Michael74

Still related to costs Mitzy but as a matter of interest - do you leave your pool pump on during the winter months? I guess this might start another discussion so my apologies

Fred James

Any form of electric heating is expensive but aircon units are by far and away the cheapest method. To produce a given amount of heat, an aircon unit uses about a third of what an oil filled radiator uses.

As for UK electricity charges, they are much cheaper than Spain. There are plenty of price comparison sites in the UK listing all the options. If you input the details of your usage in Spain you will see that is the case.

karenj66

We have 4 radiators, but are only using 3 at the moment as one is broken. We have electric heaters in the bathrooms, but only use them for a short time when my little boy has a bath.

We haven't used aircon for heat until yesterday, we thought we would try it for a month to see the difference in cost from using the radiators. The cost in the summer months using aircon all night was not expensive at all.

Luckily we are south facing and when there is sun in the winter it warms our living room up quite nicely, so we can do without heat for alot of the day in that room.

Our bills so far have been 286 euros for Oct/Nov and 231 for Nov/Dec (we were away for 10 days)

Mitzyboy

Well, that is ridiculously high tbh. As I said, we have no gas, we use radiators during the day, a heater in the bathroom, cooking and two computers plus a plasma TV which is well known for heavy electricity usage .... and our bills are half of yours.

I havent read through the thread, have you tried turning absolutely everything off at the fuse box and then checking the meter?

My understanding everywhere has been that aircon is expensive to run. Granted, it heats up the room more quickly, but if used contantly it is said to be a very high user and I would be surprised to see a decrease in your bill through using it constantly to heat

linjon

Wish we could even check our meter! Live in a small apartment block, the meter boxes are locked and despite many of us asking the administrator how we are supposed to check our usage, all we ever get is" for security the electricity boxes have to remain locked" and only our office and the utility company has a key to read the meters!!

It is very frustrating, I still cannot believe that we just cannot get access to our own meters! Anyone else had a similar issue? Did you get a solution? Would welcome any suggestions as we have been here almost 6 years and not been able to access the meter even once!

Even the vice-president of the community (our next door neighbour) doesn't have a key and can't get one!!

Michael74

I would play merry hell with those conditions and also be very suspicious. Bear in mind that it is the administrator that is responsible for paying the block electrics !! and I believe you have a right to be able to read your own meter. Inform your supplier that you are not in a position to give an estimated reading if necessary.

linjon

thanks, never even considered the block electricity charge! I am emailing the administrator now to let them know I am contacting Iberdrola on Monday as I cannot give online readings(I am on online billing) and will require a key by the end of the week.

Will post on here if I get a resolution!

Fredbargate

That should give him plenty of time to remove the blocks electrical supply from your meter

linjon

Hmm......good point! haven't emailed yet, think a visit to the office on Monday to COLLECT a key might be in order. Even if I have to bring the person with me and watch him/her open the meter box!

Might be worth me also emailling the vice-president (he is in UK working just now) and ask him to contact the other owners asking them to do the same!

karenj66

yes we have turned the meter off and that seems ok. I don't think there is anything else we can do... other than pay it or freeze

ForHotspot

I can't understand why an A/C uses less than an electric rad. I set my rad is use 0.5kw & when the temperature is reached the electricity is cut off, that's what I'm told.

An A/C uses 1kw. Surely it would be more expensive to use the A/C in my case, won't it?

Fredbargate

An aircon unit / heat pump is more efficient than a radiator. Up to 6 times more efficient

http://www.orionair.co.uk/air_conditioning_heating.htm

ForHotspot

I find that my rad gives me more heat than the A/C. I certainly feel warmer with rad.

DonQuixote

We have locked the room because anyone can tamper with the boxes. If any owner wishes to see his/her eletric box for reading there are 3 key holders who live in the community. They are happy to go with the owner and open the door and allow that owner to read the meter and then when finished lock the door again. works for us, however there is the odd owner whom is not happy, but then again he/she/they are never happy!!!!

The Don

DonQuixote

I have a electric meter reader fitted which show me what is being used per hour. The aircon working with 3 x rooms being heated works out at 0.34 per hour. If I run 3 x oil rads in the rooms the meter states 0.95 per hour

I have also a gas fire here 15 euro's per bottle and if I run that for 5 hours a day I get around 10 days = 2.15 euros a day

Aircon 3 x rooms running for 5 hours = 1.7 euros
Rads 3 x rooms = 4.7 euros
Gas fire x 1 room = 2.15

I will however add that the gas fire is much warmer and heats the room quickly.

I also have the duel meter fitted so get cheap eletric from 22:00hrs until 12:00hrs.

Hope that helps

The Don