# Further reduction in IVA on Electricity Bills



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Pedro Sanchez has announced a further reduction in IVA on electricity bills, from 10% to 5% (to be approved by an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers on Saturday) - obviously influenced by recent regional election results but welcome nevertheless.

Sesión de control al Gobierno, en directo | Sánchez anuncia una rebaja del IVA de la luz del 10% al 5% | España | EL PAÍS (elpais.com)


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

Is it applicable to all electricity bills or only those on specific tariffs?


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

kaipa said:


> Is it applicable to all electricity bills or only those on specific tariffs?


It says in the article that it is for all consumers, both domestic and business users. It also says it applies equaĺly to consumers in the free market and those on regulated tariffs.


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

Lynn R said:


> It says in the article that it is for all consumers, both domestic and business users. It also says it applies equaĺly to consumers in the free market and those on regulated tariffs.


That's good news. I have to say I have managed to reduce my bills not so much by altering tariffs but simply being careful with how much I use. One thing that definitely makes a difference is not running my water heater all the time. I find that 15 minutes a day gives me enough for a warm shower and it is warm enough for washing up. Also I dont use AC or a fan ( even during the heatwave) a cold shower before bed is fine and if I wake up then another and I have to admit I sleep well. It pays to try and learn to live with the heat as much as possible, if you always use AC your body never really adjusts and sunbathing generally amounts to making your skin burn so that doesnt help. Oh yes, I clean and defrosted my fridge and ice box and now it seems to work better. Basically I cut my consumption by a third and consequently I can manage the bills.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

That's good. We only use our aircon occasionally, on days when there is a heatwave and it is 40C or more outside and have not put it on at all so far this year. I agree that if you always use aircon then you don't acclimatise to the heat and it just feels hotter when you go outside. We are, however, using the ceiling fan in the bedroom during the night, I could not sleep without that. When we changed to a new supplier a couple of months ago we put our water heater on a timer to coincide with the hours we are paying a lower rate (the 8 Hour Plan with iberdrola), we'd always just had it on constantly before. Our first month's bill from mid April to mid May was €64 and the second one which has just been issued is €54 - higher than I had paid for the previous 12 months but a lot less then I would have been paying at the new rate my old supplier was going to charge once the 12 month deal came to an end.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

The reduction in taxes on electricity is costing the country 1,800 million a quarter. 








La nueva rebaja del IVA eléctrico, del 10% al 5%, tendrá un coste trimestral de 220 millones


El descuento anunciado por Sánchez irá en la prórroga de las medidas anticrisis La rebaja acumulada total costará cerca de 600 millones cada tres meses




cincodias.elpais.com





Meanwhike the big energy companies like Endesa and Iberdrola are raking it in. Definitely time for a windfall tax!









Endesa confirms the targets for 2022 despite an extremely volatile first quarter in the electricity sector


The company presents its results from January to March, in which it registers a 31% decrease in ordinary net profit to €338 million, although if the extraordinary impacts recorded in 2021 were to be excluded this result would increase by 14%. Ver mas.




www.endesa.com




.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

kaipa said:


> That's good news. I have to say I have managed to reduce my bills not so much by altering tariffs but simply being careful with how much I use. One thing that definitely makes a difference is not running my water heater all the time. I find that 15 minutes a day gives me enough for a warm shower and it is warm enough for washing up. Also I dont use AC or a fan ( even during the heatwave) a cold shower before bed is fine and if I wake up then another and I have to admit I sleep well. It pays to try and learn to live with the heat as much as possible, if you always use AC your body never really adjusts and sunbathing generally amounts to making your skin burn so that doesnt help. Oh yes, I clean and defrosted my fridge and ice box and now it seems to work better. Basically I cut my consumption by a third and consequently I can manage the bills.


The average domestic fan uses about the same amount of power as a 40-watt light bulb. Do you really need to go without the comfort that offers for the sake of a few centimos?


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

The Skipper said:


> The average domestic fan uses about the same amount of power as a 40-watt light bulb. Do you really need to go without the comfort that offers for the sake of a few centimos?


Well I wasn't sure how much they use but are you sure that having a fan on all night is no more than leaving a light on? Mind you a friend at work was telling me that his AC is cheaper than his ceiling fan!! I will give it a go and see what the smart meter says.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

kaipa said:


> Well I wasn't sure how much they use but are you sure that having a fan on all night is no more than leaving a light on? Mind you a friend at work was telling me that his AC is cheaper than his ceiling fan!! I will give it a go and see what the smart meter says.


Yes, I am absolutely sure. Even better, our bedroom ceiling fans have timer settings. They can be programmed to turn off after an hour or so and therefore need not be on all night. AC is definitely NOT cheaper than a ceiling fan but I have never found it as expensive as others led me to believe when I first came to Spain 14 years ago. I moved last year from a house in the campo to a town centre three-bedroom apartment on the coast and the only form of heating/cooling is the ducted AC system. The highest monthly electricity bill I have had so far (the last ten months) was €120. Last month's bill was €57. Bear in mind my wife and I are a retired couple at home all day.


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## blondebob (Aug 16, 2019)

We have a large 285 sq mt 4 Bed Town House with A/C which we use for heating and cooling and we certainly don't scrimp in its usage and our Aug bill last year was 108€ the most recent bill was 59€.


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

Wow....I feel so stupid....June bill 40 euros 89 kwh!! And that is with a 20% discount until August!! Our community just got its annual statement and we have to impose a ban on the lift as the electricity bill is double the previous year.
Guess we arent as canny as we should be!!


