Please note below my correspondence with Iberswitch, whom I have found to be very professional and very much worth consideration. Their revelations I find very alarming and very much need your attention. Although these penalties are not yet in place, Iberswitch seem convinced they will be enforced in the near future. Hopefully no scaremongering.
My initial contact with Iberswitch on 06/01/2011.
Hello,
I have visited your website where you wish to sign us up immediately. I find this rather strange considering I do not know what you have to offer. Can you supply details of savings allowing me to make an informed decision as to whether a switch would be of benefit to me?
Current Supplier: Iberdrola
Current Charge: 1.542042 e/kw mes
I eagerly await your response.
Response from Iberswitch 06/01/2011.
Thank you for your email
I am afraid the answer to your question is not so straight forward as there are many considerations such as Potencia, Reactiva & Consumation to name but three.
The best way to give an idea of the saving would be to send us an up to date, non estimated bill but in the meantime, it looks like you are on Green Energy possibly. It happens to be the most expensive and there is a 9.9% price increase to add to that from this month.
If your Potencia is less than 10KW, I imagine we would be looking at a 20 - 25% saving initially. Further savings may be possible around February.
Kind regards
The Care Team
I forwarded a bill to Iberswitch, this is their response.
Thank you for sending your recent bill.
Some of the information I needed is printed on the reverse side of the bill. Nevertheless, I can give you an excellent idea of the savings you can make by changing and they are quite considerable.
On your bill, you will notice there are two lines for Energia Consumida. This tells us that you, and the rest of us, experienced a 4.8% price increase due to withdrawal of government subsidies.
During this month, everyone will have a price increase of 9.9%. According to national press, the increase was supposed to be 24.5% but the government made a U turn at the last minute. Frankly, this probably means there will be more price hikes through the year. The only way to avoid these, is to change supplier and fix the rate. We can do this on your behalf. At this time, there is a rate of 11.8cents per KW unit and we can fix that for 12 months.
Also (this is imperative to deal with), anyone who does not enter the free market, will be penalised with a 5% price hike, probably from October, and this will be repeated every three months until it has gone up a total of 30%! We are waiting for the official announcement for this but as it already happened in 2009 for small to mid sized businesses (bars and shops etc), we are positive it will happen for domestic clients.
To conclude, your initial saving should be approximately 30%.
If you wish to proceed, please complete the attached application and authorisation forms, scan and email a copy of your NIE certificate or passport and please include the reverse side of the bill.
Any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Kind regards
The Care Team
PS If you wish to post this information on the Condada website, please let everyone know we require: Latest bill (not estimated, both sides) & NIE or Passport.
My response dated 07/01/2011
Hi again,
I am impressed with your speedy service. I don't quite understand what is meant by "not entering the free market", it sounds as though you can be penalised for not changing supplier? I would like to think that is not the case but how do you enter the free market by doing nothing? Also can you confirm fees or charges that I can expect from Iberswitch? I will pass your response on to my fellow residents.
Thank you once again.
Iberswitch response 0n 07/01/2011
As a consumer, you have to elect/request to go onto the free market. You can join by going to Iberdrola and signing a new contract, this will put you on the free market and you will avoid penalties. It wont however, reduce your kw charges.
I appreciate it is difficult to accept however, in Spain, if you choose not to go on the free market, you will be penalised a total of 6 x 5% increases in the kilowatt price.
This already happened with consumers with a "potencia" of more than 10kw and we believe, it is the less than 10kw consumers turn this year.
We charge an admin fee of €30 and then, whilst managing your account, we take 30% of any savings we make for you.
You can cancel our service whenever you wish, there is no fixed term contract.
I hope this answers your questions.
Kind regards
The Care Team
Note to residents.
I find this revelation very alarming. If I understand this statement correctly, it would seem that whether you wish to change your provider or not, you must renew your contract to enter the free market or face substantial penalties. Seems grossly unfare. I have found my correspodence with Iberswitch very informative and very professional. But as Ptan points out with the charges it would seem to be more beneficial to long term residents and people with good rentals rather than the once or twice a year holiday family. However with the increases forcast it is certainly food for thought for us all. Whichever category you fall into, it seems imperative that you renew your contract in one way or another to enter the free market and avoid substantial penalties.
This message was last edited by del007 on 07/01/2011.