Electricity in Spain

Am not going to high jack the other thread but have to agree electricity charges here are high.

Team GB how on earth do you cope in a 4 bed all electric house on a potencia of less than 6. There must be times when  the system overloads and the fuse trips.

For my all electric , only a 3 bed residence,  I was told nothing less than potencia of 13.8 would be suitable otherwise more than 4 sockets in use power would fail. 

Although I have never had a problem what I wasn't told about was the higher the potencia the higher the standing charges.  For me it is €150 basic charge before I switch on a light.

And it is because of this anomoly of properties having different power strengths that no two householders in Spain  can ever agree whether electricity is cheap or expensive.

I think you mentioned 13.8 before, floella. Whoever told you that is talking out of his backside (this is Dave, by the way, not Maria) as 5.75 is more than sufficient to run a modern house. Unless you are running some type of industrial equipment then 13.8 is way, way over the top. Whoever said more than 4 sockets in use would cause the power to fail must have shares in Iberdrola and saw you coming.

5.75 will give you 25 amps. Let's have a look at what your appliances use

40 inch plus TV at any one time 80 to 400w (80 being LED and 400 being Plasma) so 1.7A for the power hungry one

Kettle large is about 4A

Domestic oven (with oven and 3 rings on) about 10A,

Electric iron around 2.75A for the ones that don't switch themselves on and off.

Domestic heater about 4A

So far we have the 5 most power hungry items in your home. If you're boiling a kettle at the same time as having the oven and 3 rings on with a heater going whilst you're doing the ironing and watching the TV you are using just over 21A.

Having the computer on, the mobile phone charging, a DVD recorder and low wattage light bulbs on in 3 of the rooms will probably take up another amp. So far, the house with 5.75 Kwh contract has all these things on at the same but still has almost a fifth of its current rating left.

So, please, tell us what it is you use that would require 60A of current in a domestic dwelling? If I were you, I'd get the potencia reduced unless you're running a hair salon with about 10 hair driers going at once (Even that with all the other appliances I've mentioned going at the same time would give you a leeway of an amp or two).

Just to put this in context, our community of 180 houses with 6 swimming pools and associated pumps, the gardeners power tools, spotlights, street lighting for 10 streets, builders supply with power tools, a satellite receiving station connected to every house, a powered TV antenna connected to every house and all the other paraphernalia to keep such a large site going has a potencia of 11.5Kw.

When Iberdrola were informed of the power of our electrical equipment they suggested we needed a potencia  of 10 and this is what was installed. Unfortunately over a period of time  the potencia has gradually been increased by Iberdrola. Don't think they initially conned us rather we didn't realise that unlike UK one potencia didn't fit all and the more one has the more one pays. 

My trips are actually all 40A. Of which I have 3. 

This power is needed mainly because I have 2  external industrial sized units through which heating and aircon is ducted  throughout  my house but also have some other very powerful electrical appliances permantly working that you haven't mentioned.

Regardless of what I may or may not have the point I am trying to make is that because 2 neighbouring properties often have different potencias agreeing electrical costs in Spain is virtually impossible.

Team GB how on earth do you cope in a 4 bed all electric house on a potencia of less than 6. There must be times when  the system overloads and the fuse trips.

Floella, a few years ago I updated the wiring so now we have a dedicated 20amp circuit  for the kitchen and utility areas, we only use the aircon for short periods at night in July and August. It all works well.

I have just read that wholesale electricity prices will rise by 11% this period!! With the abundance of  sun can anyone explain why taxing solar is sustainable and why in feeding to the national grid not encouraged the piece in the English language paper said that electric was cheaper in feb due to wind and rain (hydro) therefor does it not make sence to encourage private households to opt for solar power or am I missing something? 

Why is the  standing charge for 5.75 kw more than double the standing charge for 3.3kw? A bit higher, yes, but this is a huge difference.

In regard to potencia, 5.75 is more than adequate for the average 3 bed villa.

 I would not like a bill for a potencia of 10 kw potencia, must be horrendous!

Our potentia is 3.3 so standing charges of about 11 euros per month. We are now looking carefully at what electrical equipment we buy, and looking very seriously at solar for day time top ups of washing drying etc and even cooking. Our hot water is gass bottle which we hope to top up with solar hot water. A bit of an outlay at first but with the costs mushrooming I think it will pay dividends.