# Cost of living in Valencia



## Thomas3857 (Dec 24, 2020)

Hi all - Wife and I planning a move in a couple of years to Valencia. Want to live in the heart of the city. Researched cost of living, been on Numbeo.com and similar sites but everything is so general. I understand location and style of living are critical variables (do I rent a place for $600 or $1500 per month, etc.) but in general how would you say the cost of living in Valencia or surrounding areas compare to the United States? We will be retired and to be on the safe side I'm assuming the cost of living will be similar to what I'm spending now. Anyone care to share any insights? Thanks -


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Whats the cost of living in the states? For curiosity, and in what things do you want to compare? I believe the states to be far more expensive (certainly for some things like medical insurance). That is something you will need to have to move over if you are from the USA and keep in mind that if you are of retirement age it may be several hundred a month.

Living costs in terms of housing depend on what you choose to live in. If you rent then a lot of the costs associated will be covered by the landlord. I pay around 250 euros a year for house insurance but if you rent then the most you will need is contents insurance, for which I used to pay around 60a a year. I pay around 100 euros a month in electric but I use mostly electric(water heater, house heating/air con etc). I use has to cook (oven and hob) and one bottle of gas lasts us around a month (15 euros ish). 

Shopping really does depend on your taste and where you like to shop. For 2 of us we probably spend about 100 euros each week on the main visit to the supermarket and then one or two top up visits during the month.

Medicine here is payable at the full rate unless you get government subsidy which I am guessing you wont get so really depends on if you need anything, what it is. I have some tablets I buy for the dog (they are human ones and bought in the farmacía) and they cost me around 2 euros a month. Then again I have had in the past occasionally a prescription, gone to get it and been shocked (and I only pay 50%). If you are going to be driving, I pay 240 euros a year for insurance, full risk with no co-payment.

Entertainment - well, in Spain food is everything and no matter where you go you will find places to get a 3 course meal with drinks for 10 to 15 euros and you will find obviously every price range from there on up!

Hope this gives you some ideas but if you have specific things to compare, say what they are and I am sure people will chip in with examples!


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## Thomas3857 (Dec 24, 2020)

xicoalc said:


> Whats the cost of living in the states? For curiosity, and in what things do you want to compare? I believe the states to be far more expensive (certainly for some things like medical insurance). That is something you will need to have to move over if you are from the USA and keep in mind that if you are of retirement age it may be several hundred a month.
> 
> Living costs in terms of housing depend on what you choose to live in. If you rent then a lot of the costs associated will be covered by the landlord. I pay around 250 euros a year for house insurance but if you rent then the most you will need is contents insurance, for which I used to pay around 60a a year. I pay around 100 euros a month in electric but I use mostly electric(water heater, house heating/air con etc). I use has to cook (oven and hob) and one bottle of gas lasts us around a month (15 euros ish).
> 
> ...





xicoalc said:


> Whats the cost of living in the states? For curiosity, and in what things do you want to compare? I believe the states to be far more expensive (certainly for some things like medical insurance). That is something you will need to have to move over if you are from the USA and keep in mind that if you are of retirement age it may be several hundred a month.
> 
> Living costs in terms of housing depend on what you choose to live in. If you rent then a lot of the costs associated will be covered by the landlord. I pay around 250 euros a year for house insurance but if you rent then the most you will need is contents insurance, for which I used to pay around 60a a year. I pay around 100 euros a month in electric but I use mostly electric(water heater, house heating/air con etc). I use has to cook (oven and hob) and one bottle of gas lasts us around a month (15 euros ish).
> 
> ...


Thanks 


xicoalc said:


> Whats the cost of living in the states? For curiosity, and in what things do you want to compare? I believe the states to be far more expensive (certainly for some things like medical insurance). That is something you will need to have to move over if you are from the USA and keep in mind that if you are of retirement age it may be several hundred a month.
> 
> Living costs in terms of housing depend on what you choose to live in. If you rent then a lot of the costs associated will be covered by the landlord. I pay around 250 euros a year for house insurance but if you rent then the most you will need is contents insurance, for which I used to pay around 60a a year. I pay around 100 euros a month in electric but I use mostly electric(water heater, house heating/air con etc). I use has to cook (oven and hob) and one bottle of gas lasts us around a month (15 euros ish).
> 
> ...


