Electric Bills

Am I being charged too much for electric, my bill fom May to Sept was 200 euros and we have only used the apartment five weeks out of that, the rest of the time it is all turned off, also how do they know how much you have used as I can't see any meters.

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Hi
I have a Villa in calpe and I get a bill for about 54 euros 2 monthly if not there, if there can rise to 120 for 2 months........

So to me 200 not bad as you have to pay a minimum charge like England.

Ta Tony

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for that amount is there  someone using it without your knowledge?

does it have airconditioning and do you spend a lot of time with it on?

do you have keyholder that you trust?  

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Next time you're out, I would make a point of finding out where your meter is and checking the reading, just to reassure yourself. Ask the president or administrator for access for this purpose.
Normally bills are issued every two months, and should show the current and previous reading (lectura), the difference between the two being the usage for the period of the bill. There are standing charges, plus charges calculated on your usage.

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Leema
The bill wasn't "estimated" by any chance? I know that my May bill was estimated - because I had the electricity shut off for most of the two months before - and did a double take until I realised that it was estimated - when some kindly neighbour pointed that out!!

My last bill was high - circa €165 for two months - however, I believe that it "was slightly warm" out there!!

I can't check my electric meter or my water meter - no access to it.  Queried it with the president, and he replied that only said utilities had key/access.  Bit of a pain, since I wanted to have a water softener fitted and i was told that they would need access to that locket cupboard.  Haven't got around to doing anything about it - and it will probably be months before I'm out there again.

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I find it strange that nobody on the premises has keys to "access all areas". Don't know about the legal position with regards to utilities. I would have thought that you have a right to check your own meter. Maybe someone has more info?
(Maybe your president is just too lazy to open up for you, or telling porkies because he dosn't want everybody bothering him to read their meters?)

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I'd be the last one to accuse him of that - ummmm ummm, (and whilst I do appreciate that the job of president isn't exactly one to be envied!!) he is meant to be able to speak three languages.  However, if there is a problem he somehow forgets how to speak English, my German is non-existant - so it's down to conversing in the good old Spanish (and he often forgets that if he is in a bit of a tight corner!!.  The reason given for the sealed meter cupboards is that the utilities did that to prevent vandals.

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.........which is why there should not be general access for everyone and anyone, but a responsible president can surely be trusted to be a key holder???? Where is the main fuse box for community installations (lifts, lighting, etc.)? Does the president, or someone, have access to that? What happens if there is a leak and the water to an empty apartment, or the garden or pool, has to be cut off?

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Sorry if I put you on the wrong track, Roberto, but I've got an end of terrace house.  (There aren't any apartments in my area)

At the end of each row, on the path side, are large metal boxes housing all the meters.  There are underground cupbards near to the pool, and (not sure) but I suspect that there must be shut off points there in the event of a leak.

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Roberto,
El Presidente is NOT allowed a key to the electricity meters ( ours are in a room cos we are apartments ) but he does have keys to the water meter rooms.
Apparently Ibadrola will not give keys to electricty meters but if you want to be there when they read your meter, you have to phone them and arrange it yourself...............nothing to do with El Presidente !!

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Roberto, don't you go upsetting our Karensun. Some big hoofed bug**r has walked all up her newly painted walls. 

There are just some things that shouldn't concern Presidents, this being one of them. They do enough for communities. Well, K's does.

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Not going to get into an argument over this one, but I very much disagree.
Where is this "room"? On whose property? 
By the way, if you don't want to pay rental on your meter, (check your bill if you don't think you are paying to rent it!) you can have your own. Surely you are allowed access to your own meter? If you ever want to rewire your home, it would be handy to cut the supply off at the meter first. Do you have to call Iberdrola to do that?
And who built the room for the meters and put a door on it? If it's a new property, ask the builder why you haven't got a key for it. Probably find out you have, or if you haven't, it's just because nobody picked it up!
Anyway.........don't want to upset anyone.........just my opinion.

