Is just me or are the Electricity costs in Spain plucked from the air,just checked my bank account online and have a DD from Endsesa for 84 Euro's,even though the place is empty and everything is switched off, bar the fridge?,had some high ones in the summer but had friends staying with Aircon on and all the usual gadgets,not been there since end of September so seems high to me?,am i alone or others the same?.

Ken.

Does your company have a year end reconciliation based on changes in tarifs and any estimated bills during the past 12 months.
This could be the reason ( or you have a sqatter ).

We have a holiday home 40 km north of Ayamonte and our leccy is supplied by CHC Energia, the default supplier. For periods of zero usage our two monthly standing charge has just increased from 27 to 45 euros. The unit price has decreased a little but our annual usage cost is insignificant compared to the annual standing charges.

This increase will no doubt adversely affect the many Spanish families that are deliberately frugal with their electricity consumption.

Just check the bill. It will show how the bill is made up and should show exactly what consumption there has been.

Could it be that it's estimated (if they are still allowed to do that).

you could well be on the wrong tariff. they put everyone on a business tariff until you tell them otherwise!

Cant check it yet,it gets posted to our Spanish address,so cant get to it till new year?,not sure if its estimated,but they can access the meters while we are away.

Thought they would let us know if the monthly standing charge had increased ,plus lots of other residents woud be in the same boat?.

Ken.

Not many business places were we are,and also had it for 6 years now.

Ken.

I am not sure but I thought they had increased the standing charges but reduced the consumption charges, so those of us that have holiday homes pay more.

No the way it works out everybody pays more. Just wonder if the crazy gang in Parliment in Madrid get special discounts.

They were talking about doing that earlier this year, but it doesn't seem to have happened.

I've just had my bill from Endesa for the 2 months ended 24/11/13 and it came to just over €96 euros and we live here permanently, so the OP's bill does seem very high. Mind you, we don't use electricity for cooking (apart from the microwave) nor for heating, apart from a small electric heater in one bathroom.

Many UK electricity suppliers offer a no standing charge tariff. I don't expect that will ever catch on in Spain.

Can you check your bills online?

Well compared to your bill,mine is very high,being an empty property,with only the fridge freezer left on,am hoping it's an estimate but they can access the meters without us being there so doubtful !.

Ken.

I don't know about your area, but the system here changed a few months ago from receiving monthly bills, estimated in alternate months, to receiving two-monthly bills which are always based on meter readings.

There are a couple of possibilities I can think of - do you know if your meter has recently been replaced by one of the new digital "smart" meters? This is being done on a rolling programme in all areas, afaik. When mine was changed this Spring, our consumption went up substantially and continued to increase by exactly the same number of kw hours each month for 3 months, although our usage pattern hadn't changed, which I found suspicious. I queried it with Endesa, who sent a technician out to check the meter. He said there was nothing wrong with it (surprise, surprise!) but mysteriously the consumption stopped going up after that. We changed our water heater for a more efficient model too, which helped bring the consumption back down a bit. I've read a lot of accounts online of people in many different countries experiencing much higher meter readings following the installation of these new meters.

The other one (which is only a remote possibility) is to ask if anyone holds the key to your property when you aren't there. I have known a few cases where people in that position of trust have abused it and let the property out without the owner's knowledge or permission. There is one house in my street where the owners (who haven't visited for years, don't know why) employ someone from a local law firm to act as keyholder and the guy brings a woman to the house for assignations!

your second paragraph sounds funny, but however this is a real problem. I know of someone whose keyholder used to do all their washing in her apt and her son 'entertained' girlfriends there!!!