# Utility Bills



## Gemdunn (Oct 18, 2020)

Hi.. I'm looking for some examples of the cost of utilities when renting on the Costa Blanca. We hope to do a long term rental for at least a year , min 3 bed house with private pool. We are a family of 4. Can anyone let me know what they pay annually for electricity, gas, water and any community charges. Will be within 1 hr drive of Alicante, near the coast. 
Alternatively, can you point me in the direction of a website that may provide this information. Many thanks.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Electricity is more expensive than the UK. So is internet access. 

Council tax (IBI), water, refuse collection etc are set by the local town hall and vary according to which town you are in - they are generally cheaper than the UK, but they are often included in the rental. Community charges only apply if you live on an urbanisation or a block of flats, and again can vary widely. 

No idea about mains gas, but most properties in rural areas or small towns don't have mains gas. Instead you buy a "bombona" of liquid gas (butane or propane) which is a much more economical way of heating, cooking and providing hot water than electricity. A bottle of propane (around €10 at the moment) lasts us two or three months for cooking and hot water.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

Alcalaina said:


> Electricity is more expensive than the UK. So is internet access.
> 
> Council tax (IBI), water, refuse collection etc are set by the local town hall and vary according to which town you are in - they are generally cheaper than the UK, but they are often included in the rental. Community charges only apply if you live on an urbanisation or a block of flats, and again can vary widely.
> 
> No idea about mains gas, but most properties in rural areas or small towns don't have mains gas. Instead you buy a "bombona" of liquid gas (butane or propane) which is a much more economical way of heating, cooking and providing hot water than electricity. A bottle of propane (around €10 at the moment) lasts us two or three months for cooking and hot water.


I think it is as long as a piece of string. If you are a high user in UK you will be a high user in Spain. As Alcy says swings and roundabouts. You may save on heating but use more with a pool and air con etc. Maybe find out the Spanish charges per kilowatt and compare.


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## Catalunya22 (Apr 25, 2020)

Isobella said:


> I think it is as long as a piece of string. If you are a high user in UK you will be a high user in Spain. As Alcy says swings and roundabouts. You may save on heating but use more with a pool and air con etc. Maybe find out the Spanish charges per kilowatt and compare.


You can´t even do that. A Kwh of electricity is cheaper than the UK, but by the time they have added the standing charges and various other taxes you can double that.
For example, my electricity bil for 20 July to 21 September (2Months) showed I used 39.35 euros of electricity...11.82 cents per Kwh........but the total bill was 92.55 after they had added everything else on.


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## Catalunya22 (Apr 25, 2020)

Catalunya22 said:


> You can´t even do that. A Kwh of electricity is cheaper than the UK, but by the time they have added the standing charges and various other taxes you can double that.
> For example, my electricity bil for 20 July to 21 September (2Months) showed I used 39.35 euros of electricity...11.82 cents per Kwh........but the total bill was 92.55 after they had added everything else on.


That was for a 3 bedroom flat.....2 of us live here.....we don´t do much cooking....never use the aircon......heating only when really cold, and then only for 20 minutes or so.....so basically that was just for lighting and hot water


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Catalunya22 said:


> That was for a 3 bedroom flat.....2 of us live here.....we don´t do much cooking....never use the aircon......heating only when really cold, and then only for 20 minutes or so.....so basically that was just for lighting and hot water


That's expensive! 

My gas & electricity added together don't come to that. 

4 bedroom flat, no heating or aircon, but lots of fans running in the summer. 3 adults living here using computers, TVs etc. Gas water & cooking.

The last two added together came to just over 80€ for a month in which we were still using the fans.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

xabiaxica said:


> That's expensive!
> 
> My gas & electricity added together don't come to that.
> 
> ...


He did say his bill was for 2 months from July to September, though. That's quite similar to my bills, which have been €49 and etc.€48 respectively for August and September. We're a 2 person household and our apartment is all electric, so no gas to add to that. We probably use more electricity for cooking than the average couple because we cook 2 separate main meals, as one of us is vegetarian and the other not. We use the aircon very seldom in summer although I have been putting it on for an hour 2/3 times a week in recent months for exercising at home. 

Catalunya says his bills are basically just for lighting and hot water, but in our case it includes the washing machine, dishwasher, hob, oven, microwave, extractor, fridge-freezer, kettle, toaster, hairdryer, iron, TV, ceiling fan at night in summer, etc.

When we moved from our old house where we used bottled gas for all our cooking and most of the heating, I thought our bills would be quite a lot higher, but in fact they've worked out just the same overall although we're now all electric.

What the OP will need to get used to is the "potencia contratada" system for the standing charges for electricity here, which is quite different to the UK. Here, we pay standing charges calculated on how many kw of electricity we are contracted to be able to use at any one time. If your potencia is too low, the supply will trip every time you have too many appliances in use at the same time. If it's too high for your needs, it will make your monthly bills very expensive as IVA (VAT) is added to that and in Spain the IVA on domestic energy bills is 21% not 5% as it is in the UK. Plus there's a 5% additional tax on electricity consumption (which then has the IVA added as well!).

