# Are my electric bills the norm?



## DROOBY (Aug 5, 2008)

Alrighty folks,

We recently moved into a very small cortijo in the campo, 2 bedroom with small pool that has the jets on for roughly 2 hours a day, gas hob with electric oven and usual bits.

last three months bills have been

214€, 120€ and 211€ pretty sure its now costing more than our last three bedroomed 4 floored house,

Does this sound in line with everyone else? Plus i've had no radiators on last month.

D


----------



## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

DROOBY said:


> Alrighty folks,
> 
> We recently moved into a very small cortijo in the campo, 2 bedroom with small pool that has the jets on for roughly 2 hours a day, gas hob with electric oven and usual bits.
> 
> ...


Sounds a bit high to me! Are they estimates or readings? Are you paying for a previous outstanding bill? Have you got an electric water heater cos that uses tons? Have you checked to make sure that you're the only one using your electricity, by turning everything off in your house and checking to see if the little thing in the meter is still going round??? If it is, double check everything in your house again - even turning the fuse off. If its still moving then it could be someone else is tapped into your supply??? 

I've got a three bedroom house, electric oven and hob. Gas water heater, a couple of electric radiators and my bill is roughly 200€ a month - or shoudlbe, they only give us estimates and so far over the last 6 months they've only asked for 40€ a month - we keep telling them, but....!!?



Jo xxx


----------



## country boy (Mar 10, 2010)

We have very similar conditions to you, plus a workshop with woodworking machinery and our bills are never over €100 per month, usually 75-85! Somats up!


----------



## DROOBY (Aug 5, 2008)

country boy said:


> We have very similar conditions to you, plus a workshop with woodworking machinery and our bills are never over €100 per month, usually 75-85! Somats up!



My sentiments exactly! Estate agent does'nt seem overly interested neither!


----------



## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

DROOBY said:


> My sentiments exactly! Estate agent does'nt seem overly interested neither!


The trouble with a lot of agents is that they see their job as done once you've signed the contract! Unless they're also managing agents, or just nice and helpful

Jo xxx


----------



## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

Yep , there's something notright there. Does it say 'lectura actual' ( meters been read ) or 'lectura estimada ) ? I only pay about 70/ 80€ every 2 months & about 110€ in the summer when I've got the pool running & I've got 2 fridges , 2 freezers, w/ mc goes every day, plus I weld here as well. If your with endesa,by all accounts thereare many people on other forums all complaining of similar problems !


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

We have a larger house with pool, sprinklers in summer and I'm wondering about our bills as we don't use that much electricity. We get billed bi-monthly and the last bill was 498 euros, about 40 euros more than the previous bill although we used less electricity in March and April.. The bill statement says the readings have been taken.
I'm estimating our monthly utilities bills -water and electricity -as around 230 -250 euros a month taken over a year.


----------



## DROOBY (Aug 5, 2008)

gus-lopez said:


> Yep , there's something notright there. Does it say 'lectura actual' ( meters been read ) or 'lectura estimada ) ? I only pay about 70/ 80€ every 2 months & about 110€ in the summer when I've got the pool running & I've got 2 fridges , 2 freezers, w/ mc goes every day, plus I weld here as well. If your with endesa,by all accounts thereare many people on other forums all complaining of similar problems !



Bills are:

lectura real 17/02/2010 33.694
lectura estimada 19/01/2010 32.277
1,417 €210.12


lectura estimada 23/03/2010 34.326
lectura real 17/02/2010 33.694
632 €101.80

lectura real 20/04/2010 35.733
lectura estimada 23/03/2010 34.326
1.407 €211.12

The bills seem to match the meter as far as i can see. Just can't figure out why. Use the gas to make a brew don't own a microwave, no radiators


----------



## country boy (Mar 10, 2010)

First thing to try is switch everything off in the Casa then check to see if the wheel is still going round. Do it at various times of the day and week!


----------



## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

As country boy says, turn the mains off & check whether the meter is still going round. As you are in a small property in the campo what is the contracted supply ? It 'll show it on the bill as 'potencía contrata' ,I'd have thought it would only be 3kw. If the meter is still going round then someones tapping the supply after the meter. I take it the meter is outside, unlike mine which is in the house.


----------



## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

An average of almost 50KH/h a day. 

No way that makes sense. Even a 2kw oven ran 24 hours.


----------



## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

Those bills are unbelievable, the person who rents out the place hasn't got other property nearby have they ? Or land that they have pumped irrigation for ? & just 'forgot' that the pumps are connected to the old place!!