Thanks Exicoalc for your response. That was great. The cost of living in the US depends on location as I'm sure that's true for most places. By far my largest expenses here in the US are taxes and medical care with my health insurance (I'm self employed) running almost $1,000 per month AND I have a $4000 deductible and 80/20 after that until I reach $10,000 out of pocket then it's a 100%. This is for a family of four with NO pre-existing conditions or riders so it's tragically expensive here. I pay around $300 per month for utilities, $60 for internet, I stream TV so that's another $60. Other than health insurance I'm assuming my cost of living will be very similar to life here in the US. Of course, I know once I retire some expenses will go down and others will increase depending on lifestyle.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

You´ll certainly note some savings on the health insurance. Obviously there are a lot of factors that determine price. In Spain you will have no co-payments and no deductible because in order to obtain residency you must have a straight 100% cover. But in general, most people in Spain have no co payments (or if so, a small percentage). In terms of cost, I am of working age but I used to pay 50 or 60 euros a month. It went up little by little and I changed to a scheme through my other halfs work where I have total 100% cover for half of that. But I have heard or retired couples paying 150/200/300 a month so I am sure you will find it much cheaper.


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

Thomas3857 said:


> Thanks Exicoalc for your response. That was great. The cost of living in the US depends on location as I'm sure that's true for most places. By far my largest expenses here in the US are taxes and medical care with my health insurance (I'm self employed) running almost $1,000 per month AND I have a $4000 deductible and 80/20 after that until I reach $10,000 out of pocket then it's a 100%. This is for a family of four with NO pre-existing conditions or riders so it's tragically expensive here. I pay around $300 per month for utilities, $60 for internet, I stream TV so that's another $60. Other than health insurance I'm assuming my cost of living will be very similar to life here in the US. Of course, I know once I retire some expenses will go down and others will increase depending on lifestyle.


You'd have to define "taxes" to be able to compare. Property tax here is very cheap compared to the US - the rate varies depending on the town you live in and the size of the property, but we pay about 500€/year for our house. But income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax are higher here, and so is sales tax (ie VAT - it's 21% on most things, including "services" such as getting your car repaired). Some things that are tax exempt in the States are not tax exempt in Spain. You'd really need advice from an international tax expert to see how Spanish taxes would affect you. 

Health insurance will definitely be cheaper here. For people under 65 with no pre-existing conditions it could be as cheap at 50€/month/person with no deductibles and no coverage caps. Rates go up quite a bit after age 65 but generally wouldn't be higher than about 150€/month unless there are pre-existing conditions involved. Medication is not included in private medical coverage, but usually it's much much cheaper here than in the States. Again, there are always exceptions. 

Electricity is MUCH more expensive in Spain. Because of that most people here do not keep their entire house toasty warm in winter nor ice box cool in summer. If that's a priority for you then you could be looking at massive electric bills. Personally I think the price of electricity is what brings about one of the biggest lifestyle changes in Spain. You have to learn to bundle up in winter and heat only the living spaces that you're using, and use fans and other cooling techniques and not only A/C in the summer. And you hang clothes out to dry instead of using the clothes dryer. If you don't cut back on electricity use you could be socked with bills that run well into the hundreds. 

Gasoline is much more expensive here (about 1.25€/liter around here right now), but car insurance is cheaper (we just paid 300€ for a 3 year old SUV, full coverage). We pay 36€ for high speed fiber internet plus landline but one cell phone, and 10€ for each of 3 other cell phones. We don't have a TV service, only Netflix and Prime Video. 

Food is much cheaper here, but of course that depends on what you buy. For my family of 4 we spend about 120€/week. Eating out in general is much cheaper too, but again, the sky's the limit when choosing a restaurant.

There are far fewer low cost clothes stores here and fewer sales, and even when paying a lot for clothes they aren't super quality. So your clothing budget will have to be higher - either that or you stock up while in the States. 

