Is it cheaper to live in Spain?

Yes, Thanks JackWest and Acky. I am basing our thinking on worst case 1:1. I see earlier in thi thread that SueMac reckons 800 euros per month cover everything for them and I am hoping something similar will work for us, The 1000 euro per month is excluding rent so it has to cover housekeeping, heating etc. I have covered the expectation of paying tax above the 5k mark.

Does anybody know what the electricity would cost for 3bed 2 bath villa with filtered pool? I keep hearing that leccy is going up in price in Spain, but has it reached UK levels?

Iberdrola (electric) has gone up significantly in Spain.  There are reports of people being hit with huge bills.  As to whether they are more than in the UK, that all depends on how much you use.  Although, in general I think it is cheaper in Spain.

*The euro has dropped today (1.06) tourist rate.  It was 1.09 last Friday and earlier this week.  Doesn't sound much, but when you are exchanging a lot of £sterling, believe me, it is.

Glenni,

 Endesa elec is going up in July now and from January you will be billed monthly. Although they will only read the meter every 2 months as now. That means that every other bill will be estimated. This started in January (which was estimated) and is what has caused the big bills.

Friends of ours on our urbanisation (Costa Del Sol) in a 3 bed apartment paid 290euros in January when they normaly pay 320 every 2 months. They are only there half the day as they work. Another friend with a the same type of apartment paid 360 euros in January but they are there all day. These bills were estimated but as you can't get to the electric meter to check the reading we can't see how accurate they are. We cannot tell from our bills as we only use it for holidays at the moment.

Endesa rates went up beginning of the year - this is why they estimated the first bill of 2009, which covered usage spanning the old and new tariffs. In most cases, they deliberately underestimated, so that the shortfall would be made up on the first real reading of the year - on the new, higher tariff. The estimates are supposed to be worked out as an average of your last 12 months usage. Not hard to calculate if you can add 6 figures together then divide by 12. In our case, our average usage was 352 kw/h, but our estimated bill was for 266kw/h. Naughty! They're being "investigated". Don't hold your breath.

"Friends of ours ...... normally pay 320 every 2 months" What the hell are they running??? Are they recharging a fleet of (eco-friendly) Toyota Priuses? That's almost THREE times what we pay, and yes, we're here all the time. And we only pay that much because whereas we used to have a gas oven in our old place, we now have all electric. I can only imagine they have the a/c on 24/7, but really, it's not that cold, and with a bill like that, they should seriously consider investing in a couple of butano gas fires.

Glennl - now that you've made it clear your £1000 figure is excluding rent, I think the two of you should manage OK with that. Of course, as others have pointed out, it does depend on you and how you choose to live your life - but you won't starve (unless you are complete booze hounds and blow it all in the local bar!)

Roberto,

"Friends of ours ...... normally pay 320 every 2 months" What the hell are they running???

Husband, wife 2 young kids and 1 teenager.

Aircon/heating on about 12-14+ hours a day during the winter. At least 2 washes a day and tumbledryer to dry the washing. Plasma tv and related equipment. Electric oven and hob, dishwasher and other usual kitchen stuff as there is no gas. Plus all the other equipment that you use.

Unfortunately they are allegic to oil fumes.

It does seem a lot but as my last bill was 12:20 euros and the biggest has been 34:41 euros (this was the summer period and we had been there for 5 weeks and rarely used the aircon) I can't say one way or another.

When we get there in May/June and have been there for a few months we will have a better idea.

Heating for 12-14 hours a day - every day? - I presume they live up in the mountains? Even so, I find this quite astonishing. How about wearing some more clothes?! Mind you, two washes a day already - are they doing laundry for the entire village?! Tumble drier? Don't they realise, one of the beauties of living in Spain is being able to dry your laundry in the fresh air? Yes, even in January.

Different strokes etc., and no offence meant, but...........

Roberto...

360 euros? Pah! Chickenfeed!

Our last bill from Sevillana-Endesa based on actual readings, not estimated, was 560 Euros for the period Nov 16 to Jan 16.

Yes we do live halfway up a mountain and the next time we are knee deep in snow won't be the first time this year.

We are all electric apart from a Gas Hob and the house is 'active' 24/7. We have so called economy heating in the two bedrooms and the bathroom and without them on at least 16 hours a day the house would be unliveable.

We do have a wood burner now operating for ground floor heating but with the only reliable source of suitable firewood/logs charging 3.59 Euros for 10 Kilos, to keep this running 16hrs a day equates to around 12 euros per 16hr period!  Wood available locally is cheaper but wet and virtually unuseable.

Incidentally I ran a comparitive tarrif check of what we pay Sevillana-Endesa and our former UK supplier SSEB and the two are now just about equal given the near parity of Sterling and the Euro; in fact if in England a new user signs up to the best package available for domestic users the UK is cheaper than Spain.

Spain was cheaper than the UK in a lot of respects but with the state of the exchange rate, to those people on a fixed sterling income ie pensioners, everything is now effectively 30-35% more expensive than it was just six months ago.

