Electricity Charges

Hi 

We have a 2 bed apartment in Almeria and have started to look at the Utility bills now that the long ter tenant has left.

So baring in mind nobody lives there I pay the following Utility bills:

Water Rates: 26,57 Euros

Gas Rates: 14,14 Euros

Electricity: 53,00 Euros

I believe some you pay a charge regardless of whether you use it but the Electricity seems high and when you add them all up it becomes a rip off. It seems odd that the UK companies would be in the press, fined or in court but in Spain the companies get away with a lot.

Peter

Water rates also include the rubbish collection and sewerage. Our water rates in UK were £340 a year (5 years ago) whether we used any water or not.

Electricity is the bugbear. They charge you for the power supplied to your property. Most houses now are contracted at 5.75Kw or 25 Amps. You will be paying about 11 cents per Kw so about 63 cents per day or nearly 40 euros every two months. On top of that, there is a special electricity tax, IVA at 21%, rental of the meter and so on which pushes it up to about 55 to 60 euro every two months before you even plug anything in.

The cost of electricity is cheaper per KWH than UK but the standing charge in UK is built into that. Plus the 21% IVA instead of 5% VAT in UK makes a big difference.

We pay around 100 euro a month for electricity but have no gas except for bottled. Thats just over £70 a month. In March, we had a no charge bill as they equalised out any payments over the year but some people had bills for double the normal amount.

According to the BBC, the average dual fuel bill in UK is now £1264 per household. I know it's a pain having to pay when you're not using but, if you owned a second home in UK and didn't use it, you'd still be paying a lot more for the council tax alone.

Marieday,

Most people I know are on a water meter in the UK, how do they pay for rubbish and sewage via a meter. Rubbish and sewage have always been itemised on our general rating account, even before we went on a meter, our water costs us £18.00 per month.

Standing charges in Spain include rubbish collection, not UK. 

USwitch reckons the average water bills in UK on a meter are £393 per year so you must be pretty frugal with it if you are paying less than half.

We were on rates in UK 5 years ago and it was £34 a month for 10 months of the year with Severn Trent. I'm sure most people are now on meters but we weren't then. We pay €260 (about £188) a year here as permanent residents.

We have the usual water dependent appliances, washing machine, dishwasher and a wet room with power shower (no bath). Gas charges come out at circa £1050 p/a, whilst electricity is a modest £250 p/a, our general rate is £1520 p/a. We have cavity wall insulation, double glazing and a foot deep loft insulation, I can't think of anything that we do frugally, the central heating is on thermostat for 16 hours a day for circa 8 months a year. 

Thanks for all your swift responses. It seems normal except for the electricity which must be used by an appliance if not constant charge. In Almeria I get charged separately for rubbish collection even though I'm not there to produce rubbish.

There are charges like non-resident charge that my bank pays to the local police which seems odd considering I also pay Tax on my property. 

Regards

Peter

Peter:

There are charges like non-resident charge that my bank pays to the local police which seems odd considering I also pay Tax on my property

Not so,

If one is non-resident and has a bank account,  then they need a certificate, renewable I believe every 2 years, which is from the Policia Nacional.  The charge is quite small but if you have the bank do it for you, then you have to pay their fee too.  It has nothing to do with owning a property.

Of course there are property taxes which must be paid just for owning the property, IBI, basura, garage entrance if you have one etc. and a second ‘home’ tax (imputed income tax).   I own a lock up garage and am resident in Spain, I too pay the ‘imputed tax’ on that. My wife has a property in the Philippines, we also pay the same tax on that.

   Anyone resident in Spain who has a property, in addition to their main residence,  anywhere in the world,  must declare and pay tax on it in Spain.

 If you get an income from the property then you pay income tax on that as income tax

In the UK I believe a property which is unoccupied is still liable for Council Tax, which can be more than it would be if it were actually occupied.  

That’s how life is, different laws and regulations everywhere which if you are part of the system must be complied with.

Thanks for clarifying.