Hope this helps!


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

kalohi said:


> Electricity is MUCH more expensive in Spain. Because of that most people here do not keep their entire house toasty warm in winter nor ice box cool in summer. If that's a priority for you then you could be looking at massive electric bills. Personally I think the price of electricity is what brings about one of the biggest lifestyle changes in Spain. You have to learn to bundle up in winter and heat only the living spaces that you're using, and use fans and other cooling techniques and not only A/C in the summer. And you hang clothes out to dry instead of using the clothes dryer. If you don't cut back on electricity use you could be socked with bills that run well into the hundreds.


I do agree. I remember my first winter together with my OH, sitting down on the sofa and mother-in-law going round handing everyone blankets! But I kind of like that now as a way of life.

As I said earlier, we spend about 100 a month and we do use the clothes dryer probably 3 times a week, washing machine maybe 3 or 4 loads a week and the dishwasher most days. We use air-con when home in the summer and all night in the bedroom and in the coldest of days we will put the air-con onto heat mode but only in the room we are in.One of my biggest mistakes was installing an electric water heater (outside in the back patio) when we reformed the house. We did it based on convenience of not having to change gas bottles but we certainly spend a lot more in electric to heat the water than we ever did in gas. It´s definately on my list of things to change at some point (back to gas).

In January when we had a couple of very cold weeks, just the few hours of extra heating in two rooms during the night and the extra work the water boiler had to do and the bill in january doubled!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

There are only 2 of us in our household and our apartment is all electric, including the water heater, hob and oven. As one of us is vegetarian and the other not, we cook two separate main meals each day. We don't have a clothes dryer but do run the dishwasher two or three times a week. Last year's highest bill was 76€ for one month (for December), and the lowest 46€ (for August). We use airconditioning in one room on heat mode whenever it feels cold enough (sometimes from around 3pm until 11pm, but more often from around 7pm to 11pm) and in cooling mode on occasional days in the summer, but rely on a ceiling fan to keep us cool during the night.

Strangely, we also had very cold weather for those weeks in January and our electricity bill for that month was €69.99, so actually lower than the month before.

In our old house we changed the gas boiler for an electric water heater and it never seemed to make much difference to our overall bills. When we moved to this property I expected the bills to be a lot higher because of it being all electric (we had the existing gas boiler and hob changed to electric here too) but have found that we are spending no more on electricity than we did on electricity plus butano at the old place.


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## Phil Squares (Jan 13, 2017)

Tough question to answer as so many things depend on personal tastes. But, I will give it a try. We live just south of Alicante but we had planned on relocating to Valencia initially. However, my wife was offered a much better position in the Alicante area. But, we spent quite a bit of time looking around Valencia and getting a feel for how expensive/inexpensive things were. Remember, this was April/May 2017. Also, it was just my wife and I, however, we have 3 grown-up children who live in the UK and they made it clear they were going to visit with their families!

My impression of Valencia is for Spain, it is an expensive city. Housing was very expensive and difficult to find, again that depends on your tastes and what you will settle for. If you are planning on living right in the city, we found nice 2-3 bedroom apartments are hard to find and expensive. If you are going to live outside of the city, there is a massive variance in what is available. We concentrated our exploring in La Canyada, which is NW of the city. Again, houses, meeting our needs, were hard to find and expensive. We were to the point where we were going to sign a contract to rent a 3 bedroom house with access to two pools. We had to lower some of our standards but it was acceptable. Just as a comparison, we live in Elche which is south of Alicante and close to the beaches. We have a much newer house, much better equipped and a better layout and we pay 800 Euros/month. 

We heard horror stories about electric bills. Keep in mind we have lived in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Doha and the UK, plus in FL, TX, MN, AZ, CA and a few other states in the US. So, we were prepared for massive bills. Those never materialized. We pay a fixed amount every month, subject to annual recalculation for electricity. The monthly fee is 37 Euros and it has been as high as 39 Euros and as low as 34 Euros. We currently have a 180ish surplus so it will decrease in July. 

We relocated from the UK, so for us, Gas/Diesel is very cheap, but if you are coming from the US, it will be very expensive! 

