Increasing supply

Has anyone upped their electrisity supply and was it easy please? Our house only has a 3.3kw supply which is only about 12amps or so. Not a lot to run a modern house on. We are having gas hot water which helps but there is still the air con, washing machine and bits to run. Let's face it. Our house in England has over 60amps supplied, so even if we cut back a lot, we will struggle a bit. I have been reading up a little bit and I understand the charges change at 15kw. Band 2 and band 3. That is quite a lot more than we have. Our house is a finca in a rustic area but has tarmac roads and a fairly chunky supply travelling past the house. Any help would be much appreciated . Ta Laury

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Hi Laury,

You have two options to increase your supply.  You can do it legally through Iberdrola or erhm* illegally. If you do it legally (which you should espcially if you are the first occupant of your property), it will cost you around 200 - 300€.  The engineer from Iberdrola will come out and fit a new fuse in your fuse box.  If you choose a less legal option it will cost you "whatever" the electrician charges you.  Use a Spanish electrician through as they are much cheaper and really know what they are doing.

If going the legal route, you will need to go to the Iberdrola offices in your local town and request that the supply is upped.  Take a translator or a Spanish speaking friend if you are not fluent in the language just to save time, effort and crossed wires (exuse the pun).

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`We have Spanish builders in the property and they are rewiring for us.

 

Hmmmmmmmmm........... Perhaps I should ask them to sort it out for us?

The house is 40 years old and the supply is a few years old, I would say.

Thanks

 

Laury

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hi  Lauryc.        My husband said you proberly need to go to about  40 amps main fuse or it will keep tripping out if very much is running at the same time,   tell the builders your idea about upping it as  you will need a new certificate for the supply anyway and have it sorted all at the same time, if its 40 years old it all needs changing anyway.       Regds  Rosi n

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It  is all being rewired  and replumbed anyway so i'll see what I can do when we get over later this week.

Why will we need a certificate? Is it more costs?

Laury

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I think the certificate referred to is the boletin. Have a look at my last post on http://www.eyeonspain.com/Secure/ForumPosts.aspx?thread=164&dev=fb28&name=Utilities%20in%20Spain Your circumstances are a little different, but maybe no very much. I think the maximum available supply is 5.5kw, but maybe that's only for apartments in town. No idea. The new fuse Alannah mentioned is probably the ICP (Interumptor de Control de Potencia, or something like that) which is the big one in your box which is sealed by the Electric company, and limits the supply to that contracted.

Unless your builders are also registered authorised electricians, you will need to get one to issue the boletin before the Electric company will come and fit the new ICP. But check first with the Electric company, as they may not require it in your area (although legally they should do!) And BTW, I'm no expert on this, I'm just talking about my own experience, so please don't take any of this as Gospel!

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