Countryboy1

We went off builder's supply many years ago.
Another cut this morning BTW!

jimenato

Almost certainly not specific to one house.

In Jimena we sometimes had 5 power cuts per day ranging from a split second to many hours. It's down to rickety supply infrastructure. The Spanish seem to accept it as a consequence of having electricity.

Worse was the water supply which was switched off frequently not because of unreliability but simply to do some work. This was without warning to the users which would be unthinkable in the UK.

Horlics

Biffta, I live in Xabia and have had only one unexpected power cut in the last 2 years.

Have you contacted the power company about your problem?

Countryboy1

No I haven't which should have been my first actions I suppose, but in an odd way you hope the last one will be the last if you know what I mean, then another one happens!
I'm certainly of a mind to do that now though.
Thanks.

Countryboy1

By coincidence, just checked the Moraira site of Facebook and there are other complaints about frequent power cuts in the area so something is clearly wrong somewhere.

missile

As another has suggested, contact your provider. There is clearly an issue in your local area. They will be able to advise what the issue is. They may not be able to resolve the problem, but at least you would know what the issue is.

This is certainly not "the norm" in our area.

olivefarmer

I have just found out today in the local paper, that the mayor of our nearest large village has complained on behalf of his people about the frequent short power outages. Good for him.

The electric company will know about the problem but haven't the money to be renewing line plant and transformers without compromising their profits.

Get other neighbours and your alcalde involved. That way it will be harder for the power company to charge you to fix their problem.

Countryboy1

Apologies but I don't understand your last paragraph. What do you mean by my alcalde? Also why would my electricity company consider charging me, and others suffering the same problems?
Thanks for your response.

Horlics

Alcalde is Spanish for mayor. Spanish is a language spoken by a few people on the costas - oops, more Spanish - coasts.

olivefarmer

Why?

It is A Spanish thing. Their kit tests OK, customers complain then it must be their fault. This isn't Britain. Have a read of my earlier thread re a neighbour with "weak" power.

Here is another example. A Spanish farmer friend wanted electric to power his well. So he applied to the electric company. They said put a new metal pylon in (at your expense) as the infrastructure in our area is all wooden poles.This was to upgrade their line plant for free and wasn't a new pole near his well. He did that , put a meter cupboard in, installed the cabling , paid a local electrician to come round and connect it up while the O/H cables were live. Used free electric for several years while the electric company processed his order. They turned him down as the well had been drilled 30 years ago without permission. He then was told to reinstate the wooden pole and remove all wiring and meter cupboards.. Big problem as he had given me the pole and I used it in a garden structure!

So get a petition up amongst the local community - Spaniards and expats and then get your local "alcalde" rep to make noises. Keeps it less personal.

Countryboy1

Yes oooops

Countryboy1

Thanks for that. Another cut this afternoon BTW!

Horlics

But I would first ask them if they are aware and see what explanation they give. Several power cuts a day to a large number of residents is not a situation that is going to continue for long, surely.

olivefarmer

We have had at least two today. Only know because the Sky box has gone off. Decent calm weather too. Quite normal.

Who would you ask? There will only be a handful of people in a large electricity service provider that will actually know what is going on. The vast majority will be front facing dummies. The only details they will have is of major outages e.g. flood damage takes out a sub station for a week.

Please do try asking though. It would be nice to see you get a positive result. Let us know how you got on.

Longlegpete

Biffta, not sure what part of Moraira you are in but we are on the Benissa costa, when we first had a place here powercuts were a problem in bad weather , we then had no real problems untill a year ago , over the last year Iberdrola have been replacing some power cables, start of the year we were turned off 5 times for 8 hours, all with advanced notice, we are now getting maybe two 5 min cuts a week with the occasional notice of a 4 hour cut, the last longer cut was in October, i think this is all work in progress, we are not there all the time so cant say about the last few weeks, we have not had a call from the alarm company so there has not been any longer cuts