Food prices are much cheaper than you will be used to. However, we have found a butcher who has a great selection of meats and even has US and Argentinian steaks! It's more than what you would pay in the US, remember you are buying KGS and the price is actually somewhere around 18 Euros/lb for Prime Black Angus NY strip steaks. 

Hope this helps.


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

Phil Squares said:


> We heard horror stories about electric bills. Keep in mind we have lived in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Doha and the UK, plus in FL, TX, MN, AZ, CA and a few other states in the US. So, we were prepared for massive bills. Those never materialized. We pay a fixed amount every month, subject to annual recalculation for electricity. The monthly fee is 37 Euros and it has been as high as 39 Euros and as low as 34 Euros. We currently have a 180ish surplus so it will decrease in July.


I don't really know what you're referring to when you talk about a fixed amount subject to annual recalculation. But I don't see how electricity could come out to be so cheap - I'm not saying you don't pay that, but I'd like to know how you do it! Just our standing charge alone is nearly 20€/month, and we only have 4.4kW contracted. Our last electric bill (Dec-Jan so two months) came to 320€! Believe me we weren't running the heating 24/7 by a long shot, although January was exceptionally cold so we did switch it on more than other years.


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## Phil Squares (Jan 13, 2017)

Sorry to hear about your plight. I don't know who your provider is but I am with Cespa and the program is called Fixed Amount. Your annual bill is estimated and divided by 12. 

Here is a excerpt from the Jan 2021 bill 


05/02/2021
01/01/2021 - 31/01/2021
16/02/2021
Datos sociedad: CEPSA COMERCIAL PETRÓLEO, S.A.U.
Dirección sociedad: TORRE CEPSA. Paseo de la Castellana, 259 A

4,16
148,74
148,74
Descuento obtenido en esta factura
Descuento acumulado en € con Cepsa Hogar
DESCUENTOS CON ELECTRICIDAD DE CEPSA
TOTAL AHORRO
Los datos relacionados con el consumo de esta factura están referidos
al periodo 29/11/2020 - 29/12/2020
TU SALDO REAL ACUMULADO(IVA incluido)
Periodo: 07/03/2020 - 31/01/2021
Total Cuota / Pago Acumulado 37,00 Euros/Mes.
407,00 EUR
Total Consumo real ( hasta 29/12/2020 )
353,21 EUR
Importe Ajuste (+ A devolver - A pagar)
53,79 EUR

1/3
Potencia y Energía
27,75 EUR
Descuentos
-4,16 EUR
Alquiler de contador
0,82 EUR
Impuesto eléctrico
1,21 EUR
Base imponible IVA (21%)
25,62 EUR
IVA (21%)
5,38 EUR
Total factura informativo
31,00 EUR
Base imponible IVA
30,58 EUR
IVA (21%):
6,42 EUR
TOTAL A PAGAR
37,00 EUR
Fecha limite de pago:
TUS DESCUENTOS CEPSA
RESUMEN DE FACTURACIÓN (Informativo)



So, despite what you are inferring, you have the actual bill. During the summer our A/C is on 24/7 both floors and it's set for 25 on the ground floor and 25 on the 1st during the day and 22 at night. The highest bill has been 88 Euros.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Phil Squares said:


> Sorry to hear about your plight. I don't know who your provider is but I am with Cespa and the program is called Fixed Amount. Your annual bill is estimated and divided by 12.
> 
> Here is a excerpt from the Jan 2021 bill
> 
> ...


Would be really interesting (to be nosey and see how it works out) to see the actual comsumption in terms of potencia and kw/h

I mean... even if your on a crazy tarif of 0.10€/kwh - using an air conditioning machine 24 hours, well, you say two but lets say you are consuming 500w/h. That´s 12kw in every 24 hour period. So even at a crazy rate of 10 cents (which i cant find that low anywhere) then this would be 1,20 a day in consumption just for air conditioning (and to run 2 on 500w is hardly anything but i assume you not really oon full blast 24/7). So JUST that useage would be 36 euros a month on 10c/kwh with nothing else, no oven, no hot water, no lights, no tv and no standing charges.

