Just read about someone being charged a penalty by Endesa for not having an ICP (Interruptor de Control de Potencia). He was told that by law on all electrical installations as of two years ago one had to be fitted. Apparently it protects your system from overuse and assures that you do not consume more electricity than you have contracted for at any one time. He took a photo of his fuseboard to Endesa and was told the penalty would stop as he had one installed. He was told that warnings were sent to consumers in 2012. We have no record of receiving such a warning, never have had a penalty charged and are now wondering if this is something that we can expect to receive. Could it be possible that as we live in a Spanish community far inland they aren't bothering with us as it may be more trouble than it is worth chasing up all the Spanish in the area to get this done. Anyone know an answer?

Nahhh, really?

Your case is not unique. Back in 2013 they were raking in not only penalties for not having it (even from some who did have it), but charging a fortune to install them, and then forcing you to pay "rent" for it.

We were forced to pay €292 for the installation, and we still pay 10c per day for the "rental" of it, despite the fact that it's no longer required. We have a digital meter, which has the ICP built-in.

The irony is that you can buy this "ICP" at any DIY shop for €30 or less, and installing it took minutes. But unless it has Endesa's expensive little "blessing", it's not an ICP.

Worse... is that it's not even required if you have a digital meter. And I've been told that there is no longer any legal requirement... Just Endesa's "policy" now...

Ka-ching!

I've also heard that it's a 'legal requirement' (or was) yet Iberdrola have NEVER contacted us for any of the properties we own!

We have an ICP in our main property but not because they told us to. On the others, we have a mix of digital and normal meters but have never been told to have ICP's installed.

If they tried to fine me, then I'd insist on a copy of the letters they sent out informing us of this new law.

You can't 'insist' on anything with Endesa. And, if you have a bank account in Spain, they can just take the money whether or not you have set up a direct debit.

I can concur this is true. I originally set up the "obligatory" Endesa direct debit from my account. After numerous fights with Endesa for overbilling, I had my bank block Endesa debits. That was easy enough. And I've since discovered that there is no legal obligation to provide them with direct debit, despite what Endesa claims.

Anyway, it was about 4 months later that they debited another bill from Neil's account without any authorisation to do so. They had never been given that account number. How they got it is a mystery. It was in the same bank, though.

Anyway, he put a block on his too, and that worked... and now we only pay the bills manually, after we have the opportunity to check the factura against the meter. It's easy to pay it through online banking, so it's no great inconvenience.

Oh, and having conversed with the bank about it, they said this is a common problem, and suggested what many people do with direct debit, is set up another (very cheap, basic) account, and only transfer enough money in it to cover the bills that you expect - that way, they can't just take extra money "by mistake" and put the onus on you to get it back. We do this for our insurance payments.

We live in the campo and our electricity supplier CHCenergia sent an electrician around the whole area 3/4 years ago. We were fine as we had the interruptor fitted. He did find many local spaniards who had over-ridden the contracted supply. They got huge fines from the company.

So living inland doesn't guarantee it won't happen, it will take just a little longer!

We were informed by letter which we had to sign for re the ICP but on inquiring with Iberdrola we were told that as our house was built in 2004 it did not apply to us.

In the Casa Cultura where the postman sits there was a queue of people from the older part of the village waiting to sign for and collect their notices from Iberdrola.

I would be surprised if any of them bothered to do anything about it.