hallega

First of many problems owning a house in Spain...

Do I keep the 10kw of electricity supply and get charged extra every 3 months
for this privilege or turn it down to 6.928 kw and possible get fuses blowing.

Good advice needed please.

Tele Addict

Iberdrola bills are monthly mate.

hallega

O'h Well I'm just quoting from the solicitors, have a look at what they say.


Regarding the electricity supply, I would like to inform you that after having requested the change of title holder, the supply company Endesa SXXI and/or Sevillana-Endesa informed us that due to the new regulations in effect and due to the fact that you have 10 Kw contracted you must change to the new Endesa contracting of the free market since, if you wish to keep this form, you will have to pay a penalization every 3 months, for high consume.

pete_l

Hopefully you know this, but just in case ....
There isn't a fuse, so nothing needs to be replaced (and no likelihood of running out of replacements at inconvenient times). All that happens is a contactor "flips" open and you need to press a button to reset it. A minor inconvenience.

So far as the question about a 10kW or smaller supply, that depends on how often you think you're going to exceed that amount of power. In the UK we're used to having 60Amp (15kW) minimum - usually 100Amp supplies to our houses, so we can run that power shower AND the electric cooker AND the washing machine AND the aircon AND the immersion heater AND ... well, you get the idea - all at the same time without giving it a thought. At the other end of the scale, my place in rural Spain has a 15Amp (3kW) supply. Since cooking is done with gas, the immersion heater only runs at night, we have no need for aircon and no power-shower either, then this supply is quite adequate. All it supplies is the lights, fridge, 'pooters, TV etc. All quite low consumption devices.
So far the only time the contactor has flipped was when a light "blew". Then the excess current (which all bulbs take when they blow) caused a momentary overload and everything went off. half a minute later, everything was back as if nothing had happened - except I learned that my 2007 calendar glowed in the dark!

johncar61

Why not check with your solicitor, after all its the letter from them which you (and I ) do not fully understand.

In passing though, I believe that if you wish to reduce the amount you are contracted for the Electric company will need to change part of your 'fuse box' and they will need to see that you opt need the power you/ the previous owner is/was contracted for.

I also think you will find the company cut out is for amps, mine is 20amps

hallega

Thank you Pete and John, Showing my age with Fuses aren't I, I can remember putting silver paper on them!!!

Having not had the joy of looking at the fuse box (hubby's environment) I was being a blonde!!

I will delve a little further into electricity suppliers, we do have a pool and solar power, and so I expect we will have to have the 10kw supply otherwise things are going to go pop or flip.

Fred James

If you have a 10kw supply it will normally be three phase which complicates things. You can check this by looking in the meter box - if it is 3 phase you will have three thick wires coming into the box.

Also do you have an ICP trip at present - this is the one that goes when you overload the system. It usually says ICP on it and should have a security seal on it. For a variety of reasons some people do not have an ICP trip and they are now being forced to fit one.

If you have a 3 phase supply then if you downgrade it to under 10kw you will have tripping problems.

If you retain the 10kw supply you are obliged to sign a new contract with a "free market" supplier before July 2010 or you will be disconnected and prior to that the rates will go up by about 30%.

If you are single phase then you should have no problems downgrading to 9.2kw and staying on the government controlled TUR tariff.

Incidentally if you have a 10kw supply then bills are still two monthly - all lower supplies are now billed monthly.

Tele Addict

Well if you use it you can expect some big bills, probably in the 200€/month region. My average consumption is around 600 watts and that costs about 75€ a month when the standing charge and VAT are included, and that's just lighting, fridge washing machine, PC's and TV.

Fred James

Yes, the ICP is rated in Amps but the monthly standing charge is based of the equivalent Kw. In other words a 20 amp ICP will allow you to use 20a x 230v ie 4.6kw.

They used to use 220v in the calculation so if you have an older supply that would equate to 4.4kw which is probably what they are still charging you for.

With a 3 phase supply they use a very slightly different calculation so that a 30 amp trip works out at 6.928kw instead of 6.900 kw - I have no idea why!

Tele Addict

Not contradicting you but something is strange here. 30A trip on a 3 phase supply is a lot more than 6.9kW. Don't forget the RMS voltage of 3 phase is 415 or there abouts.

Fred James

That's not the way they calculate it. A 3 phase domestic supply is usually there because you need more than 10kw. Effectively you get three seperate 230v supplies.There is an ICP fuse on each phase.

We have a 60a 3 phase ICP rated at 13.856kw - it's actually a triple 20amp fuse.