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## Yorick (Jul 4, 2017)

Just checked our last leccy bill and a grand total of 11 cents tax


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## Melosine (Apr 28, 2013)

Lynn R said:


> It says in the article that it is for all consumers, both domestic and business users. It also says it applies equaĺly to consumers in the free market and those on regulated tariffs.


We are still on 21pc VAT. As we have the power of 13.8 which is akin to business rate there is omething wrong with this article


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## trotter58 (Feb 8, 2017)

kaipa said:


> Is it applicable to all electricity bills or only those on specific tariffs?


According to the email I received from Iberdrola it's for anyone under 10Kw potencia.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Has it taken effect yet? I was assuming it wouldn't start until 1 July so would only affect bills from today onwards but I haven't seen a date reported.

I saw some information today saying that electricity prices had come down quite a bit, so had a look at a couple of suppliers earlier and they certainly have. I can only assume this to be due to the "plan" Spain and Portugal managed to get the EU to agree to, something to do with decoupling the price of electricity from the price of gas, but I don't claim to understand the workings of it - unless anyone has a better explanation?


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

Lynn R said:


> Has it taken effect yet? I was assuming it wouldn't start until 1 July so would only affect bills from today onwards but I haven't seen a date reported.
> 
> I saw some information today saying that electricity prices had come down quite a bit, so had a look at a couple of suppliers earlier and they certainly have. I can only assume this to be due to the "plan" Spain and Portugal managed to get the EU to agree to, something to do with decoupling the price of electricity from the price of gas, but I don't claim to understand the workings of it - unless anyone has a better explanation?


This sort of explains it.



https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2022/04/26/reduced-power-bills-coming-to-spain-after-striking-deal-with-eu-to-slash-wholesale-electricity-prices/



Basically Spain and Portugal are not as reliant on gas imports and generate a large percentage of their power from renewables.


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

Something weird is happening. My latest account is telling me that I'm at 8,00€ after 17 days. For the last 3 months it is usually around 22,00 €. So I guess Sanchez's IVA reductions are kicking in but it is very worrying because I feel the government are chasing their tail to curry the favour of the electorate ( following their pounding in Andalucia) and that these reductions are simply going to need to be clawed back later in some form or another.


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

kaipa said:


> Something weird is happening. My latest account is telling me that I'm at 8,00€ after 17 days. For the last 3 months it is usually around 22,00 €. So I guess Sanchez's IVA reductions are kicking in but it is very worrying because I feel the government are chasing their tail to curry the favour of the electorate ( following their pounding in Andalucia) and that these reductions are simply going to need to be clawed back later in some form or another.


Im sure its just me, but I worry about these measures and like you I feel its all to do with vote winning or being popular.
We all know that the ordinary person in the street will ultimately carry the can but even with these high prices the governments are surely making more money via the taxes generated by the power, oil and gas companies charging more as well.

It always seems to me the best way to raise more taxes, would be to lump a 'windfall' tax on the companies or increase their tax burden in normal times anyway. But the companies would still end up putting prices up to compensate, so its a very vicious cycle. 

Our general outgoings here are still way less than we were paying in the Uk a couple of years ago and my son pays around 60% more on all his utilities than we do and he lives in a bedsit against our 3 bed flat and his usage is lower than ours.


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## trotter58 (Feb 8, 2017)

Barriej said:


> Im sure its just me, but I worry about these measures and like you I feel its all to do with vote winning or being popular.
> We all know that the ordinary person in the street will ultimately carry the can but even with these high prices the governments are surely making more money via the taxes generated by the power, oil and gas companies charging more as well.
> 
> It always seems to me the best way to raise more taxes, would be to lump a 'windfall' tax on the companies or increase their tax burden in normal times anyway. But the companies would still end up putting prices up to compensate, so its a very vicious cycle.
> ...


At least the Spanish government are returning some of the inflated taxes that the increased energy prices are being collected by the Spanish government. This is also happening with the price of fuel for transport, which, if left unchecked, could increased the price of goods/inflation.

Nothing similar happening on the UK front.....Keep smiling and keep collecting the increased taxes. That seems to be out millionaire chancellor Sunak's stratergy.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

It could be a vote winner, but it's actually a trap for whoever is in power for the next term, be it reds or blues. The subsidies and tax cuts can't last for ever, and they create a false economy in the energy market. Spain did this already in the 70s and got their fingers burned badly. 
When the subsidies and tax cuts end the sudden price jump "back to reality" will be even harder on families and whoever has to deliver that blow will be our of favour. Of course it will probably be the PP and they will simply say that it is the fault of Sanchez for his policies while in power, and to a certain extent they will be right.


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## trotter58 (Feb 8, 2017)

Maybe they think that the current price hike for fuel is only temporary and that fuel prices will drop once the Ukraine/Russia war is over.


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## Liz Uk (4 mo ago)

Alcalaina said:


> The reduction in taxes on electricity is costing the country 1,800 million a quarter.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hi there.
Do you know if Endesa have changed their format for DDebit payments? I have a holiday house in Spain and suddenly no payments taken by Endesa from my monthly DD account with a Spanish Bank. 
Last DD taken in July 2022?
Thanks for any information.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Liz Uk said:


> Hi there.
> Do you know if Endesa have changed their format for DDebit payments? I have a holiday house in Spain and suddenly no payments taken by Endesa from my monthly DD account with a Spanish Bank.
> Last DD taken in July 2022?
> Thanks for any information.


Don't worry, the same is happening with other companies while they adapt to the change in billing.


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## Liz Uk (4 mo ago)

Alcalaina said:


> Don't worry, the same is happening with other companies while they adapt to the change in billing.


Thank you that is a great help.


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