Electricity prices

We let some friends use out apartment for a week telling them to pay the cleaning charge and our costs. electric for 7 days, wow!!! They reckon the air con wasn't used, so I may visit in the winter!!

The perils of not having a contracted rate and being at the mercy of the market forces.

Since the cuts in IVA, our electricity bills have actually gone down. Total bill for July was 64.68 and that included loads of times we've been using the aircon due to the heatwave. Bill for June was under 50 euro.

The ministry of the interior did say anyone not on a contracted rate was crazy.

Didn't know you could get one, is that the same as a fixed rate in the UK? I suppose that ship sailed long ago though and prices have risen the same as here. Only being used 3 or 4 weeks a year at the moment, I don't suppose it matters that much, but definitely worth looking into.

There are two systems in Spain, the regulated and the unregulated. If you take out a contract with Iberdrola (or other company) you can opt for several plans. There is the day/night plan where electricity is cheaper from midnight to 1pm (11pm to noon in the Winter) or the choose your own hours where you can have any eight hours (not in succession but in 1 hour slots if you want, we have 8 to 11 am and 5 to 10pm as our cheap hours). The advantage then is that the rates are fixed for as long as your contract is in existence. Of course, if electricity goes down you will not get the benefits but at only just over 8 cents a kwh in off peak and just 19 cents for non peak periods that won't happen for a long time).

With the unregulated you are at the mercy of the ups and downs in prices which have been horrendous in the last year. You would benefit if prices went down but, again, that's not happening, especially at the rates we are currntly paying. Iberdrola (or whoever your supplier is) would put you on the regualated rates but would have to tell you what they are so you could make your mind up if you want to go down that route. They are currenlty charging 14 cents on the day night plan for cheaper hours and 23 cents for peak periods so you could compare that to what you are paying now. These figures will change, of course.

With these plans, even the contracted charge for the power provided changes during non peak periods from 9 cents per Kw contracted down to a third of a cent in contracted hours so that saves a lot.

If you leave your aircon or heating on all night and use things like dishwashers and washing machines in the morning then the day/night tariff is ideal. 

We went to the 8 hours a day plan. We were paying around 100 euro a month but that has dropped to under 50. July and August more expensive because the aircon is on a lot. Even so, last month bill was 64.64 for permanent usage and they keep sending a message that the bills will not rise despite the increased costs .

The 

We were with Endesa but appear to have been moved to a subsidiary Energia XXI. Their website doesn't show much in the way of tarifs. Will have to dig a bit deeper.

Markfish one small 3kw split AC unit that you will find in the majority  of apartments will cost approximately €1 per hour to run ...you can work the rest out for yourself. 

Our neighbours recommended us a handy little Android app (which I have no connection with) called Precio Luz Espana. It lists the hourly electricity rate for today, at about 8pm you get the next day's rates and you can also see the previous days. Quite scary really when you look at the prices and funnily enough, the cheaper times aren't when you would think they are, although I suppose it encompasses siesta!