Do you get some type of discounts on cepsa for having other services? As I said I would just love to see the actual consumption and what you pay in standing charges and price per kw/h because if you really paying only that for a "normal" usage I AM CHANGING!!!!!

I have 5.75 contracted so pay around 20 euros in standing charge (when I had 3 it was obviously a lot less) but then I pay 11c + IVA per kw7H (I know not the cheapest but i prefer a stable tarif) and then things like alquiler of meter, electric tax (only 3 euros but all adds up). 

In Feb I used 485 kwh and the total bill was just under 100 euros


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

xicoalc said:


> Would be really interesting (to be nosey and see how it works out) to see the actual comsumption in terms of potencia and kw/h


I'd be interested in knowing too. For the two months of Dec-Jan we consumed the ridiculous amount of 1,700Kw, and that was just running the heat pump of two A/C units (both new, inverter type) set at 20º for about 6 hours a day (probably more like 8 hours at the weekends). Plus we used the clothes dryer 3-4 times a week since it was rainy. We have a gas hot water heater so that's not a factor. A year ago our Dec-Jan bill says we consumed 1,200Kw, a more typical winter consumption for us.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I think our consumption is fairly moderate, and we used 320 kwh in December and 285 in January (the January bill was for 28 days, a slightly shorter billing period. We were paying 0.1261 per kwh (but with a 10% discount on consumption) and have a potencia of 5.75 kw for which the standing charge was €20.53 in December (plus IVA of course). We're not on any special tariff with reduced consumption charges for specific time periods.


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

xicoalc said:


> Would be really interesting (to be nosey and see how it works out) to see the actual comsumption in terms of potencia and kw/h
> 
> I mean... even if your on a crazy tarif of 0.10€/kwh - using an air conditioning machine 24 hours, well, you say two but lets say you are consuming 500w/h. That´s 12kw in every 24 hour period. So even at a crazy rate of 10 cents (which i cant find that low anywhere) then this would be 1,20 a day in consumption just for air conditioning (and to run 2 on 500w is hardly anything but i assume you not really oon full blast 24/7). So JUST that useage would be 36 euros a month on 10c/kwh with nothing else, no oven, no hot water, no lights, no tv and no standing charges.
> 
> ...


This is ours. 484kw used and total bill €82.17
We are fully electric and this includes the fact I run a fishtank 24/7 and we use the aircon on hot for heating.


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## Phil Squares (Jan 13, 2017)

This isn't brain surgery!!! My yearly bill is ESTIMATED to be 444 Euros divide that by 12 and you get 37 Euros/month. On months where I go over the AVERAGE ESTIMATED usage, I still pay 37 Euros, on months where I am below the usage, I still pay 37 Euros. Just like the UK with British Gas. You even out the peaks and valleys in the bills. 

So for Jan, we used 31 Euros worth of electricity. The highest is normally July/Aug where we approach 88-95 Euros. But since the bill is averaged over 12 months there is a rolling surplus deficit in the account. For instance, right now there is a surplus of 53.79 in the account. Our total of usage for 10 months is 407 and we have used 353.21 Eur. The Potencia contratada: 3.45 kW. 

For the doubters, believe me, my wife doesn't like to be hot and really doesn't like being hot at night.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Phil Squares said:


> This isn't brain surgery!!! My yearly bill is ESTIMATED to be 444 Euros divide that by 12 and you get 37 Euros/month. On months where I go over the AVERAGE ESTIMATED usage, I still pay 37 Euros, on months where I am below the usage, I still pay 37 Euros. Just like the UK with British Gas. You even out the peaks and valleys in the bills.
> 
> So for Jan, we used 31 Euros worth of electricity. The highest is normally July/Aug where we approach 88-95 Euros. But since the bill is averaged over 12 months there is a rolling surplus deficit in the account. For instance, right now there is a surplus of 53.79 in the account. Our total of usage for 10 months is 407 and we have used 353.21 Eur. The Potencia contratada: 3.45 kW.
> 
> For the doubters, believe me, my wife doesn't like to be hot and really doesn't like being hot at night.