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Honestly Roberto, we've been round and round this one for the last three years and STILL Iberdrola will not part with a key !!
Last year an over enthusiastic ( drunk ) person rammed into the electricity room metal door and buckled it ( it was a woman !! ) and we had to get I badrola to be there to open the door and supervise the re fit of the door. Then we had to buy a new padlock from the shop at Pilar........................they, as agents for Ibadrola............kept the key.
If you find out where to get this elusive key...........I'd love to know.

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Well, Karen, like I said, I'm not going to argue this one, especially as we don't have Iberdrola down here, so I'm not really in a position to say what's what. But you know me - I hate to be told what I can and can't do! (I absolutely refuse to be bullied into handing over my bank account details and paying by direct debit, despite the continual efforts of utility companies to convince me that they are trying to save the planet by reducing paperwork - yeah, right). So I had a quick browse through their website and saw this: As for metering and control equipment, you are responsible for their safekeeping and if you own them, you are also responsible for their maintenance. How do they expect you to maintain it, if they won't give you the key? Idiots! It's on this page.

P.S. Please do not force your long suffering president to take this issue up with Iberdrola on my part - you're probably right and it's best just to let it be.

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Hi Roberto
I suggested that we get rid of the direct debits and pay (like we do over here) when the bill comes in and we are happy with it, but our administrator advised us against this and said they would cut us off. I will look into this further, thanks for that.

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I'm not sure how easy it is to stop a DD once it's been set up. You should be able to instruct your bank to not pay it anymore, but it's never quite that simple here; if they have your account number (which obviously they do) they'll claim payment as usual, and the bank will almost certainly pay it. You will then have, I think it's 15 days, to contest the payment, or tell your bank to stop it (although the money goes out of your account, the bank don't pass it on straight away - I think they go gambling on Wall Street with it for a few days). But you may find yourself going through this rigmarole every month. The only sure fire way to stop such payments is to close the account and open one at another bank.

I don't think you'll get cut off just because you don't pay by DD. If the payment request is returned by the bank, the utilty company will just send you a bill to pay in cash. HOWEVER - they will take no responsibility for the post office delivering the bill in sufficient time for you to pay by the deadline. (and I'm certain bills are deliberately sent out late, to try to force you to give up and go the DD route - especially Telefónica) 
The best bet I have found, is to opt for online facturas direct to your e-mail inbox, which you can print out and take to the bank to pay, when and how you want. You can also pay most bills online with a debit card, or even at ATMs now, so you're not tied by the restricitve days and hours that banks place on bill payment over the counter (they don't want you paying in cash, either!)

If for whatever reason you don't pay a bill on time, I'm fairly sure the electric company will send you a warning before cutting you off; Telefónica definitely won't; (and they'll charge you for re-connection) and I'm pretty sure it's illegal for your water supplier to cut you off at all - they would have to take you to court first, I think.

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Not quite the same, but  I e-mailed Solbank to stop the Telmicro direct debit from being taken out of my account (not that I thought that Telmicro was going to continue to take money out of my account after they had promised not to....!) .

I received an e-mail back from them to say that they would only stop the direct debit if I faxed them a signed letter to that effect.  Seemed quite straight forward - but whether it would be in practice is another matter!!! 

They also said that to stop utilities I should not only fax them a signed letter, but that it would be wise to do the same to the utilities - who judging by the experiences of some other houseowners - do not lose much time in disconnecting!!

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Thanks Roberto
I have often wondered how the heck Iberdrola managed to set up a direct debit without our consent. So now I have registered on the website I can keep an eye on the bills from here as the paper bills are posted to our Spanish address. Will wait and see what the next one comes in at and go from there. Our president has been on the case so hopefully we won't get this again.
Like that about gambling on wall street for a few days 

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Just a PS, Roberto.  Don't know if the law has changed over disconnection re:water bills, but when there was an initial problem with our direct debit on the water bill we were cut off without any notice, and had to travel a few miles away to pay in person (to Rojales) before getting reconnected.  Certainly a very sobering experience!

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Thanks for all the replies
Think I'll leave it alone then, just keep on top of it online, as before all this kerfuffle, had to rely on the paper bills. I have to say, I was pleased that it was credited so quickly. If it was in UK they would not have given the money back, just used it to credit the next bill, so at least that was a good outcome.

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