growinspain

7,7kw is a lot. What are you running plus a standard 2000w oven ( that is normal max potential) to make it trip?

It could be a fault in the oven unless you can determine that you tried to use 7,8KW.

boneym

I dont know...three bed two bathroom, large water heater, oven hob microwave fridge freezer, tv, Internet, phone & laptop chargers, four residents.
I always thought it was faulty wiring tripping from the oven until a friend mentioned he'd needed to increase his capability & suggested that may be our probldm. I've never heard of that in England so was new to me. My husband says he thinks maybe the oven isn't wired correctly! Anyway we pay £)30€ - 55€ a month for an empty house with a fridge freezer running!

growinspain

It is the oven... In your list you did not include any heating or cooling but even then, you would not have everything running at the same time

growinspain

You might even be able to reduce the potential and save money by finding the fault.

boneym

Oh yes sorry we have four air conditioning units. No heaters.

del.Almendro

We power everything off when returning to the UK. We have a smart meter. The electricity office lady just clicks a button on her computer screen and the potencia adjustment is instantly applied. No fees thus far, and no engineer visit required. Can't help feeling there might be a fee introduced soon though!

Clearly the leccy company isn't owned by a bank!

astera

I've noticed that with Endesa the bills don't come at regular intervals but at seemingly random or illogical times. Sometimes it's 5 weeks, sometimes 6, and earlier this year it was after literally just 3 weeks. Is this randomness the norm here?

How does this work? I've noticed the regular charge but what happens if you have a spike in usage during the day where you temporarily go beyond the established "potencia?"

Lynn R

The billing periods can be a bit random especially when some change or other, like the reductions in IVA, are announced by the Government and the companies have to make changes to their systems.

If you go over your contracted potencia at any time during the day by having too many appliances in use at once then the powet will go off, simple as. You have to switch something off and reset the circuit breakers.

astera

Many thanks, was wondering what was going on with these constantly different billing periods.

And potencia is all clear now to me as well - at least I know what's been causing my power to kick out. I figured it was an old electrical setup that couldn't take the load but I guess it's a question of raising the "potencia."

Btw, what is up with the three different meter time-slots? Do you need to be on a special tariff to pay a different price for each (because on my bill I get 3 separate readings but then they all get lumped together and I pay for overall kWh at the same price)?

DLC

Your supplier is Endesa XXI if you're on a regulated tariff or Endesa Energia if you're on a open market tariff. Also there are other suppliers you can switch to which can be cheaper.

If you're in an Endesa area as I guess you would be if you asked for an electricity supply and got given Endesa then your distributor is e-distribución. There's no changing that.

One way of lowering your bills is lowering the Potencia (amount of energy you can use), if you live in Spain then you can probably use 4.4kW, if you just have a holiday home then maybe even 3.3kW.

Another way is changing the tariff, at the moment regulated is probably cheaper than open market although you need to watch the clock as different times of day have different prices.

You can use the QR code on your supplier's bill or set up an account on your distributor's website to compare many regulated and open market tariffs (not all of them) from different suppliers. Also see here.

My Endesa bill is a bit late, I should have got it about a month ago, so I guess they're making some change to billing (check the small print on the next bill to see if there are changes...).

You can't really take your eyes off bills, you may have a tariff change with a month or two's notice and if you don't change to another tariff then you've accepted it. Or you may be moved to a regulated tariff (from Endesa XXI if you're on Endesa) if you're not profitable on an open market tariff.

Fred James

If you change to a different tariff you will get charged based on what you use in each of the three periods. Currently you are on a 24hr tariff with just one energy rate. You can change easily, but whether it will be cheaper depends on your usage pattern. You will need to get well organised to make any significant savings.

DLC

Yes, on Endesa it's Tarifa One Luz 3 Periodos (English version).

astera

Yeah, I'm with Endesa Energia so the open market one. Definitely need to keep my eye on these bills and contact the landlord to see if he can change our tariff to one that will work out better.

On a side note, I noticed that some people complain about their usage not matching their bills, but that can easily be attributed to the difference between estimated meter readings and actual ones. It's all there on the bill itself.

Very true as I see this listed on my bill: Contrato de mercado libre: Tempo 24 horas

Now looking at the bills from the last couple of months and doing the numbers from actual readings (and not estimated ones) I see the following usage pattern in terms of % of kWh used in the three different time-slots:

1. Punta: 26%
2. Llano: 25%
3. Valle: 49%

With virtually half my energy use in the lowest sector I take it I should change to a different tariff asap?

DLC

Looks like you'll save money by switching to 3 Periodos, but try scanning the QR code from your latest bill to see what it says.

Lynn R

Not necessarily. It depends on how much a company charges per kwh for the Punta and Llano periods. In some cases they can be higher than the 24-hour rate that is available from either your current supplier or a different supplier.