Higher bills are coming folks!

https://spanishnewstoday.com/electri...0174936-a.html

I hope the OCU campaign mentioned in the article to have the rate of IVA on electricity capped permanently at 10% is successful. I've always thought 21% is too high and agree with them that electricity should be classed as a basic necessity. If they want to discourage excessive consumption they could introduce a surcharge for usage over a certain amount.

Going to be a tough year across Europe, especially for those who are already struggling. Everything has gone up, be it housing, groceries, electricity, insurance etc.
And the frustration will be used by the right-wing to gain more power (As it's already happening elsewhere).

Saw this and thought I’d take a look into my contract. Using the comparison site https://www.cnmc.es saw that Iberdrola had a tariff €20 cheaper for the Decembers €75 bill. Looked like a no brainer. When clicked the link, that tariff expired November 2023! That seems rubbish for an official site publishing misleading out of date information.

just an observation…… (as I spend time in Spain and the U.K.)

The supermarket prices seem to have risen considerably in Spain, eating out seems to be getting much dearer too, our apartment costs seem to have remained relatively static.

regards
Al

More price news....

https://spanishnewstoday.com/the_onl...0178487-a.html

My jaw dropped in Mercadona the other day when I saw 500g of strawberries (which didn't even look properly ripe) on sale for €5.50 and they'd been reduced from €6.01. I don't think they'll be selling many at that price. Although some things have gone up because of IVA being restored to previous levels from 1 January, other items have dropped quite a bit in price. The biggest change has been in the cost of olive oil. Last summer it was €9.95 a litre for extra virgin, it dropped to just under €7.00 a few weeks ago and this morning it was on sale for €6.35, with virgin olive oil down to €5.00. I bought a box of frozen langostinos on Saturday that were €1.00 cheaper than they have been all last year, now €5.95. I also saw an article yesterday saying that their frozen salmon fillets had been reduced by €0.50. Price reductions like these more than balance out the IVA increases of a few cents on some items.

I do agree about the cost of eating out, inevitable I suppose not only because the cost of ingredients has risen but also higher energy costs and the increased minimum wage (and I certainly don't begrudge the workers that, they are having to contend with the same higher prices we all are and we are lucky that we don't have housing costs to worry about).

I went to the UK twice last year, in April and October, and I thought prices for eating out had increased quite a lot (ie a 20% jump in more than one place I went to) in just those few months. I didn't have a single alcoholic drink with meals the whole time I was there in October (no great hardship as I'm not a big drinker but do like a glass of wine with a meal, but I just wasn't prepared to pay at least 10 pounds for a small glass of nothing out of the ordinary wine).

Yes something's have really gone up. The other day as it was cold we popped into Lidl and got a vegetable pack and a pack of stewing beef I was shocked to see the pack of beef was over 7 euros I'm sure it used to be under 5?,As you say salmon has really increased in price. I still find it overall cheaper to shop here than UK. We are going back to UK in a few weeks so I will be able to update my comparison. Last year when back we popped into a cafe for a cuppa, for a tea a coffee and 2 scones it cost £13 scones nice but not fancy just with butter no jam and cream .

Yes, I saw those sad anaemic looking strawberries the other day - didn't touch them!

The best way to buy fresh salmon in Mercadona is to buy half and pay around 9,50€ a kilo, as against around 22€ for a few slices in a plastic tray. I freeze most of it and eat it as required. The only problem is that Merca is closing the fresh fish counters, so then it is over to Carrefour.

I bought some strawberries in Mercadona today. They are the early Spanish ones and very good. €10.50/kg. Their cherries are very good - from Chile at €11.50/kg. From my experience, their fruit is very good and very fresh but expensive out of season.

The price of eating out has gone up a lot. the €10 menu del dia has gone and it's nearer €15 now.

Electricity is going up but the main component is the reintroduction of full IVA. It's still much cheaper than the UK. Luckily I generate more from my panels than I use, so for me, it's not an issue.

Pretty sure this is the price you have to pay when you want net zero. Meanwhile in China…

As Kurt Vonnegut is rumoured to have said, "We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost-effective".

Different story when you can’t afford to heat your house in the winter

Lets us sanction cheap Russian Gas (what could go wrong)
LOL no issue of course for our masters in Brussels who have pensions to cater for anything, but …….?

Because we don't sponsor terrorist states. Especially when that state-sponsored terrorist entity happens to be our #1 enemy.

Instead of sending them $$$ we send them missiles. But delivered at high-velocity, one piece at a time, to undisclosed locations of our choice. Of course technically we handed them over to Ukraine first...