# Best electricity supplier



## cork laurence (Sep 1, 2017)

Who would be the best supplier for an apartment used about 10 weeks in the year.
Have discovered we have been paying very high prices, even though its not been used
for over 6 months.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Prices for domestic electricity are set by the government, so there’s not much difference between them. You pay a standing charge even if you don’t use any electricity, and this depends on the “potencia” you have on your contract, It might be that you are paying for more than you need? For example, 4.6 kW should be plenty, and is about €16 a month. Check this on your bill.


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

cork laurence said:


> Who would be the best supplier for an apartment used about 10 weeks in the year.
> Have discovered we have been paying very high prices, even though its not been used
> for over 6 months.


Before we moved over, even with the fuse box turned of we were paying around €30.00 a month (its all made up of standing charges, cost for the meter, we also have an emergency call out included) none of which you can stop (short of telling the company to cut off the power)

Water is the same, and the service charges etc. Its just something you have to accept.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

For a comparison, look on sicompare.com.

They were able to reduce our bill, without reducing potencia, by 20%


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Alcalaina said:


> Prices for domestic electricity are set by the government, so there’s not much difference between them. You pay a standing charge even if you don’t use any electricity, and this depends on the “potencia” you have on your contract, It might be that you are paying for more than you need? For example, 4.6 kW should be plenty, and is about €16 a month. Check this on your bill.


Exactly. I have 5.75kw contracted and barely use it. Usually peak around 4.5 and I have a campo where we use a lot of electrical things. Worth having what we have for peak moments though. 

But, keep in mind thst reducing is easy. But if later you need to increase they may require a boletín at the cost of 100 to 150 euros.

Regarding stopping emergency call out, we had that contracted with iberdrola and i decided it wasn't worth it because the electrician who rewired out house is very affordable and would come if something happened. But also wr have it with the house insurance. I just called iberdrola and asked to cancel it and they did.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

When competing electricity companies are able to reduce people's bills, it's almost always by means of things like day/night tariffs, reduced unit costs during certain hours or days, etc. They can generate savings for customers whose properties are occupied full time, but as the OP's is only used for around 10 weeks a year even in normal circumstances, I doubt they would make much of a difference.

As others have said, it is the potencia costs (plus the IVA on the potencia costs) which will make up the majority of the cost for holiday home owners, and they have to be paid whether the property is occupied or not.


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## Beach buddy (Jul 7, 2018)

Electricity prices and peak & off-peak times are changing around the 1st June 2021.

Please read all of this post, as it’s long but informative and will hopefully make the new electric tariffs a little easier to understand.

Estimated date on June 1st all energy tariffs will change in Spain as applied by the Spanish Government, all suppliers will automatically change their billing tariff ....

Firstly, those of us who currently have a dual-tariff meter > this will end and everyone will then be on the same tariff as described below.

Now that EVERYONE will be on the same tariff … it can be seen from the below picture that they have divided Monday to Friday into 6 different times ….. ranging between peak, off-peak & super off-peak.
Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays are all super off-peak.

• P.1 (expensive) 10am-2pm … and … 6pm-10pm

• P2 middle price-8am -10am … and … 2pm-6pm … and …10pm til Midnight

• P3 cheap midnight until 8am and then all weekends and public holidays

Now, I have been sent this information from Rebecca Andrews Watkins (Customer Service Manager at Evergreen Electrica) so many thanks to her & evergreen for trying to distribute this info as much as possible.

The Spanish Government has changed this in the hope that people are more mindful of their energy use for a "Greener" environment (time only will tell if that’s true).

Below is a release from Endesa along the same lines;
Changes to the access tariffs. How do they affect your bill?
In June 2021, a new regulation on electricity access tariffs comes into force. It aims to promote more efficient energy consumption.
Access tariffs have always been part of your electricity bill. They can currently account for more than 40% of what you end up paying for your bill. It is a concept regulated by the government.
Changes to access tariffs stem from an attempt to promote energy efficiency. Specifically, they involve the following:
• High-power installations and peak-hour consumption are penalised.
• Consumption is encouraged in off-peak hours.

