Changing electricity provider (Q&A)

Hello,

First post, I have seen quite a lot of confused people here so I would like to offer my advice and answer any questions you may have. I am a fully qualified Spanish electrican, and have experience in changing electricity companies, supply boletins, etc. First I'd like to explain some things:

Changing provider is not difficult, as long as you speak spanish and have some know how, its quite easy to do. The information you need is all supplied on your last electricity bill.

In the top right hand corner of an Endesa bill for example, you have all your details, Name, Address, Meter number, Tariff, Kilowatts, etc, and on the reverse side of your bill you have a list of other electricity providers. The difficult part is finding the best one for you, but in my opinion, the best and cheapes (plus 15% discount on your bill for 15 months) is Iberdrola. The number of all the companies is available on the back of your last bill.

You need your current electric bill to hand, and your bank details, they handle the rest.

The only thing you must make sure before you go ahead with this, is that your current installation is up to scratch, and especially that you have an ICP installed and reported to Endesa. The ICP is what controls the amount of power you can draw at any one time, as stipulated by you Tariff. If you have a 4.4kw tariff, you should have a 25amp ICP installed. If you do not have one, you will have to get one fitted. I would recommend you get your electrician (or myself, wink wink free advertising) to check your installation before you go ahead, regardless, everyone should have thier installation checked regularly, just for piece of mind.

If anyone has any questions on switching companies or other doubts, feel free to post here and I'll happily clear them up.

Many thanks, Alex

 hi Alex i have asked to change my electric supply this week

was a doddle just nie bank details etc man  did ther paperwork i just signed

he didnt even ask to see the instalation certificate that we had for endesa so i suppose he assumed we must have one

i was much easier than chagiging internet provider

says it takes 15 days so will let you know

 Well done, It is easy and I've never had any electrical company ask to see the electrical certificate during a change over. So even though you are supposed to have one, you dont really need one for this purpose.

Which electrical company did you change to? And what was the deal you got against what you were paying with Endesa? Also did you have an ICP fitted at the time?

 ibderola

15% off 

Icp yes nice new one i had fitted last year old one very dodgy

 Good man for going with Iberdrola, Their prices are the best ones I've seen and they use mainly renewable energy sources.

The ICP is the switch that controls the power tarriff you have paid for. It sits on it own in a little box next to all the other breakers.

 thanks yes all ok 

we are also changing our internet should save anothe 20 eu or so

thought, do you know anthing about solar water heating

 Yes of course, what is it you'd like to know?

 firstly some idea of cost, how long to install, any grants available and if so how do you get one

i know it will work well here as its always sunny

(47x1500mm) 150L 599,00 €
(47x1500mm) 200L 699,00 € 
(58X1800mm) 250L 799,00 € 

They are the prices of the solar water heaters, and measurements, as you can see 150liters to 250liters, which is more than enough for domestic water installations. I usually install for a normal apartment or villa 150L. That has more than sufficient. The cost of installation varies depending on where you are and the difficulty of the installation (Roof, terrace, supports needed, wind factors, plumbing in, etc)

These are long term investments, and will normally pay themselves off fully within 4 years more or less, from then on its all free hot water!

I am not too sure what the situation is on grants at the moment, I think they have dissapeared as "austerity measures" set in...

 Sent you a PM

 Would like to pass on a recommendation I was given, a customer of mine said he had an excellent change over with Evergreen Electric. Said it was quick an efficient. I cant wait until more people abandon Endesa! Anyone but them!

I got Alex to fit the ICP in January in my Las Chapas, La Reserva de Marbella apartment.

His service was superb.

He arrived on time on the appointed day.

(No - I am not on commission from him!).

Hi

Here on the Costa Blanca/Calida our main supplier is Iberdrola who are fairly expensive. However a "broker" named Iberswitch state that they can get the best rate on a month to month sweep of the market. They then arrange for this supplier to supply you and 'charge' you 20% of the difference between what we would have paid to Iberdrola and what we actually pay their supplier. They state that on the monthly/2 monthly bill you will see both figures! They charge their non Spanish speaking clients a one off fee of, I think, €30 plus i.v.a. to do everything needed to change over. So far we have saved some money each month but it is too early to give full annual figures. However if it only costs €30 to change and we get a guaranteed saving it can not be bad. No other money up front, no inspection no nothing. They just use the 'final' reading from existing supplier and its very smooth once it gets going. The drawback that a lot of my friends and neighbours have had is Iberdrola not letting us go even though they have been fined many millions of euro for delaying changeovers.

Only time will tell

Hello Alex,

This will of course be a silly question but please humour me. This ICP thing you refer to. About a year (or 2) ago I received a letter saying I had to have something installed next to or inside my meter box which would alter my billing rate. If I didn't have it installed, I would be billed at a higher rate. As my installation was over a certain age it would probably not be installed already. Would this be the ICP? If so, roughly how much does it cost to install and are you any where near the Estepona area?

Thanks,

Oblong.

 Hi Oblong

Endesa sent me one of their contractors to fit an ICP last year and he charged 60eur - he was spanish so it may well be easier for you to deal with Alex.  It was not such an old installation so I didn't need any other work doing.  If they have already sent you a letter and you haven't had one fitted, then they will probably be penalizing you.  Check your bills and on the right hand side you may find a reference to 'penalizacion por falta de ICP' - that'd be it.  Either way, once you have it installed you will need to advise Endesa of this.

p.s.  If you ever want to make a change to your contract with Endesa, change of name etc., then they will force you to install the ICP before allowing you this change  ;)     Oh, and my understanding is that ALL the electric companies are insisting on it.  

Good luck!

STEONE, have you been following the attached thread?

Guy

http://www.eyeonspain.com/forums/posts-long-12613.aspx

do any of these companys do a NO standing charge

in other words if we dont use the electric we dont get charged

or

do any of these companys do a pre payment meter

in England we have both of these dont know about Spain

Can anyone advise wether a Habitation Certificate is required to change provider?   I understand you may need one for initial installation, but is one required for a swap of provider? Thanks for any useful info in advance.  Dan