Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

... it's still wattage and not voltage!!!

What I said was that the standing charge is based on contracted power (potencia). If you contract for more then you pay more - I am not talking about usage at this point.

Obviously you will have to pay for what you use (as you say) but I'm talking about the base standing charge.

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

The reason I ask about the voltage the washing machine, etc used, is that I tend to switch on the kettle (3Kw) & washer at the same time & I would also like to switch on the electric rad or AC but I can`t overload to more than 5.75KW at any 1 time.

Yes the base standing charge, I expect everyone has to pay whether you`ve a high potencia or not but I would like to know the highest voltage (potencia) anyone can have without having to pay extra for a higher standing charge.
Thanks.

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

I give up - the highest Voltage you can have is 240Volts!!!!!!!!

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

Sorry, I'm talking about the potencia voltage for my house at the moment is 5.75Kw which I can use max at any 1 time not the appliance voltage.

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

It is easy really to understand : -

VOLTS X AMPS = WATTS WATTS X 1000 = KILOWATTS (KW) 1KW used for 1 hour is 1 KILOWATT HOUR

So if you have a 1 bar electric fire of 1 kilowatt on for 1 hour you have used and will pay for 1 kilowatt hour of electricity.

If your POTENCIA IS 5 KILOWATTS then you can run five such fires for as long as you can afford. If you plug in another one the circuits will be overloaded and trip out your ICP.

Your electricity used is charged in kilowatt hours.

Your Standing Charge is based on kilowatts of potencia this is charged at about € 2.50 per killowatt of potencia.

So 3 kilowatt potencia would pay about €7.50 standing charge per month.

and 5 kilowatt potencia woud pay about €12.50 standing charge per month.

and 13 kilowatt potencia would pay about €33.50 standing charge per month.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

If you have a kettle rated at 3 kilowatts and a washing machine also rated at 3 kilowatts that makes 6 kilowatts which will trip a 5 kilowatt potencia ICP.

The EU has standardised all electricty supply voltages at between 220 and 240 volts and all products must be rated between those limits so all your electrical appliances should be capable of operating at say 230 volts which is the voltage of electricity supplied in SPAIN.

You could have 100 appliances rated at 230 volts on at the same time if they were also below 5/100 kilowatts each ie 0.05 kilowatts (a radio for instance).

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

Thanks very much John & Kath.

It's a lot clearer now. So Standing Charge is based on kilowatts of potencia which is charged at about € 2.50 per killowatt of potencia no matter what Kw the potencia is.

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

Tripping is something that most of us suffer from at times.We have 3.45 kw potencia. In a lot of cases, certainly ours, we used to forget that we have the water boiler permanently on so perhaps we would put the kettle on and the iron and at that moment the boiler would kick in and trip. We now remember to switch off the boiler when ironing and no problem.

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

Thats how I understand it works but Fed will be along any minute to put us right.

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

Everything you posted John is spot on!:)

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

Thanks very much John/Kath, snikpoh & Fred.

I've to work out how much I really need in order not to be frozen in Winter as I'm not enjoying Spain in this freezing cold house.
It's a shame Iberdrola can't split between Summer & Winter usage so that the standing charge can vary.

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

Can anyone please tell me if you use over the ICP (potencia), will you get a penalty
(75 euros fine) or is it the switch in the electric box in the house which will shut off the electric supply?

I don't know who to believe - my neighbors who told me that there's a penalty or the salesman in the appliance shop who told me that the switch will shut off & you just have to switch it back on.

Thanks

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

You can not draw more than the ICP will allow - the switch will trip like any of the others if you try and use too much.

If you do NOT have an ICP and you use more than you are contracting for, then you will pay a penalty.

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

I have 5.75KW ICP, so if I accidentally use more, the switch will trip but I don't pay a penalty, is this right? So my neighbors are telling me nonsense.

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

If you don't have an ICP they just give you a standing charge as if you had 10kw, irrespective of what you have on your contract. It's no so much a fine as a permanent surcharge.

Without an ICP there is no way for them to know whether you exceed the contracted amount (unless you overload so much that the main meter fuse trips, which cannot normally be reset by the user).

Re: Electricity Suppliers
 

The words iberdrola use are 'recargo por exceso de consumo' ie charge for excessive use. They certainly didn't base it on the next wattage but rather on the amount over the contracted amount.

Fred, I think you may be wrong. My Spanish electrician tells me that the ICP will trip if you try and draw more current than it allows - he even showed me with our installation!