What are the changes?
• Before the new regulations: the access tariffs applied a single price for the energy consumed, regardless of the time of day, unless time-of-use tariffs had been arranged (in this case, there were 2 or 3 slots with different prices). For contracted power, access tariffs were the same price for all hours of the day.
• With the new regulation: regulated access tariffs and charges will have 2 time slots with different prices for power and 3 slots for consumption.

Will your electricity tariff change in 2021?
Since this mandatory change was announced, Endesa has been working to adapt all its tariffs to these changes.
• In the energy you use: we will adapt your current conditions to these regulated changes, always looking for the best option for your consumer profile. We adapt to you.
• In the power you have contracted: by default, you will keep the same contracted power for all hours, but you can choose to have two different powers, one for daytime and one for nights and weekends.

What does it mean that you can arrange two different powers?
The contracted power is measured in kW and is the maximum electricity power that you can have at any given time. In everyday terms, it's the maximum number of gadgets you can have running at once.
Until now, the rule only allowed you to have a single power. Therefore, each user was forced to arrange a contracted power that met their maximum needs, even if they were concentrated in a very specific time slot.
With the new regulation, you can have a higher power and a lower power according to your needs.

Are you going to spend more or less on your electricity bill?
The answer to this question will depend on how efficient you manage to be in your energy consumption.
This reform can increase or reduce your bill depending on your consumer profile and power optimisation.
Today more than ever, what you need is a tariff that fits your lifestyle and optimised power. At Endesa, we provide you with both so that your electricity bill can change for the better in 2021.

………………………

With the above in mind ….
• Those who have unoccupied homes may be advised to turn off the power when your not in residence (so keep the fridge & freezers off) …. However if you have swimming pools, irrigation systems or security systems, this may not be possible.

• Those of us with swimming pools will want to amend the timers to make most use of the off-peak or super-off-peak tariff’s.

• Dishwashers, washing machines etc may be better optimised if used outside of the peak hours (perhaps after midnight if possible).

• Be careful with pool heaters and air-con systems as these generally get used during the Peak periods, so they were expensive before – but probably more so now.

• Salad’s are looking better & better for the evening meal period with cornflakes/Weetabix etc being a reasonable option for future breakfasts (I am joking on this bit before I get any nasty comments) 😊

All of the above will be a bit confusing and something we will all have to learn about over the rest of the year … but best to be forewarned about this, and if lucky it will be a good move … although may work out more expensive for those that don’t change lifestyles to suit.


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## Beach buddy (Jul 7, 2018)

Someone just gave me this and I thought it might be of interest.


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## stevec2x (Mar 24, 2012)

Never heard of evergreen electrical, was that the ship in the Suez canal?.....


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## Beach buddy (Jul 7, 2018)

It’s an Electric supplier on the Costa del Sol.


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

Beach buddy said:


> Someone just gave me this and I thought it might be of interest.


Thats not the first time I have seen this. And it may have even been here (or the other forum).

Its rubbish, we are with Iberdrola and like many others have a split plan (8 hrs / 16hrs) at two prices. 
I choose the time for the discounted and its a set contract that lasts for 5 years.
They can't change it but I can at each anniversary. (Ican alter the 8hr slot anytime I want). The contract quite clearly stated that this was fixed and would remain so, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ENERGY MARKET. Their words not mine.

Ive asked about a price rise and was told there are no plans ( I know the cynical here will now smile). But they are trying to drive everyone onto plans to reduce energy. 

I can't actually see how the energy company can alter your potential a couple of times a day, as in the comment you provided. 
We have a physical trip that resets automatically after shunting (something to do with load sensing) as long as you have switched off some appliances, it usually resets about 15 seconds after. (I tried leaving everything switched on to see what would happen) and all it did was click on and then off again. 

