Compulsory. We wanted it done a long time ago anyway but we did not request it.

Rosemary

Did you have to upgrade your supply contract?

Yes. It was sent through by Iberdrola immediately.

Rosemary

I had mine done almost a year ago, in response to a letter from Sevillana Endesa.

It spurred me into having our wiring checked by an electrician and getting the electric meter moved to the outside of the house. Ours is an old house and we knew it wasn't up to scratch, but I had been a bit scared of opening a can of worms and being told we needed a complete rewire which could cost thousands - and lead to a lot more work as all our walls on the ground floor are tiled at least halfway up so that would have had to be redone as well.

However the electrician managed to separate our wiring into 4 circuits, install a new cable for the supply coming into the house and a new distribution box , and move the meter, after which we got a boletin and got a new contract in my own name (the bills had been in my name before, but the contract was still in the previous owner's name, which seems to be quite common). The total cost was 780€ but I feel happier about it now. Then Endesa fitted the ICP which we rent for 60 centimos per month. We had a 3.3 kw contract before, now it is 3.45 kw which I believe is now the minimum you can contract for. It has never tripped since the ICP was fitted, but we do have a gas cooker and no pool!

What is rather galling is that Endesa don't seem to have started charging for the 10 kw supply to those users who haven't had the ICP fitted. But as another poster said, there are many families in my area who would be hard hit by that.

How much did they charge you to upgrade it?

Nothing and no mention of it costing.

Rosemary

It's actually the same thing.

It's the rating on the ICP trip that is important. You have a 15amp trip.

They used to calculate the wattage on the basis of 220volts. 220 x 15 is 3300 ie 3.3kw.

They now use 230 volts so 230 x 15 is 3.45kw. It's just means they get more money from the standing charge because they use the new calculation!!!

Fred, Fred, Fred ... error aside, thanks for that. I never knew how they worked it out.

OMG, whenever I see figures like that my eyes just glaze over - maths never was my strong point.

It certainly seems, as you say, that the elecricity companies are out to wring more money out of consumers any way they can, and ending the monopoly won't change that, as far as I can see. Does anyone know whether the proposed protest to have a mass 'switch-off' at 10pm on
15 February attracted much support?

Just think if they add Ohm's Law & power factor correction into the calculation they probable could chip the bill up a few more Cents.
I'm sure there are some times the voltage generated is nearer 200

CAN'T BE the EU says it has got to be between 220 and 240 from Iceland to Cape Verde and Ireland to Ukraine and Spain is in the middle so it must 230V

What the EU says & what it does is two different things
Not long ago we were using No 1 photoflood bulbs 275W & they were popping all the time ( admitidately they were cheap foreign imports ) my meter read 245 volts & that was in London
Please don't tell me it is illegal to sell or supply frosted bulbs 100 Watts upwards,that's another law that's ignored @ this moment in time
By the way my meter is manufactured by Robin probable one of the best not a £ 4.99p version

I agree. Here where I am in Spain, we've recorded 180V at the lower end and 265V at the higher end.

We complained to Iberdrola about the lower value as it takes weeks to microwave anything but they just said it was our problem.

We measured it again at the meter - only slightly better. Again we complained and they informed us that we would have to pay for new wiring from the meter to the top of the nearest pole. Once we had done that, they would then be able to investigate further if there was still a problem.

Since when was the wiring "the other side of the meter" our responsibility? ONLY IN SPAIN!

I have just come off the phone with Iberdrola, 30 minutes later, and that was after having to find a different number as the one in the letter is no longer working. I opted for the 3cents a month rental of the PCS/ICP as I figured it would take forever to pay the cost of installing one myself.
But instead of being advised I would have to pay the 9.04€ costs as it said in the letter, and because it is recommend to upgrade from 2.200W to either 3.450W or 4.450W it would either cost me 60€ or 100€ plus an extra monthly standing charge, either 2€ more per month or 4€ more per month.
I definitely think this is just a way of robbing us. You really do not have any options, and they will not allow you to spread the cost and could not tell you if you did not take action when they would start charging for the 10.000W standing charge, which would have cost around 15€ more per month. Plus an extra charge for the increase in supply.
What a con...... so for something I thought would cost me approx 10€ with a 2€ increase per month on my bill, I have ended up spending a fortune.
HAVE THEY NOT REALISED THERE IS A RECESSION AT THE MOMENT.
I used to pay by direct debit but I have stopped this also as I do not want any nasty surprises adding to my bill and being taken before I get to see the statement.
So beware if you have not arranged for the limiter to be put on you could end up with around 150€-200€ extra charge on a future statement.

Strange but very strange but true!
When you develop a property you have to provide the final link from their main to your meter. However I assumed having done that they then "adopted" up to their meter since you had to do to their standards using an acceptable contractor. Seems like they don't.