Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

A word of warning people....we have had our electricity supply cut off !!!
Situation is that we have a legal meter, but someone had tapped into our supply below ground so that they cannot be detected, and hence we have been disconnected. There are two other legal meters feeding other houses in our street of seven, but they too had illegal taps and as such have been disconnected. We need to have a new connection made below ground to the post in such a way that our supply cannot be tampered with, and if it is we can report the culprits to the police. I had sympathised with neighbours who had no meters and had also paid no bills, but no more !!!
Check your meters if you know there are others without elex in your vicinity, or properties being built adjacent !!!

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

We are really sorry to hear that poollounger.

As you may know we have been without electricity since February, fortunately we do not live there and can make do with a generator and candles on our frequent visits. We have tried numerous routes to get electricity but so far failed now considering buying a transformer from Endessa, but hey how many would then hook up to that.

Do you know who the culprits were. English, Spanish or both?

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

I think the situation is complex Flamingo. Our house is in a cul de sac and our neighbour, English, arrived to live there permanently in October, when we were last visiting. he has elex but no meter or bills, and has been trying to sort it out for the last two years since he bought his house. He and his wife stressed at all stages of their purchase that they would not proceed without a legal meter, even in the notary's office, and they were assured that it would not be a problem. He has not paid a penny for all this time. I believe him when he said that he had no idea where he was connected, but was concerned. One of the houses has recently changed hands, and the new Spanish owner contacted Endesa who told him there were only two legal meters amongst the seven houses, but a new hub could be installed for around 13,000 Eu. My English neighbour was getting his solicitor to clarify that his builder should pay his share if this was to go ahead, as it clearly stated in his contract that a meter was to be supplied.
We have been paying bills by standing order for the last year. However there are some other meters alongside ours, not all connected, and it took some sorting out to get our bills with the correct meter number sent to our friends who have a postbox.
Our pool guy who is also overseeing a gardening project noticed the Endesa guys digging by our meter, and they unearthed two illegal connections, well buried under the ground so no one could detect them. The other working meter similarly had illegal taps, and has also been cut off, so I suspect that all seven houses are powerless. A denuncia had been attached to our meter....they probably think we had sanctioned the illegal supply.
Apparently we can have it reconnected, have to make sure the new connection is made in such a way that it cannot be tapped, have Endesa check it out, then hey presto we are back in the 21st century. And if we find anyone tapping in again we have to report it to the police.
I posted this so others can ensure that no one puts them in this position. I have great sympathy for my neighbour as he bought in good faith. Remember though that if others who have no meters around you have elex they have to be getting it from somewhere and it is more than likely from you. Whether the tap was after my meter and hence on my bills, or before and hence for free from Endesa I have yet to find out.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

Flamingo can you PM me about the above seeing as your just around the corner Ta steve

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

I am very sorry to hear that. I am at a loss in the 21st century how they can expect people to live without essential services. As far as I can see the root of the problem is greedy builders constructing more and more properties without permissions and this council turning a blind eye to all thats going on.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

I am so sorry to hear about the problem that people in the area are having.
We looked at houses in the area in February. but my husband was concerned about the legality of the electricity, all the house we were shown shared a meter ???? that immediately set warning bells off inside his head and told the very plausible estate agent so..... he then proceeded to try to tell him that this was normal,we took a quick exit, knowing that a house with out a meter and sometimes a well was "suspect".
People need warning and making aware that this problem exists
Perhaps the people in the middle of this situation should get the TV involved ?
This could highlight the situation and warn others about it.
By the way the estate agent was ENGLISH

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

I am so sorry to hear this Poollounger. Were your electricity bills very high, considering you don't live here full time? If not, then perhaps they were bypassing your meter and tapping into the supply before it got to your meter. I'm sure this info would be helpful to others.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

Before I purchased my present house which has a electric meter and a contract in my name! I was shown over a period of two months upwards of 200 houses and only three had a meter and all the agents were my fellow countrymen!!!!! ;)

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

I'm so glad that it worked out for you in the end Mitzipurr as I know you had a lot of problems. As for 'fellow countryman' I wouldn't touch most of them with a bargepole.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

So you had the same opinion as my other half ?
The situation is disgusting as I see it the incomers in the area are being cheated by fellow countrymen!!!!!!!!!!!
We have not experienced any thing from any nationality, but the estate agent in Chicalana did make us feel uncomfortable as we could see that some people would be taken in.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

Wow! I dont know if that is typical, but if only 3 out of every 200 houses have a meter I don't think it is particular fair to blame our "fellow countrymen" as it obviously affects the spanish just as much.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

I am not sure the estate agent was neccessarily at fault in my case, and she has responded to my e-mails immediately, and has contacted the builder and solicitor involved.
The gist of the situation is that Endesa must have become aware of usage discrepancies.....consumption from the supply must have been far greater that that being paid for by the two legal meters. The tap on my supply was outside the property where the cable entered the soil then looped under the road to the pole opposite. It was not registering on my meter. The injustice of it is that I am being penalised for something I did not condone and was unaware of.....I have a circuit breaker between the meter and the house and had thrown this several times to see if it disconnected my neighbours, but they seemed to be immune, so I assumed that my supply was independent. They, Endesa, have told the chap who does my caretaking that a new and approved feed cable from the post will be acceptable, subject to inspection, and must be tamper proof. The simplest way of doing this is apparently to bury it in concrete. This does not come cheap, and who will bear the ultimate cost remains to be seen. If it is connected to by others again then I will be penalised and could lose my meter !!!! This is grossly unfair, but I expect they are adopting this approach to discourage others from sharing their meters.
In fairness to Endesa, the problem seems to be the greedy builders who are criticising them for refusing to supply meters, when the fault lies with the builders who are skimping on cost and not laying in adequate cabling to support the increased usage. In my case a supply which was feeding two meters which were on rustic properties are now being expected to supply seven with all the appliances that modern life utilises. The ducting under the road is undersized. The health and safety implications are enormous.
Thanks for all your support....I will post the outcome.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

Mitzi were there no meters just illegal connections ?? Or were they shared meters ?? At least with a shared meter Endesa is being paid.....some people haven't paid a bill for years!!!