In spite of all those taxes, however, I still find it cheaper than the UK. When I left in 2006 I was paying 60 pounds a month for gas and electricity from the same supplier. My bills here have only just reached the same amount after 14 years and I know from family and friends that costs have risen quite a bit there. We were both out at work all day there, as well, but are at home much more here as we're retired. 

Water costs are a lot lower here (my bills are always €15/16 a month for a 2 person household) and my IBI (Council Tax) is around a third of what I'd be paying for a similar sized 2 bed property in my old local authority. I don't find our internet costs expensive, we pay €19.90 per month (they just recently put it up from €18 which it had been for years) but we don't have to pay for a landline so no line rental charge to pay as we had in the UK.


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## Catalunya22 (Apr 25, 2020)

Lynn R said:


> He did say his bill was for 2 months from July to September, though. That's quite similar to my bills, which have been €49 and etc.€48 respectively for August and September. We're a 2 person household and our apartment is all electric, so no gas to add to that. We probably use more electricity for cooking than the average couple because we cook 2 separate main meals, as one of us is vegetarian and the other not. We use the aircon very seldom in summer although I have been putting it on for an hour 2/3 times a week in recent months for exercising at home.
> 
> Catalunya says his bills are basically just for lighting and hot water, but in our case it includes the washing machine, dishwasher, hob, oven, microwave, extractor, fridge-freezer, kettle, toaster, hairdryer, iron, TV, ceiling fan at night in summer, etc.
> 
> ...


Yes...I alo have fridge/freezer...washing machine....electric hob(rarely in iuse), computer on all day. And, like you, no gas.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> He did say his bill was for 2 months from July to September, though.


I missed that bit! So the electricity is about the same as mine. I can't compare to UK prices (Is the OP from the UK? He doesn't say) but I don't think that's too bad at all. TV, two fridge freezers, washing machine, coffee machine, microwave, toaster etc etc. No dishwasher.

Mind you my gas, which was just over half of the 80ish€, is for two months. My water is around the 40€ mark every two months, too.


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## Catalunya22 (Apr 25, 2020)

Catalunya22 said:


> Yes...I alo have fridge/freezer...washing machine....electric hob(rarely in iuse), computer on all day. And, like you, no gas.


What Potencia do you have?....I have whittled mine down to 4.4 and nothing ever ttrips.
I didn´t know about this at first and they originally put me on 9.2...so save quite a bit from what I was originally on. You would have thought they would either ask me, or KNOW that I didn´t need 9.2. Still, you live and learn.

Now I´m wiser....


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## Catalunya22 (Apr 25, 2020)

I found in the UK that flats...especially new ones...are much better insulated.

I had a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom flat in the UK and the electric for the whole year was about 500 quid and nice and warm. (No gas)

My water bill here in Spain is about 90 euros a quarter....I do like a long shower.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Catalunya22 said:


> What Potencia do you have?....I have whittled mine down to 4.4 and nothing ever ttrips.
> I didn´t know about this at first and they originally put me on 9.2...so save quite a bit from what I was originally on. You would have thought they would either ask me, or KNOW that I didn´t need 9.2. Still, you live and learn.
> 
> Now I´m wiser....


Our is 5.75kw and I have still tripped everything out a few times - by putting the kettle on at the same time as I was using the oven, 2 rings on the induction hob, the microwave and the extractor, as well as the fridge-freezer and the TV being on, or my husband putting the kettle on at the same time as I was using a hairdryer and the fridge, TV etc being on. I wouldn't go any lower unless we had gas for cooking.

We had 3.45kw at the old house and that was always enough as we cooked with gas and had a gas heater. I like the convenience of electricity better, though, and as I said the overall bills are no higher over a 12 month period.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Our bills for electricty and water in a four bed house with private pool averaged around €300 or slightly higher a month over the year for two adults. That was just over two years ago.
That included heating/aircon, the usual white appliances,swimming pool pump.

The water bill was high in the summer months as we irrigated the lawns and the pool was on automstic refill.


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## MataMata (Nov 30, 2008)

Gemdunn said:


> We hope to do a long term rental for at least a year.


Presumably you'll be taking out residency?


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## Gemdunn (Oct 18, 2020)

Thank you, this is extremely useful.


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## fatimab (May 21, 2021)

This thread is very useful


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## RickES (Jan 26, 2021)

I agree that this is very useful information. I am also curious to hear from anyone who has solar panels. It was great to read that they are becoming more common and less expensive in Spain. The idea of going to Media Markt or El Corte Ingles to buy a solar system made me chuckle as it's a bit of a racket in the US, especially with the electricity providers in California.


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## saimarashid (Aug 13, 2021)

Gemdunn said:


> Hi.. I'm looking for some examples of the cost of utilities when renting on the Costa Blanca. We hope to do a long term rental for at least a year , min 3 bed house with private pool. We are a family of 4. Can anyone let me know what they pay annually for electricity, gas, water and any community charges. Will be within 1 hr drive of Alicante, near the coast.
> Alternatively, can you point me in the direction of a website that may provide this information. Many thanks.


Board charge (IBI), water, reject assortment and so forth are set by the neighborhood city center and change as indicated by which town you are in - they are for the most part less expensive than the UK, yet they are frequently remembered for the rental. Local area charges possibly apply on the off chance that you live on a urbanization or a square of pads, and again can shift generally.


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