houdini1

Hi Everybody,
My monthly electricity charges from Iberdrola have suddenly increased significantly in the last 3 months.
My 'normal' monthly invoice when the house is unoccupied is about €55. This cost is the standing charges plus swimming pool pump. The last 3 months invoices have been €128, €150 and €70. The house was unoccupied for these 3 months. Since I am not in Spain I asked a local friend for help in solving the problem. She checked the house herself and could find nothing out of the ordinary. She then engaged an electrician. He checked everything, including taking a meter reading on successive days, and could find no problem either. We called Iberdrola and explained the situation. They replied that they could find no problem with their readings.
I don't know what else I can do and am worried that this situation will continue if I don't find the cause of this problem. The electrician said he could find no evidence of an illegal connection on my property. For what it's worth, my only thought is that due to lockdown there may have not been any meter readings done and the bills I'm receiving are based on estimates ? Any other ideas from the forum would be greatly appreciated.

Rosemary

Look on the bill, left hand side in the box titled Datos de Factura. If it says Factura con lectura real it is a real reading if not it is an estimate.

Rosemary

Moses2013

You say swimming pool pump? This would be the only thing I could imagine, especially as your bill has now dropped to €70 again. Could it be that the pump is constanly running, so in cooler weather it had to heat more.

houdini1

Hi Rosemary,
Thanks. I checked the invoices and it does say 'con lectura real'.......so the bills are not estimates.

houdini1

Thanks Moses. Yes, the only power draw is the pool pump and the electrician says its working normally, drawing about 7 kW per day. He took meter readings on 3 successive days to confirm this.

Dxf

Hola

So, from 55€ to 128€ then 150€ and down to 70€ - Either someone was using the house unbeknown to you (and Yes it does happen) or someone latched onto your electric for those couple of months - again not unheard of.

Davexf

amideislas

As Rosemary has pointed out, we've also had some inexplicably large charges on the basis of "estimation", which, unless we challenge it, they'll rarely "automatically" credit the difference. But it seems you have checked it and it's claimed to be billed on actual readings.

I haven't read all of the responses here, but have you actually read your contador and verified that the current consumption numbers are at least somewhat consistent with what they claim the meter reading is?

We once had a situation where they misread the meter (or perhaps confused it with someone else's) and then when they made the next reading, found that the current meter reading was actually lower than the previous reading, and therefore presumed that the meter was faulty (or had been tampered with) and simply added an estimated additional amount to the previous meter reading, and called it "real".

We checked our meter reading, and it wasn't what they claimed, and we filed a complaint. It took an abogado and several months to get them to finally admit their mistake.

houdini1

Hi Amideislas,

So if the meter goes faulty or Iberdrola otherwise screw up your meter reading then they will simply adjust your consumption and bill you for what they think it should be ?? That sounds pretty dodgy. And you had to get a lawyer to sort things out ? Oh dear. So far I've been overcharged about €170.- And a lawyer will cost significantly more that that I'm sure....
My friend down in Altea is going to see Iberdrola next week to see if anything can be done. I'll let you know how that goes.

amideislas

Sorry for your troubles. It wasn't iberdrola in our case, but Endesa (same thing, really). But that's how it works. The overcharges aren't enough to make it worth suing over. You don't need a lawyer though (although that carries more weight) you can file a denuncia by yourself. You will need to find evidence of the overcharge in any case.

You should read your meter regularly and record (photo) the readings, comparing it to your bill every month (try to read it just before they do, to minimise any differences) If there's a big discrepancy between what they read and what you read, then there's enough to get started. Start by taking it to the iberdrola office and getting it on paper that you disagree with their reading. Stay on it, and it will snowball from there. If not, then it's time to file a denuncia. But it's best to speak to an Abogado first.

Good luck...

bobd22

Are you on a smart meter? Just that I don't think they do physical readings if you are. In that case it would show real reading even though not physically checked, just a thought. Also when the electrician checked the pool pump (I'm presuming pool pump heating etc all one? I don't know as don't have one) it may have been 7kw the days he checked but previously if air temp much lower may well have been higher if heating water. The weather was pretty poor from more or less start of the lockdown wet and cold unseasonably. Just a couple of thoughts which may well be way off the mark. Good luck getting to bottom of it.

houdini1

Thanks for that. Interesting that one can open a denuncia, but yes it's clear that one needs some sort of evidence for that to go ahead. I'm going to get my friend to photograph the meter reading every few weeks so that we can try to get some proof that something is wrong.
BTW, love your handle 'reasonable bitch' ! It's the unreasonable ones that were my downfall

houdini1

Hi Bob. The meter is in a hole in the wall of my front garden. It doesn't look too smart to me. It's the same one that's been there for years, covered in cobwebs and dust. The pool is not heated; I simply have the pump on a timer.
Thanks for your thoughts.

bobd22

​​​​​​Argh right at least that eliminates that then, just a thought good luck with it.

keithBT

One possible solution. Do you have inverter aircon.( heating). Not myself, but I know someone who returned to the UK for two and a bit months and mistakenly left the heating set at in late March. Like you he got some bigger than expected bills and found his problem on return. He was on a smart meter so correct usage. BTW, the standing charges - nil usage are about 19 euros a month/ 38 bi monthly ( Endesa one luz). Of course when he returned in June the thermostat never cut in to heat because it was warmer then. This was a couple of years ago. I always turn off ALL power at the consumer unit when unoccupied- much safer. In your case just leave the trip for the pool pump on.

regards... Keith

Fred James

If the pump is using 7Kw a day that implies that your timer is set for about 8 hours a day. If that is the case, you are burning electricity unecessarily during the winter as it only need to run for about an hour a day, just to keep the. water circulating. One exception to this is if it a chlorine gererating salt water system, but even then, chlorine lasts far longer in winter so it should also be reduced.