When shopping now the question I ask myself is always "If you were in the UK would you pay that amount in pounds for that particular item" because that is effectively what we are having to do.

Still who knows, maybe by the end of the month I'll be able to turn off the heating for longer periods and then altogether; of course by June we'll probably need the aircon...and it all starts again!

Roberto.  Are you inferring that JackWest is lieing?  Seems you don't believe his costs?

Why not just read it and not question his integrity? 

Thanks Acky and Foxbat, but these are not my figures only what they told me. I think Roberto is just surprised that anyone would use that much electricity. I keep a watch on my electric usage as we are all electric but as I said we are not yet living there, but only coming over for holidays. Once we have lived there (hopefully starting in May/June) for 6 months or so we will have accurate figures.

Does anyone have accurate electric usage costs for different propertys so as to gauge the average cost? I know the usage would depend on how the property was used but at least it would give people some idea.

jackwest.  I have just heard from my mate who is living in Spain and he has just received his electricity bill for 70euros for a month's use.

Also, if you are just visiting Spain frequently, the costs are obviously much lower.  But their is an increase that has been issued in 2009, and I am informed that bills are being estimated, giving a few quite a shock.

FoxBat.  I am sure jackwest will accept your apologies.

Acky,

No apologies are needed.

We only come over a few times a year. Usually for 9/10 day in January. (This year we got stuck for an extra 2 days due to Luton being shut thru the snow).

Then for 8/9 days at Easter. 4 weeks in the summer and then 5/8 days in October. This makes it difficult to estimate bills.

In my budget for living there full time I've allocated an average of 160 euros a month for electric which should be plenty according to your figures. Looking at most of the figures for costs on this and other forums our income of about 1350 euros after taxes should be plenty and thats why we have decided that we will come to live in Spain.

We will be in the enviable position of not having to work to live.

We decided that we can't keep putting it off till things improve. Hopefully if they do improve we will be in an even better postion.

Hi Jackwest,

Yes that is very true what you are saying, if you are going out in the current climate, hopefully their should be no nasty surprises.

So if the euro does go up it will be an added bonus for you.

It seems to be affecting people that have had high expectations of the euro, which I suppose is understandable, but if you have done all your sums, I would think you will be fine.

Sorry you was held up with the snow , we always use Luton Airport.

Good Luck Pat

Hi Pat & Roy, nice to hear from you.

You know the saying "S**t happens".  I say "Don't wallow in it, use it to fertilize thing".

I've spent a lot of time checking out the cost of living in Spain and had a lot of good information and help from these forums.

I've included everything I could think of  in our budget and what was suggested by others. I hopefully erred on the conservative side with the costs and if I have missed anything then we should have enough leeway to manage.

If things will be tight at least we will have the sun for most of the year.

Acky, you seem to be apologising for others where no offence has been taken. Maybe best to stick to your cute little catch phrases and clichés?

For the record (and anyone who's interested) our total annual cost for electricity since 2005 has been €539, €567, €580 and €637 respectively. I expect this year will be a larger increase than previously due to the rate hikes. This is for 2 adults, 2/2 apartment on the coast, all electric (incl. a/c / heat) for permanent residence. We paid less when we had a gas cooker in our old place. The OH loves cooking, and is damned good at it even though I say it myself, so we tend to use the oven and ceramic hob a lot. We could no doubt cut our elec. bills dramatically by eating in restaurants every day!

I think I saw something from Endesa recently about a tariff for holiday home owners, whereby the standing charges are reduced (or zero), but you pay a slightly higher rate for usage instead. Could work well for those who only use their homes occasionally. I will try to find it again.

Edit:

Only good for up to 3Kw, not sure if that's enough to power your a/c, microwave, iron and hairdrier all at the same time!?

Roberto:- I will leave this forum all to you. 

Apparently you know best.

Therefore on this thread you wont be hearing from me again.

Adios

Just returned from UK where we had a Chinese meal for 7............................cost 203 pounds. That included 4 pints beer and 3 bottles of wine.............perhaps the surroundings were a bit more palatial that around here ( although the place smelled of damp!! ) but the food was no better and it was bloody cold ( not the meal, the weather ) so I'll stick to Spain low exchange rate and all !! 

Gosh that is pricey.

Prices in this area, (Clacton) for eating out, are dropping like stones.  You can now have a carvery - eat as much as you want and a pud for £4.99 (between 11.30 & 7) or £7 (7pm - 11pm); and local Chinese charge £10 for evening buffets (exc drinks).  Both in nice warm environments.  Might be slightly colder if you venture outside though!!

There is a very nice Chinese restaurent in Puerto in Tenerife my wife and I go to each week we are there. They have a 3 course buffet, with plenty of choice for 4,85€. You can sit and eat as much as you like while looking out over the Atlantic Ocean. We will be there in a couple of weeks, can't wait.

Can't compete with the Atlantic Ocean, but the Carvery overlooks the beach/sea!!