I think what we are all interested to know is your real consumption each month over 12 months in kwh

Obviously thr type of property affects consumption. I live in a house in the middle of a field which is in the middle of hundreds of acres of campo and exposed to the cold wind. So clearly i use more to heat than someone who lives in a flat with the insulation of neighbours all around and above and below. 

But we simply comparing kw usage and im curious to know if your figures are estimated or real time readings. 

You often hear stories of people on fixed monthly amounts that later get a huge bill as they have been paying way under. And what u pay is well under thr normal so we are all keen to know your real, not estimated, consumption each month in kw not euros! To get an idea of the rate you pay per kw more than anything


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> I think our consumption is fairly moderate, and we used 320 kwh in December and 285 in January (the January bill was for 28 days, a slightly shorter billing period. We were paying 0.1261 per kwh (but with a 10% discount on consumption) and have a potencia of 5.75 kw for which the standing charge was €20.53 in December (plus IVA of course). We're not on any special tariff with reduced consumption charges for specific time periods.


How did you pay less in January? I had everything on
.. Teníamos huevos congelados en enero con el frio jaja


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## Phil Squares (Jan 13, 2017)

xicoalc said:


> I think what we are all interested to know is your real consumption each month over 12 months in kwh
> 
> Obviously thr type of property affects consumption. I live in a house in the middle of a field which is in the middle of hundreds of acres of campo and exposed to the cold wind. So clearly i use more to heat than someone who lives in a flat with the insulation of neighbours all around and above and below.
> 
> ...



The usage in Jan was 101 kWh. If you look at reply 10, that is in that reply. Our house is a townhouse, generally sunny in the morning and early afternoon. Just my wife and I plus 2 labradors and a cat. Haven't had to use the heat much this year it's only been on a handful of times, less than 5! Washer and dryer at least once/day.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

xicoalc said:


> How did you pay less in January? I had everything on
> .. Teníamos huevos congelados en enero con el frio jaja


Where we are, it was very cold for a couple of weeks in January and then unusually warm for another two weeks when we didn't need to have any heating on at all, so it probably balanced out! As I said, my December billing period was for a bit longer than the January one, by about 4 days I think, so that would have made a bit of a difference too.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> Where we are, it was very cold for a couple of weeks in January and then unusually warm for another two weeks when we didn't need to have any heating on at all, so it probably balanced out! As I said, my December billing period was for a bit longer than the January one, by about 4 days I think, so that would have made a bit of a difference too.


Ohhh we had the very cold two weeks here but the rest of the month was freezing too. I mean proper cold. I realised id adjusted to spain when i found myself with a t shirt, jersey, thernal top, jacket, hat and wolly socks... Then a blanket too. 

Dont remember a January that cold for a few years 

Parts of my body that can't be described were literally hiding.... That was never in the brochure. I blame brexit!


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Phil Squares said:


> The usage in Jan was 101 kWh. If you look at reply 10, that is in that reply. Our house is a townhouse, generally sunny in the morning and early afternoon. Just my wife and I plus 2 labradors and a cat. Haven't had to use the heat much this year it's only been on a handful of times, less than 5! Washer and dryer at least once/day.


You're very defensive in your replies. You should take uo meditation... Zen... Or alcohol maybe jajajsjs

I was genuinely just curious. 

You seem to use a lot less than most. But good on you!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

xicoalc said:


> Ohhh we had the very cold two weeks here but the rest of the month was freezing too. I mean proper cold. I realised id adjusted to spain when i found myself with a t shirt, jersey, thernal top, jacket, hat and wolly socks... Then a blanket too.
> 
> Dont remember a January that cold for a few years
> 
> Parts of my body that can't be described were literally hiding.... That was never in the brochure. I blame brexit!


It seems to have been weird weather everywhere, I can't remember not having to use any heating in January before in the 14 years we've been here. Not complaining though, in the year we moved to Spain (2006) we had to have our central heating on in August in the UK. In the year I moved to my last house there a village cricket match was snowed off - in June.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Duplicate sorry


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> It seems to have been weird weather everywhere, I can't remember not having to use any heating in January before in the 14 years we've been here. Not complaining though, in the year we moved to Spain (2006) we had to have our central heating on in August in the UK. In the year I moved to my last house there a village cricket match was snowed off - in June.


