No, I was all right cos I had a sweatshirt on not a vest. ;-)

Have you got the whole street tapped into your meter??

Our last electric bill for a 4 bed house was €58 for the past two months, plus we used about €40 worth of wood to keep "Toasty" indoors.

Might even be the whole of Jalon! *lol*

When we first came to rent this house, it was advertised as "centrally heated". That constituted an aircon (hot/cold) in the living room! We mentioned this little detail to the owner, who promptly went out and bought an electric heater for each of the three bedrooms, another for the hallway and another for the living room. Keep in mind this is a detached property, so does not benefit from anybody else's heating.

We added to this by buying a gas heater to save money. We only use the gas heater in the living room, an electric heater in the office and another in the hallway in hopes that the whole house may benefit.....oh and also an electric heating thingie in the bathroom to be able to take a shower.....but the house is still FREEZING. You walk outside and you want to tear all your clothes off and then you walk back indoors and have to dress like an eskimo....literally.

Romantic evenings with little or nothing on have gone out the window well, at least until the summer

Hi Martha

Do you put rugs down to help to keep the heat in? I was wondering whether that would help to make the place cosy in the winter months. It would certainly be better to walk on rugs rather than cold tiles.

We live in a 3 bed detached house here in England and our electric bill is £35 and gas (gas central heating) £47 per month, this is worked out over the year and then either we have a credit or debit at the end of the year. Hoping we will be paying a lot less in Spain, now you have made me think again

You've got me thinking now.....which is a dangerous thing!

Michael and I went outside to try and find the meter, in the hopes that we could switch everything off and see if it is still running......but no meter to be found anywhere.

Which makes me think even harder (you can almost see the smoke coming out of my ears...) that the neighbours are relatives of the man we rent from and since they've moved in (their house is new) our electric bills have more than doubled....and to top that off I think the two plots (this house and the neighbours house) used to be one plot.....at least that's how google earth shows it.....hmmmmmmmmmmm going to have to make a few phone calls tomorrow!

Thanks big wheels!

That's a very good point you made Lionda!

No, unfortunately we have no rugs and I know it does make a difference, but Michael is not very keen on them for some reason.

I will have to find something we both like and make a small investment!

Many thanks

I know a man with a couple of rolls of green lino. ;-)

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm I think I'll pass on that *lol*

Can you speak to your neighbour and ask how much their bill was at all?

Hi ACD,

If I see her I may ask. Although she is the niece of the owner.

I've emailed the estate agent so that they can tell me where the meter is. Once we find it, we shall switch the mains off and see if it is still ticking.

My neighbour paid my water bill for several years because the water people got the bills the wrong way around. I kept getting his. I have a pool, he doesn't

Good thing you're an honest person

He didn't tell me for a year and a half as he is hardly ever there. He couldn't work out why his bills were 120 euros in the summer!!!! It took us 6 months to get the water people to change it!!!

Why does THAT not surprise me?

I called Telefonica but they never came
and their excuses were so lame
I struggled speaking to them in Spanish
And then the operator just vanished

My water bill was charged to my neighbour
and this was something for me to savour
I was getting free water for my pool
and him next door felt quite the fool

You want things doing here right away
Then I can't tell you what to say
You have to learn to have much patience
or you'll end up a mental patient