Utilities

Hi....

we are looking to buy an apartment probably at the La Torre Golf Resort.... Most likely a 2 bed apartment.... Could anyone give us an idea of running costs...gas, electricity etc. is there a standing charge for gas and electric? I have seen an average cost of £135 per month for gas and electric which seems way higher than we are paying in the UK? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you....

Electric is very expensive in Spain. Even when we are not there and the only thing on is the fridge/freezer our bills are about €39 a month. The actual amount used cost is only about €5, the rest is standing charge and VAT!

Milly

Can't speak about gas as we don't have mains gas in our area, the standard size gas bottles we use have actually come down in price from over 18€ per bottle to just over 13€ per bottle this year.

Electricity prices per Kw hour are much the same as the UK (was when I last checked). What makes the prices seem a lot more here is the fact you get charged IVA (VAT) on top at the full rate of 21%  where as in the UK Vat on domestic energy is only 5% - and yes there is a standing charge also plus 21% VAT . You are probably going to be charged around 50€ per month before you even use any electricity.

I have changed every lamp in our house to the new LED types, although expensive to buy I've been amazed by how much they have reduced our monthly bill.

I decided this year instead of using a freestanding gas heater I would use the A/C for heating, set to 26ºC.     Last month when the AC heating was on for part of the month the electric charge was 89 euros.    This month with a full month of A/C heating the bill is 76 euros.

As far as I know , we have used all other electrical appliances the same for both months.  Crazily, it seems we have used less power (less units consumed) with the A/C on and heating the property,  than we do with it switched off.