Lenox

With all those windmills, using free energy, how can Spain have the most expensive electricity bills in the world?!
Lo han conseguido! La electricidad española es la más cara del mundo

amideislas

Because Endesa is about the most powerful company in Spain, with their hands in the pockets of most politicians.

agoreira

Must be a mistake, I've always been told on here that everything is as cheap as chips in Spain, far cheaper than UK.
Un dato sin confirmar, un ciudadano londinense paga un tercio de lo que paga un español por el recibo de la luz a pesar de las diferencias salariales.
Got to be a mistake.

anonimouse

Best get used to it, I believe there's more rises to come, waters tripled in price rates have also tripled in price, Electric still has a little way to go

cricketman

Because green energy isnt free energy, the infrastructure costs are actually very expensive

Green energy is actually twice as expensive as fossil fuels

And of course, Spain has almost no fossil fuels, just a bit of coal and natural gas, has to import the rest, expensive!

Nothing to do with monopolies, the energy companies have been making a huge loss for years

Whoever wrote that electricity should be more expensive in London because they earn more is an idiot, we're not talking about the price of a cup of coffee

Fred James

Mainly because the government have been controlling the tariffs to domestic users at an artificially low rate for a long time.

They are now having to reduce this to some extent and bills are increasing accordingly.

If you are not on the government controlled TUR tariff the rates have gone up by far more.

Fred James

It's not even a Spanish company anymore - it's Italian owned.

Iberdrola is about the same size and still Spanish controlled.

Lenox

Reading the original Spanish note again, I see it's dated March 2012. There's been a 7% additional increase in electricity rates since then and another one now in July.

amideislas

Not that many years. Here's Endesa's 2010 stats (compiled last year):

Type Sociedad Anónima
Traded as BMAD: ELE
Industry Public utility
Founded 1944
Headquarters Madrid, Spain
Key people Andrea Brentan (CEO), Borja Prado Eulate (Chairman)
Services Electricity generation and distribution
Revenue €31.18 billion (2010)
Operating income €5.031 billion (2010)
Profit €4.129 billion (2010)
Total assets €62.59 billion (end 2010)
Total equity €23.16 billion (end 2010)
Employees 25,580 (average, 2010)
Parent Enel
Website endesa.com

I recently read their profits dipped below 4 Billion last year, and this signalled shareholders to demand significant restructuring. The restructuring included lobbying the government for rate hikes or face a 20% reduction of staff (which would be political suicide).

By the way, since Endesa employs over 25000 people it's really more of a subsidy, not a "tariff control". You and I pay for for the "artificially low rates".

apparently the new rate hikes solved the problem of not enough profit... for this quarter, anyway...

cricketman

Yes, by loss, I meant loss on the amount paid by the consumers, before the government subsidy

The government have been phasing their subsidies out. I think by next year there wont be any

jackytoo

Well good point, I mentioned on here that my electric bills in the Uk are still less than I paid in Spain almost 2 years ago. Although we still see posters saying they pay about 20€ a month and run more stuff than I do/did

anonimouse

Yeah but sitting indoors with coats on in winter aint every bodies cuppa T

amideislas

Iberdrola is effectively, a billing company. They simply sell energy from Endesa at a small discount, and take over billing for it.

The main thing Iberdrola offers is a small discount on off-peak hours. Otherwise, pretty much the same as Endesa. Well, actually it is Endesa, billed by Iberdrola.

Fred James

Not true - look it up on Google!

It is a major Spanish energy producing company and has nothing to do with Endesa!

There are loads of Spanish energy companies in the free market who can supply electricity.

Yes, your particular units may come from one particular generating company who produce it but another company can bill it.

In certain parts of Spain one company produces it and in another part another company also does - they can also bill consumers in parts of the country that they do not produce. Iberdrola is based in the north of Spain, Endesa in the south.

We are in the south and are supplied by Endesa but billed by Iberdrola.

In Bilbao you would be supplied by Iberdrola and you could be billed by Endesa.

These companies are all producers but they are able to also bill consumers outside of their production area under the Mercado Libre rules.

cricketman

Has amideislas misunderstood something?

Surely not!