A current clamp perhaps?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_clamp

That's a good point. Will have to put my thinking cap on unless a friendly sparky can come up with an idea.

Did you not read my post about a current clamp?

Yes I read it, understood it? No

Well it's a simple device that clamps round an electrical cable (without cutting into it) and measures the current passing through.

To measure the total current being used you would just clamp it round the big black cable going into the meter.

Any decent electrician should have one.

Thanks Fred, got that bit but it was decyphering the readings that would confuse me !!

yea. our counter was apparently ok.... it might be my connection to the iberdrola system from my box.... how do i check that?

i think i might need more then a plug. my appliances are all brand new should be energy efficient

Phone Iberdrola on Friday complaining about the fact that I had been waiting for my two part tariff meter to be fitted since posting the contracts to them in Feb.

Surprise, surprise yesterday electricity went off with no warning and when I checked, the meter had been fitted. All the meters are in a group in an adjacent hallway but it was odd that they didn't bother to warn me that the power was being cut off.

Anyway, now looking forward to some sensible bills in the future. Fingers crossed

Taking your advice Fred and experimenting with six hours on during the off peak period for the water heater.

we had to update the wiring in our place before we could get iberdrola to set up our electricity box. it took 8 months. i had no electricity and a newborn baby for 8 months. i hate iberdrola with all the fiber of my being. a million phone calls and trying to deal with them we finally get and now we have like 600 euros bills every 2 months. WTF

So why dont you speak to Paul?

i found out that Iberdrola had my power wattage set up at like 5.0 milliamps or something like that which is what businesses use. so got it changed to 3.4 so that should cut out alot of money i was paying. and also something in my house is just sucking power so i i read about that thing that electricians have that check how much power is being used so having a friend come in and checking that.

I have had no problem with my Iberdrola bills.

However I have decided to bite the bullet and increase my potencia to 10kw from 5.75kw that is just not enough in the winter.

Has anyone experienced making this change and was it hassle free?
I am not in Spain all the time so need any appointment made to be kept to by Iberdrola. Is this likely?

As my installation is less than 5 years old there should be no need (I hope)to obtain a boletin.Is that correct?

Thanks

You should have a boletin on a house that new. You will certainly need it if you upgrade to 9.2kw (that's the max unless you have 3 phase supply).

Your boletin will show the max potencia that your installation is capable of - hopefully it will be 10kw otherwise you have a problem.

They will need access to install the 45amp ICP.

You can also expect to pay €250 or more for the contract upgrade.

Thanks Fred.
250 for the upgrade is taking the proverbial, but I cannot stand another winter of it tripping. Its usually the kettle that puts us over the limit.

Apologies if this is not appropriate but....
For a quick local check on the current a current clamp multimeter would do fine and you get the multimeter bit for other work such as fuse checking etc. They used to be inordinately expensive and fairly hard to get hold of but many mail order co's are now doing them from around £15.00 in uk. Probably better paying around £25 will ensure reasonable readout and accuracy but the leccy board will not take it as a legal challenge to their bills.

If you are worried about the readings meaning anything - well they actually won't as all you will get is an analogue meter reading showing the current being taken from the system, it will not totalise to give a check against the meter.
It can be quite frightening when you switch on an item and see the meter jump - the same way as the money jumps out of your pocket.

That way if you have nothing switched on and both clamp and main meter are showing use then there are other outputs you don't know of - such as the house or shop next door.

hth