Ok we have smart meters in the block and I suppose they could all be set to an automatic switch (don't and wont trust a purely software driven device). And again I looked all through the website and could only find information regarding a potential change needing a visit from a service engineer (both up and down) which again hints at it being a mechanical switch.

I do know for a fact that we are charged a different rate for our electricity than the FIL but why I don't know. 

For info only we are on an 8 hour online plan.
5,75kw @ 0.123288 €/kw day
non pro hours 0.144508 €/kwh
pro days (8hr) 0.064508 €/kwh

This month the actual electric usage was €30.16 all the rest was tax, standing charge etc in a bill that totalled €74.83.

But this is still around half the cost of the combined gas/electric we used in the UK last year.


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## Localizer (Jun 23, 2016)

Beach buddy said:


> Someone just gave me this and I thought it might be of interest.



We are with Evergreen - the current arrangements are:

*Please see the hours for Day and Night tariff.

SUMMER 11pm until 1pm

WINTER 10pm until 12 Noon*


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

There is a more detailed explanation of the new electricity tariffs coming into force from 1 June 2021 on the Junta de Andalucia website - and yes, it does say that consumers can choose to have two different levels of potencia (although how that works I cannot understand). As far as I can see most of our consumption would fall within the medium expensive periods, except for heating in the winter when I have no intention of sitting shivering because 6.00 - 10.00 pm will be one of the most expensive periods to have the air conditioning on. I will wait to see how our bills are affected before deciding whether to change to a new supplier.









Cómo ahorrar con la nueva factura de la luz que entra en vigor el 1 de junio


Los consumidores dispondrán de tres tramos horarios para decidir cuándo enchufar sus aparatos eléctricos para reducir el gasto en electricidad




www.juntadeandalucia.es


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> There is a more detailed explanation of the new electricity tariffs coming into force from 1 June 2021 on the Junta de Andalucia website - and yes, it does say that consumers can choose to have two different levels of potencia (although how that works I cannot understand). As far as I can see most of our consumption would fall within the medium expensive periods, except for heating in the winter when I have no intention of sitting shivering because 6.00 - 10.00 pm will be one of the most expensive periods to have the air conditioning on. I will wait to see how our bills are affected before deciding whether to change to a new supplier.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Useful information, thanks. We tend to use the gas heater in the living room in the evenings so won’t need to shiver!


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## stevec2x (Mar 24, 2012)

Lynn R said:


> There is a more detailed explanation of the new electricity tariffs coming into force from 1 June 2021 on the Junta de Andalucia website - and yes, it does say that consumers can choose to have two different levels of potencia (although how that works I cannot understand). As far as I can see most of our consumption would fall within the medium expensive periods, except for heating in the winter when I have no intention of sitting shivering because 6.00 - 10.00 pm will be one of the most expensive periods to have the air conditioning on. I will wait to see how our bills are affected before deciding whether to change to a new supplier.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


As I've said before on this forum, if you use the 8 hour tariff, you can choose cheap rate when your heating is on, and when you want to heat the water


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

stevec2x said:


> As I've said before on this forum, if you use the 8 hour tariff, you can choose cheap rate when your heating is on, and when you want to heat the water


Yep we do that with ours. Monday to Friday 2pm to 10pm. The water goes on, washing machine as well. 
In the winter we ran the air con (on hot) and had a heater to supplement it. 
Weekends we have 4x 4hr slots to fit around us.

Once summer finally arrives will run the air con until 9.30pm as thats the time we usually go out, so the flat will still be nice once we get home around midnight...

Dropped our costs by about €18.00 a month (didn't use an less electric though)


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

If you are on a low income (e.g. less than €12k p.a. or self-employed and unable to work because of Covid) you might be eligible for up to 50% discount on electricity.



https://www.thelocal.es/20210111/explained-how-to-apply-for-a-discount-on-your-spanish-electricity-bill/


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