This is part of an email I just received when I queried a bill for an unoccupied property I have

Responding to your last communication, we inform you that your electricity contracts are on PVPC tariff (Voluntary Price for the Small Customer). The prices of this tariff are regulated by the Ministry of Industry and therefore the changes and regulations applied result in a variation in the price of the invoices. If you wish, you can change your contracts to a deregulated tariff to enjoy a benefit in your bills.

Is anybody else "enjoying" these benefits and could they walk me past the small print?

I was recently 'offered' a 6% discount on my energy tariff but they would NOT extend this to the others flats that I also have there!

I now pay 0.133837€/kWh (less 6%)

I was looking more at the standing charge,it gone from a bit over 3 euros to 11 plus in about 18 months

Yes, they've done that because of all the second homes and non-residents. It's a way of getting money into the coffers when not much power is being consumed.

My charges are (for the flats);

• Potencia facturada (3.45kW) - 0.13449€/kW
• Impuesto sobre electricidad - 5.11269632%
• Alquiler - 0.01874€/dia
• plus IVA (of course)

I've only 7.5 amps in one and 10amps in the other but trying to get them to call me back on their customer service number to discuss the contracts, is proving.......difficult

The energy sector in Spain is clearly a government-complicit fleecing. I hope it is exposed at some point, and something more "reasonable" will eventually emerge. But for now it is what it is.

DO NOT change to an "unregulated" tariff. If you think it's expensive now...

All it means is that they can charge whatever they want. And they will. It took a couple of years of being told complete bollocks before finally getting back to a regulated tariff, and on top of the ridiculous rates we were charged in the process, the exercise of returning to a regulated tariff was a very expensive little endeavour.

Thanks, I have to admit the word unregulated made me think twice!

... I'm not sure what this actually means as it is the kW that actually matters and not the size of any 'fuse'.


[actually I do understand as I did Physics a long time ago but it's not how energy costs are measured.]

A couple of years ago you had to limit your power consumption by an electrician putting in an inline mcb which was then sealed by Iberdrola.
the lowest allowed was 7.5 amps then 10 then I think 15.Just means in the apartment I have the lowest tariff but can never put a kettle on while the washing machine is in operation.

Endesa will tell you it's still a requirement to "rent" it from them, although it's useless, because the new digital meters act as the ICP. But in truth, there's no legal requirement. Most people wire around them anyway.

I still pay 10c per day for the "rental" of the one we paid €280 to have installed. Funny, you can buy identical units from leroy merlin for about €30. But they don't have that special "seal".

As I understood it the government removed some of the subsidy on the tariffs, ours went from 18€ per month to 31€ for 8.5kw potencia, maximum for the "small customer" tariff is I believe 10kw potencia

Yes, anything over 10kw has to be on a "free market" tariff which is not government subsidised.

E

I got a local electrician to do it for 75% less than Iberdrola wanted.They just sent someone around to fit the seal.The mcb is inside the apartment so it would be easy to bridge it out but as I have gas water heating it's hardly worth the bother and it's only ever tripped once

I don't know how it is there - it's probably different - but here in Mallorca, Endesa is the only electricity supplier. You can "switch" to Iberdrola, but that results in little more than changing the logo on your facturas. All else is provided by Endesa, and their pricing is within pennies of each other.