----------



## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

gus-lopez said:


> Those bills are unbelievable, the person who rents out the place hasn't got other property nearby have they ? Or land that they have pumped irrigation for ? & just 'forgot' that the pumps are connected to the old place!!


That happened to a friend of mine, they had a casita in the grounds of a spanish familys large house, altho the family only came at weekends. My friends electricity bill was huge cos the big house had wired their power to my friends meter!

Jo xxx


----------



## jockm (Jun 23, 2009)

This is a bit of a longer term solution, but in Oz you can get these dooverlackies* that can tell you what your consumption is. They have a government program where an electrician comes to your home, checks it all out, gives you advice and installs said dooverlackie in your kitchen or similar so you can monitor future consumption.

I know that doesn't help you right now but for anyone interested in what is consuming what, I imagine these devices are available further afield...?

Here is the link if anyone is interested.

Welcome to the ClimateSmart Home Service

I will be interested to hear what is sucking your power! It does sound suss..... 

* wireless energy monitor


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

gus-lopez said:


> As country boy says, turn the mains off & check whether the meter is still going round. As you are in a small property in the campo what is the contracted supply ? It 'll show it on the bill as 'potencía contrata' ,I'd have thought it would only be 3kw. If the meter is still going round then someones tapping the supply after the meter. I take it the meter is outside, unlike mine which is in the house.


What is 'contracted supply'?


----------



## DROOBY (Aug 5, 2008)

gus-lopez said:


> As country boy says, turn the mains off & check whether the meter is still going round. As you are in a small property in the campo what is the contracted supply ? It 'll show it on the bill as 'potencía contrata' ,I'd have thought it would only be 3kw. If the meter is still going round then someones tapping the supply after the meter. I take it the meter is outside, unlike mine which is in the house.



4.4Kw seems to be the contrated amount though have to admit no idea what this means

I have put a timer on the water heater for 1 hour a day so touch wood!!! I'll try switching the electric off at diffrent times also to see if its still turning.
Thanks for all the advice so far folks.:clap2:


----------



## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> What is 'contracted supply'?


The amount of electricity that you can draw. I.e. if you have a 3Kw/ hr supply the most you can theoretically draw is 3kw, but in reality in most older properties have no mechanism in the fusebox to stop you drawing more. The only thing that will stop you is the incoming main fuse ( before the meter ) blowing. I know that all new properties now have an ICP fitted which is rated to your supplied amount & if you draw more it trips. If you require it uprated then the electricity company will require an electrical inspection & bringing up to todays specs. if below. Another way of getting money! In addition, Endesa in Andalucia is notifying slowly, all owners that do not have an ICP fitted to the rated supply , that they have to fit one , have it inspected , have the wiring brought up to current standards or they will be put on the 20Kw tariff ( about 50+€ standing charge ) or cut off.

The thing to bear in mind here for people coming from the UK is that the standard supply in the UK used to be 80amps which would allow you to draw 20KW/hr & these days is more likely to be 100mps = 26Kw /hr.


----------



## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

DROOBY said:


> 4.4Kw seems to be the contrated amount though have to admit no idea what this means
> 
> I have put a timer on the water heater for 1 hour a day so touch wood!!! I'll try switching the electric off at diffrent times also to see if its still turning.
> Thanks for all the advice so far folks.:clap2:


If you can't find anything it could be that the thermostat has packed up in the w/heater & it's on all the time.


----------



## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

DROOBY said:


> 4.4Kw seems to be the contrated amount though have to admit no idea what this means
> 
> I have put a timer on the water heater for 1 hour a day so touch wood!!! I'll try switching the electric off at diffrent times also to see if its still turning.
> Thanks for all the advice so far folks.:clap2:


Apart from what everyone else has said, plus the possibility of a bad earth somewhere, I assume like us you pay a small amount every month for rental of the meter? Our contract is same as yours, 4.4Kw, and we are all electric and I have to be going mental with all the appliances and OH with the leaf blower or somesuch for our limiter to kick in. We use between 400Kw and 500Kw per month and I can't see how we can possibly double it without the limiter tripping every few minutes. If you've done the check where you turn the main switch off, and the meter stops - the next thing is to ask the supplier to check the meter (which is theirs) and for which you pay rent, as it seems crazy that you would use 1000Kw per month on a 4.4kW contract. Not to mention the fact that simple sums suggest that a large amount of the time on a monthly basis you would be over that to achieve over 3kW per hour on a 16 hour day. 

Tallulah.x


----------

