Electricity Bills

Has anyone noticed their electric bills are rising gradually? The increase in my February/March account is 60 euros higher than it was last year - with no change in usage or extra appliances. Has anyone changed their Iberdrola tariffs and noticed a significant reduction?

Has anyone noticed their electric bills are rising gradually?

no !

I was going to echo that. Our last bill (for two months) the rate went up 3 times in that period for the charges.

Our bill from the same time last year says that the bill was made up of 49% electricity charges and 51% taxes and other charges. This one says 39% electricity and 61% taxes and other charges so you can see why they've gone up.

The only plus side is that we've had such a mild winter and fitted proper double glazing that the bill is actually a little cheaper than this time last year. 

We fitted proper double glazing in the bedrooms (the french windows) and covered the other windows with a thing called therma shield (a bit like cling film that goes over the windows). It has made a big difference.

Yes I have noticed a big increase also, my Feb bill was a lot more (nearly 100 euros) than last year with just the same usuage, just the two of us!

Once again I feel the Spanish are not paying fair, rises are expected as a rule in the UK, but an increase of that size is not playing fair. It has happened to a lot of our friends/neighbours also.

Thanks Jenno & Marie - I thought I would not be the only one who is being squeezed. How can the government possibly stand by and let this happen? Its no wonder already cash-strapped families with shrinking incomes just give up trying to weather the storm.

Thanks JohnX for you helpful and informative response to a sensible question.

Woodbug, sorry, but I was making the point that the increases have not been gradual.

By coincidence I had just read a news item, this is an extract    'Spain was shamed Monday after the EU named it as the 3rd most expensive EU state for electricity, and 2nd most expensive for ADSL.'

I suppose we could take some comfort, though not a lot, in a letter to a UK paper today. A woman had a letter saying her gas prices were going to be reduced. When she got the bill it was 70% higher than last year despite using the same amount of gas. When she phoned the gas company, she was told the price of gas had been reduced but the standing charges had been increased which made the bill higher.

I note that, apart from small island nations who rely on imported diesel, Denmark, Germany and Spain have the highest domestic electricity charges in the world. However, when purchasing power comparing income is taken into account, Spain is by far the highest although El Pais claims that Ireland and Cyprus are both higher than Spain.