. But I was just reading this article about the threat of public swimming pools in the UK having to close because of the rise in energy prices.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...ministers-told

In the comments was one from a person who said that their local pool (now run by a private company as a great many are in the UK) had increased their prices for a one hour session, when they were allowed to reopen after lockdown, to eight pounds and they could no longer afford to use it. I pay €30 for a pass for 20 sessions at my local municipal pool (an annual pass for use during restricted (less popular) hours is available to over 65s which costs €25) and so far I have seen no indications that our public pools may have to close or the temperature of the water be reduced because of energy prices.

Lynn R

I haven't received one yet but I am a very new customer so maybe they are still finalising getting things set up. Will you take them up on the offer, do you think? I am always instinctively wary of companies wanting to come to my home, or even phone me, wanting to talk me into something.