Jon-Bxl

Hi Ive been looking at our electricity bills. We pay for a potentia, or electrical usage / consumption of 6.9 KW.

We are mainly 2 adults using electricity, from time to time we could have 2 additional guests. Rarely more

We switched to electricity for water heating so now everything runs on that. We have an 80 litre tank with a heating element.

Can I get your insights about this, please. Should we stick with what we have, (which gives us no problems) or is it worth reducing it, without power-outs?

Also does anyone know the next level down and the possible savings please? We use Endesa.

Finally can anyone explain the process to change it I see an email on the page, for example.

Thanks in advance
Jon

shirley and anthony hide

I changed mine a couple of years ago to 4.6 which was the next one down . This was because I was told that all houses/ apartments were just put on the highest tariff ,even when not needed. Had no problems at all ,and standing price is obviously lower. I don't whether you have signed up online . On the website you can change your potential online and get details of cost difference. When you sign in at top right hand corner is a flag that translates
all the website in English. Hope this helps

shirley and anthony hide

Looking into it my potential charge is 0.5185 euro per day.
Compare that to your last bill
At bottom of first page is a modify contract button . Press that to access changes to various things including your potencia.
I would say change it and if it causes problems , change it back.

shirley and anthony hide

The daily amount I gave relates to page 2 of your statement under

" detalle de la fractura"
The first sub total under that heading which relates to potentia cost before iva added

keithBT

Hi Jon, I reduced my potencia from 6.9 to 4.6 within months of getting our duplex five years ago. Like you all electric. I overloaded it once, on a winter evening. - I had the main aircon running on heat. I think we had two of the big hob rings running and at that point we still had the old oven (static) which had both elements running. TV on , lights on. I think we tried to boil the kettle and the lot went out. Takes about 30 secs for it to auto reset. Now we know it has not happened again, plus the replacement Neff fan oven uses a lot less power. GO FOR IT. The difference in the standing charge is quite a lot I recall.

Keith

keithBT

PS, I switched mine online, changing to the LUZ / ONE tariff at the time.

shirley and anthony hide

I can't remember exactly Keith, but at back of my mind it was about 30 percent cheaper. Does that sound about right to you ?
​​​​​​

keithBT

I'd agree it was a lot cheaper. I think it was at least 30%.

Jon-Bxl

Thank you Shirley, Anthony and Keith

Wow this is amazing help, I really appreciate this. I had no idea that all this was possible online. I have to register first but that should be easy.


I also got in email this link from a friend who read the post but wasn't sure if it was allowable. I think it is as its informational rather than commercial. So I add this to any other readers who may have the same questions.

THANK YOU again

Jon

https://translate.google.com/transla...cesita-mi-casa

https://www.endesaclientes.com/blog/...cesita-mi-casa

Lynn R

Electric kettles are one of the biggest culprits for tripping the supply (especially the rapid boil ones which are most commonly sold these days, and use 3kw or even more just on their own). They are not mentioned in the Endesa blog, possibly because electric kettles are not standard appliances in most Spanish homes. Hairdryers using 2kw or more can also be a particular problem. I have 5.75kw potencia in my apartment and can still trip the supply if the kettle is switched on at the same time as the oven and induction hob, fridge and tv are all on, or the ketttle is switched on whilst the hairdryer is in use. You really need to be conscious of what the big consumers of electricity are and careful about when you use them if other things are already switched on.

chrismortley

Hi
Don't be tempted to go any lower that the 4.6KW tariff . Many of the Isla Canela apartments were are it was a complete pain ,the oven plus any other juicy appliance trips the breaker on a regular basis

Chris

shirley and anthony hide

I've had no problems with 4.6 . But as everyone says it depends on what you are running in tandem.You will get to know over time what combinations might trip the system. But we are only talking about turning something off and flipping the switch back up.
​​​​​​And the major pluses are you can change back easily online if it really does not suit.
And the savings are significant.

Jon-Bxl

Thanks again for the advice. I wont go below 4.6 and understand the loading problems. We don't use the AC much actually which is a big drain for our 3 bed place. We heat the water on a time switch when asleep so that should be OK. There was a thread a couple of years back and the time switch was recommended.

Our big usage is at winter. The insulation is awful so we don't centrally heat. I think its money 'out of the window'. I have an internet switch operated by my phone, and about 30 mins before coming in I switch on a fan heater. This warms up the air (not the walls) - but is comfortable and takes the bite off the cold and we walk into a warm room. We then switch on the second fan heater to add another blast of heat. Then because hot air scratches the throat we switch off the fan heaters, very quickly after that and switch on up to 2 convection heaters.

So we are warm from the start of entry, and pump in a lot of electricity to heat for a short period of time. Switching off the convection heaters when we are fine or just having one on. This is where the potentia may be under pressure, at this point if we make a brew we will be shut down. But a little planning and we can work around it easily. For us personally this works fine and we are never cold even in the mid winter. I believe we spend less this way as well, as we are often out and its just a waste to heat when we are away. Also the heaters are inexpensive.

This is where the forum is great helpful people offering advice and ideas when someone has a question or problem.

Thank you

Jon

PS you can claim your beer-voucher if you see me around

johnnyone

Same with us in an old town house. Although reformed (2008) they gave no thought to improving the insulation. In addition to a fan heater and/or a wood burner we also use the air con as well to heat when really cold or if the house has been empty for some time. I believe that using an aircon unit to heat was more efficient than fan or convector heaters but may be wrong. Perhaps there is an expert around to post what is the most efficient method of electrical heating.

I also have a potencia of 5.75kw and would struggle with less although you do become conditioned to knowing its limits. Eg don't make a cup of tea while ironing. That can amount to around 5kw.

Lynn R

We moved from an old town house to an ático just over 18 months ago, and find the indoor temperature a few degrees warmer in winter even when there is no heating on. Our old house wasn't attached to others on either side and the side walls in particular were very, very cold. We use our aircon for almost all our heating now (apart from supplementary electric heating in one of the bathrooms) and find it pretty quick to warm up and not too expensive to use. I had feared that going all electric would be very much more expensive (although undoubtedly more convenient) than using butano for cooking and almost all heating as we had always done before, but actually it has not worked out any more expensive. My electricity bills for the past 12 months averaged out at €59 per month, and of course we are not now buying the 10 gas bottles a year we used to have. Our water heater isn't on a timer but is a Fleck Duo which uses a so-called "intelligent" system so that it heats up according to your normal usage pattern (eg for a period before morning showers) and then just keeps the water at 40C for the time in between.