Hi all;
Concerning these small bills for December, typically around 12 Euros.
Endesa- Sevillana our provider sent me a bill for a similar amount about ten days after they had extracted it from my bank account.
They too, like Iberdrola have gone over to monthly billing and according to the letter I had from them thr bill represents one month of standing charge, in our case from Nov16 to Dec 16 2008
Under the old scheme of bi-monthly payments our next bill would have been due in January, so it looks as if the bill we receive this month (Jan) will be from the 16 Nov to 16 January in terms of electricity used and from 16th Dec to 16th Jan in terms of the standing charge.
Also endesa are now going to be doing actual bi-monthly meter readings in Jan. Mar. May etc., and estimated readings for Feb., April, June, etc.
According to the pamphlet this whole thing has the backing of the government via Royal Decree1578/2008 dd 26/9/2008 and has no doubt been brought about by the rapidly increasing cost of electricity in Spain and in an effort to a) reduce the bi-monthly burden on the lower paid and b) (cynically) to increase the cash flow through the electricity companies....
Incidentally where we live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas and at an altitude of around 2000ft our electricity bill are always high; we need aircon continuously during the Summer when temps can reach 45C (typically 40C) and radiators/heaters on in the bathroom and bedroom permanently during the Winter. Last night the temp her dropped to -8C...
As covered in another threaad we have a wood burning stove/estufa in the living room which goes some way to heat the bedrooms as the bedroom shares the same chimney wall. The chimney itself is concreted over save for the portion where the flue pipe emerges so heat that would normally escape up the chimney is radiated into the bedroom chimney breast wall. Its not enough though because the same end wall of the house is exposed to the elements and the prevailing wind so a heater in the bedroom is essential.
Over the last two years we have paid out almost 3000 Euros in electricity charges averaging out at around 125 Euros a month. Of course when the Euro was worth about 70p it wasnt too bad but now with near parity its a hell of a lot!
Ah Well...we chose to live here...and sure as hell wouldnt go back!
This message was last edited by foxbat on 1/10/2009.