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

By our "fellow countrymen" I meant estate agents etc feeding off there own kind with not a iota of conscience that they were selling dodgy houses with no meters and only interested in one thing , how much money they could make on the deal..:rolleyes:

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

Thank you for your good wishes. The only problem I have now is no adsl. Still you cant have everything and I have got peace of mind now which is very important! I too with the exception of only a handfull would not touch them with a bargepole. :eek:

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

Hi Poollounger to answer your question.
In my quest for the holy grail (a house in Chiclana with a genuine electric meter) approx 50% of them had a box with no meter on the inside of the property not on the outside. The reason for this is obvious. It is illegal for anyone in Spain to enter your property without invitation and this includes Endesa. The rest had a meter on the outside which was serving up to 3 to 4 more houses running off counters. When I queried this situation as not being correct and indeed illegal I was told nonsense everbody does it and Endesa are more than happy to accept it. I stressed to every agent that showed me property NOT to show me any that did not have a meter but still time and time again I was taken to properties without meters or with counters. On more than one occasion told the agent just what they could do with the house and walked off.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

If it's any consolation (although I think not!) spanish estate agents differ in no way to foreign agents when it comes to showing properties without meters (and other defects). I cant believe the amount of time I wasted looking at "fantastic" properties with spanish agents. They really have no idea.

I´m not sure what I would do in the agents' shoes - reject all sellers without meters and have hardly any properties on their books, or accept them, recognising that some sellers will not be interested. Probably the latter.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

The only experince I had with Spanish agents was the one that I bought my house through that I am living in at present. At the end of the first viewing I was presented with a copy of the nota simpla, a plan of the house and a colour print out of the urban plan with situation of the house on it. I am not saying that Spanish estate agents are any different. What I am saying is that the brit ones have no conscience whatsoever when it comes to ripping there own kind off.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

Although you and I have had our diferences of opinion in the past Mitzi, I am beginning to agree with you, I think. Any agent who proclaims ignorance of the problems is lying, there is sufficient publicity on this forum alone, and I haven't noticed any visually or aurally impaired agents selling properties. That sharing meters is not acceptable any more is also well publicised.
I do not think my estate agent is culpable in my instance, and I would hope that she is not selling houses without meters, or shared meters. If she is then she deserves to be revealed alongside anyone else who is doing so.
Mitzi can you please post how one differentiates between a meter and a counter ????

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

Poolounger I find no comfort in being proved right in what I have said all along. Indeed I feel very very sorry for everbody who has to live without essential services and especially for you because through no fault of your own you have found yourself now in this insidious position. I still lay the blame for all this firmly at the feet of those in power in this town. I would lay odds on that even now if you went into any estate agents and asked to be shown detached property you would still be taken to houses with the same problems.

To answer your question re meters/counters. The main meter on the plot feeds up to 3 more houses. All these have a digital counter inside usually this counter is situated next to the main fuse box. Despite being totally illegal I was told on more than one occassion that if I bought a house from them and if I was in the fortunate position of having the main meter then on the sales contract I would have to sign to say that I would supply the others with electric. This sounds incredible but it is true!

Re your/mine agent I think I passed her on the road near Lidl somebody appeared to have sprayed all her car in white streaks. However I cannot be sure it was her. I do agree with you though if she is guilty then she should be held to acccount for her actions.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

iota... there's a word I have not heard in a long while,I am going to use it more in conversation......could not give an IOTA... and... stick it up your IOTA
happy days are here again :D

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

At last appears action is being taken to sort electric problem , as stated here before the whole infrastructure of the area is at risk if electric and therefore water is drawn without check .

The new development is the action on shared meters which means anyone with a plot size of under 800 sq mtrs has to be now illegally drawing electricity (pago del humo).

The last i heard over 6000 properties were without electric but that may be a chinese whisper exageration.

Poollounger , you say they dug under the road to hook in to electric ? is it a tarmac road ? was there no clues ?

Hopefully the illegal building festival here will now wind up , urbanisation will surely help aswell .

For what my view is worth re TV exposure , this seems ideal for old Trevor McDonut to investigate ! or should Amanda Lamb be brought back for a special edition of a Place in the Dark !

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

Mourinho I am hoping to have my problem resolved by the end of today and I will post the outcome and how it was achieved when I have a conclusion.
Miitzi's post about counter meters is surprising and I hope prospective purchasers take heed. Builders just have to stop cutting corners and lay in a proper infrastructure. The only positive note about shared meters is that at least these people are paying for their electricity. The ones who have none but just hook up do not. I am not being sanctimonious, as I appreciate that many of these people bought in good faith and have no choice. It must be difficult if you simply do not have the money to get a proper supply laid in, or the neighbours won't co-operate. PROSPECTIVE BUYERS OUT THERE PLEASE TAKE NOTE AND DO NOT BUY THESE PROPERTIES.....IT IS THE ONLY WAY THAT THESE METHODS OF BUILDING AND SELLING WILL BE ERADICATED.

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

TREVOR McDONUT, AMANDA LAMB SPECIAL PLACE IN THE DARK !! :eek:
hang on a minute,I crack the funnys here
good god I must be losing my touch
very good thought I must say (throught grated teeth)

Re: Elex cut off in Upper Pago !!!!
 

Anyone fancying this route can try this link.

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/...is_appear.html