Electricity costs.

My community is shortly coming off the developers metered electricity & on to individual owners meters.

The developer has put in a three phase supply. I am led to believe that this is excessive as a higher fuse rating is needed which makes the monthly standing charge higher than is neccessary.

However we have the option of having our individual supply changed to single phase which may result in a lower rated fuse & thus lower monthly standing charges. 

Has anyone any experience of this? It seems that the options are either a10.38 amp fuse running three phase or a 7.7 amp fuse running on single phase.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I think you may be getting a trifle confused here over terminology...

Contracts with suppliers are based on consumption measured in Kilowat t / Hours not in terms of current expressed in Amps...

A 7 amp fused supply wont even be eough to boil a kettle let alone provide hot water  or run a washing machine. For tthat matter neither would a 10Amp fused supply!

A 7 KW/hr supply would be just about adequate especially if you use the aprtment during the winter.

10 KW/hr is a bit overkill.

In any event the savings to be made via standing charges are minimal when compared to the high cost of the electricity itself which is now rather more than the UK.

You may well run into additional costs if you elect to switch from 3phase to single phase...

Hi there,

our urbanization went through a similar process in 2008.  However, 3 phase electricity is normally used for commercial properties, or very large properties, are you saying that this is what has been recommended for your private property?

A standard house without pool normally has sufficient with 5.75kw and the standing charges are cheaper than the next one up which is just under 10kw.

However, if you go to Iberdrola.es you will find all the relevant prices there, you may also be interested in opting for Tarifa Nocturna, if you live here, it's similar to Economy 7 back in UK, except that it runs for 14hrs a day at a cheaper rate (currently less than half price).

If in doubt why not call Iberdrola and ask them to clarify for you, they are normally very helpful.

Good luck.

Margo

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, the developer did install three phase & the development is only apartments!

So what do you guys recommend for my three bed, three bath apartment with air con/heating, underfloor heating in bathrooms & just normal cooking & dishwasher & washing machine facilities?

Do I pay the approx. 200 euro cost to change to single phase or stick with the three phase & have a higher fuse rating?

My wife & I live here permanantly.

My response would be a 9.2 KWH single phase supply...

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 I run my 3 bedroom house on 5.75kw. Never had a problem in 10 years.

I have a pool as well. Iberdrola fitted a duel metre to give me off peak power 11pm to 11am.

We have lived permanently for 10 years in my apartment.  We have A/C, with a heat pump,  all electric cooking and water heating (on the occasions the solar system is down i.e. no sun).  We have had an ICP rated 20v,  for 9 years and  never had a cut out.  We are on 4.4 kW

 From a bill:- 

FACTURACION DE LA POTENCIA

4,4 KW x 28 DIAS x 0,059817

EUR/KW Y DIA                                  7,37