johnnyone

Is gasa necessity? What's wrong with all electric?

lynnxa

two words



power cuts.........

Rosemary

Four words

power cuts

more expensive

Rosemary

lynnxa

that too

johnnyone

How much more expensive is electricity over bottled and mains gas? I have no idea.

I have never experienced a power cut but again this may be that I am only over for around 6 weeks during the course of the year. How often do you get them?

missile

If you are only in spain for 6 weeks, presumably in the summer? Then you will not need gas for heating but electric for air con

johnnyone

No just back last week. Used air con heating and electric heaters.

Library Ticket

Exactly, I'd like to be able to cook something.

johnnyone

Can someone tell me how often they get power cuts.
Are they more common in the Campo or have I just been lucky?

lynnxa

you've been lucky

we've never lived right in the campo - always either on the edge of town or right in the port - in old properties & almost new builds

it's not necessarily that they are frequent, although they do seem to come in spates

it's more that when they do happen it is usually at the most inconvenient times & you never know how long they will last

we have had days where the power has gone on & off 10-15 times for just a few mins at a time, and other cuts which have gone on for hours


as often as not they happen in severe weather - but not always - we have had power cuts for seemingly no reason at all - & sometimes you can see that your street & the next are affected, but the next one to that isn't

TOP TIP (sorry jojojojojo....) - if you don't have gas cooking facilities as well as electric, be sure to have a BBQ or at least a camping gas stove for emergencies - if your heating doesn't work you can pile on clothes & blankets - but there's nothing worse than being cold and unable to have something hot to eat or drink

and of course always know where the candles, matches & torches are

missile

Well in six weeks you won't burn much electric for heating and it will soon be shorts and shades

We used to have frequent power cuts when on builders juice with low power fuse, but since we have our own supply I can't remember when we last had a power cut.

Lynn R

Having lived in an area of the UK where lengthy power cuts due to severe winter weather were an annual event (I once spent one memorable Easter weekend without electricity for 3 days, opened the front door on Easter Saturday morning to find the snow up to chest level, and had to get the shovel to start digging ourselves out) cured me of ever wanting to live in an all-electric house! We did have a gas cooker and gas central heating thank goodness, but even so cooking by candlelight is no fun.

Here in the Axarquia, we don't seem to have nearly as many power cuts even in bad weather as we used to when we first bought the house nearly 9 years ago, nor do we lose the TV signal as often. I know Endesa has been doing work gradually to instal new cables so maybe that has helped (although obviously not with the TV). As part of major street works carried out last year they have installed tubing for the electricity cables to be laid underground instead of slung across the street, although they haven't got round to moving them yet. I will quite miss seeing the man with the long pole preceding the tronos during Semana Santa to hoist the cables up so that they can pass underneath.

karenj66

I live in Villamartin, Orihuela Costa and we have mains gas. Well it's stored in a large tank at the end of the road and piped in. We do not have to get bottled gas. Though I know some people nearby have to, I think it depends on the builder as well as the area.

We have a gas fire and a gas fired combi boiler and have never run out of gas. We have had the property for 8 years.

Having had a property before this one, where we were on bottled gas. I am now very pleased not to have to use those now.

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

Library Ticket

I don't relish the idea of lugging gas bottles about so this sounds a good alternative but as lynnxa pointed out you are at the mercy of whoever is responsible for reordering to make sure the whole urb doesn't run out of gas.