Ill never complain. The cold months come welcome to me. And later at least 8 months of the year just perfect.


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## Phil Squares (Jan 13, 2017)

xicoalc said:


> You're very defensive in your replies. You should take uo meditation... Zen... Or alcohol maybe jajajsjs
> 
> I was genuinely just curious.
> 
> You seem to use a lot less than most. But good on you!


Really, maybe you shouldn't ask the same question again and again when it's already been answered. Like I said it's not brain surgery, but then it must be. Call Cespa and ask them about their plans or go online. It's not up to me. I gave you what you wanted.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Phil Squares said:


> Really, maybe you shouldn't ask the same question again and again when it's already been answered. Like I said it's not brain surgery, but then it must be. Call Cespa and ask them about their plans or go online. It's not up to me. I gave you what you wanted.


What a strange person you are!


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## Phil Squares (Jan 13, 2017)

xicoalc said:


> What a strange person you are!


And this is coming from you??? Obviously, you haven't read what you have posted. I could say the same thing.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Let's cut out the personal swipes eh?


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## Thomas3857 (Dec 24, 2020)

xabiaxica said:


> Let's cut out the personal swipes eh?


Well that got off the rails rather quickly...


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## Max Rigger (Aug 2, 2020)

Are smart meters common in Spain? My electricity and gas is on the annual estimate divided by 12 system, I'm paying £110 a month electric and £94 a month gas on a victorian 4 bed property so Spain seems quite reasonable.


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

You can't compare that way.

If somebody told you their car used X litres of fuel you'd ask what kind of car. Wouldn't you?

Heat pumps aren't any different. There are older ones that use ALOT of power. There are the latest greatest (Often expensive to buy) that use almost NO power. There are new ones that are in between.

In addition efficiency ratings are based on both cooling and heating. Plenty of cheap AAA++++ cooling but they tend to be wasteful for heating.

Something like this one






FTXM-M / RXM-M | Daikin


FTXM-M / RXM-M




www.daikin.it





OTOH is much cheaper to run. The mid size one is listed at 420kw/h annually for heating AND cooling . Spain is mostly warmer than what the rating is using for a standard. 

The trade off is that model is going to cost you 1K or more plus installation.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Max Rigger said:


> Are smart meters common in Spain? My electricity and gas is on the annual estimate divided by 12 system, I'm paying £110 a month electric and £94 a month gas on a victorian 4 bed property so Spain seems quite reasonable.


Yes, they have been rolled out widely over the last few years in Spain.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Max Rigger said:


> Are smart meters common in Spain? My electricity and gas is on the annual estimate divided by 12 system, I'm paying £110 a month electric and £94 a month gas on a victorian 4 bed property so Spain seems quite reasonable.


They are mandatory in all of Europe (EU?)


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

Max Rigger said:


> Are smart meters common in Spain? My electricity and gas is on the annual estimate divided by 12 system, I'm paying £110 a month electric and £94 a month gas on a victorian 4 bed property so Spain seems quite reasonable.


Sounds a bit expensive. I have a 4 bed, gas heating 17 radiators, all electric appliances, dishwasher everyday. Also run a hot tub and have a lot of garden lights. My cost over 12 months per month is gas £108, electric £87. Standing charge 22p per day. According to British gas graphs I am considered an above average user in this area. 

I think Spain's electric is one of the highest costs in Europe, there was an article recently in El Pais.


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## kateholland (Mar 13, 2021)

xicoalc said:


> Ohhh we had the very cold two weeks here but the rest of the month was freezing too. I mean proper cold. I realised id adjusted to spain when i found myself with a t shirt, jersey, thernal top, jacket, hat and wolly socks... Then a baby burrito blanket too here.
> 
> Dont remember a January that cold for a few years
> 
> Parts of my body that can't be described were literally hiding.... That was never in the brochure. I blame brexit!


I have had the same night 2 years back in the US, I can relate to it.


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