SKY HIGH ELECTRICITY BILL

Hi all,

Just had the wife on the phone in a complete panic.She has getting the bill in for two months electricity (Iberdrola) for 1040 euros.

Our previous bills have been about  50 euros per month.We have only been renting this house since 22nd June.The bill is an actual reading which I think (HOPE) must have been misread.She has been to see the rental agents who got in touch with Iberdrola who said we should check our meter.Trouble is the meter is in a concrete sort of bunker with a big steel door which has got a padlock on which nobody seems to have a key for.When we told this to Iberdrola they said they would not send anyone out to check one meter and we would have to wait until they are due to come and read the meters again.

 I am in England until 20th December so there's not much  I can do to help.The only thing I can think of doing is cutting off the lock to take a reading off the meter.Would i be breaking any sort of law if I was to do this? 

                                                                                            Thanks.   

I had one of our neighbours in tears a couple of weeks ago about the same thing.  She'd received a bill for 498 Euros.  She lives on her own, is out most of the day and doesn't have the money to pay for it.

We checked the meter and the reading was strangely correct.  For some reason it was really high and we told her she needs to speak to the electricity company and try and sort something out. 

I'm not sure what else an be done, maybe Maria can help us on the legal side of things here and most companies are very quick to cut you off if you don't pay.

The key for the meter cupboard should be with the president or the administrator.  Speak to your landlord to get in touch with them.  Also, the key is a standard key (usually).  I think many electricians seem to have a copy so maybe get one to check everything is as it should be.

I would advise you against breaking off the lock, it might get you into real trouble.

Another option is to hand the problem over to Myra, at Costa Advice Bureau.  This is the sort of thing she can sort out for you.  If you're not already a member of her excellent service you can join for 100 Euros per year I think.  Well worth the money.

Best of luck with it and let us know how you get on.

Justin

One of my clients had a similar incident with Endesa. Their bills had originally been on average around 60 euros a month then they got a bill for 1100. It turned out that Endesa had not actually been reading the meters for over a year. They had been estimating them , although the bills showed as "real" readings. My clients had no option but to pay it in installments. Unfortunately these electric companies seem to do what they want and like yourselves most clients cannot actually get to their meters to check each month!

Thanks for the replies.

Will be going back on the phone tonight to find out if anything has been sorted.

I still can't see how the bill can be as high as the house has been empty until we moved in as they have just recently been built.

Luckily enough we don't keep a lot of money in that account so when they tried to take the money it was refused and the bank has stopped the direct debit.

                                                  Thanks again.

Rang wife tonight who had been to see the president.He didn't have a key but was a great help.

Without going into to much detail the padlock somehow fell off  and they were able to take a reading off our meter.

READING ON OUR PAPER BILL: 7537

READING ON OUR METER:1678

So hopefully  this will finally be resolved tomorrow.

                                                               Thanks for your help.

 Endessa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I try not to get too cross when I hear that name.  They are suing me for someone else´s electricity.  When I try to call their lawyers they are rude, and tell me to pay Madam, and then hang up the phone.  Last year I rented an apartment, I moved out, we informed Endessa so did the management company, the new people moved in, we arranged to have the meter at our new rented apartment changed into our name (reason for doing so we were cut off in 2007 because our land lord had failed to pay a previous bill) we were paying for electricity at our new apartment.  Then the cash started to disappear out of my bank account for electricity for 2 apartments, our bank gave us the money back and we cancelled the Direct Debit.  The tenancy came to an end at the 2nd apartment and we moved to a bigger place, hence though the bills still kept coming, but not for the new property (as the owner unbeknown to us was storing these up for a later day).  We wrote to E and we rang them up, they assured us that the accounts were cancelled (this was end of October 2008) anyway I started to get bills again for 2 properties, the 1st was for 500€ + and the 2nd not quite as much, E were convinced that we had never cancelled either accounts.  Then the solicitors letters arrived, or should I say debt collectors, I instigated a lawyer who told me that if I paid the bill for the last apartment, E would then leave me alone, and I would hear no more of them, apparently they gave some feeble excuse as to why they had not cancelled this account with immediate effect, technician felt sick, or something as daft.  So being a mug I paid the money just to get rid of them and most importantly to stop them taking legal action & freezing my bank account, as this is what they do.  Anyway going back to the first property (which we had cancelled) they were continuing to supply electricity to the new tenants, but in the hope that I would pay.  My lawyer emailed me to tell me that E wanted more money from me despite having previously agreed to put this matter to bed, this time they were after 525€ the new tenants had done a runner, the landlord would not help, so therefore I had no choice but to pay up.  I was not prepared to, so my lawyers presented a case, E said but that does not matter because we were never told, what a load of tripe........We even went down to their offices in Marbella and waited around like peasants for them to tell us that we need to pay this bill to stop the court action.  We even supplied them with our new tenancy contracts, plus other important documentation, were they interested NO...... I expect that they are still trying to chase me, I no longer live in Spain, it made me ill, everything is so difficult, it is as if they deliberately set out to make life difficult for ex pats, they can now chase the new tenants and the land lord, I am not responsible for someone else´s electricity, so they can for me swivel on my little finger.  They use extremist bully boy tactics to intimidate innocent people, and this must stop.  If I can help anyone then please ask.

 At least Jesse James wore a mask. I am afraid that the Spanish regard the expat community as a rather fat and stupid cash cow to be milked. Endesa, Telefonica, they all work on the same principal, you will pay up because it is too much hassle to take them on. There is always the threat of embargoing your bank account, so I suspect that the advice given shortly to the expat community will be to open bank accounts in any country bar the one you are living in!

 This saga goes on and on.  The tale below is only a rough outline. My lawyer has since told me that everything has to be written in tablets of stone before anything will be closed off - and that E have the last word on the matter.  That was certainly the case when I rang their debt collectors who were rude, curt and downright dismissive of me.

I could pay them the 525€ just to settle the matter, but why should I pay for someone else´s electricity??  I have already done that with the second apartment, I paid a standing charge for 3 months due to their incompetence.  Enough said.

Telefonica are also another body to watch out for a similar horror story - rang them up to say I was moving, needed to cancel the account in the apartment, and switch over to a new apartment..... Did it happen no.  But what did happen was this, I continued to get the phone bills, the money kept on going out of the bank, the phone bills still arrive in my in-box despite having told them seriously months ago that I no longer needed this line.  On checking the on line bills someone is making calls from that number, I told them that I was leaving Spain, were they interested? NO.  They connected a line for me at the new apartment, collected the money every month from our bank account, yet every month around the same time we were disconnected, this was around the time of the pay cycle.  When we rang them and eventually got through to an agent we were told that we were not with them but another supplier, if there is another good supplier on the coast then please do let me know who they are.  We were not with another supplier, why would we be, we were paying Telefonica..... No phone, no internet, yet money leaving our bank account each month.  

Sometime before we were due to leave Spain we rang our friends and told them that we needed to settle the account (the new one - not the old one) and they said they would send us a letter, the letter never arrived, we even rang them up again and again, but to no avail.  

I hate to say it but these problems have left a very sour taste in my mouth and a very negative opinion of Spain, I had hoped that I could have lived there happily, and without fuss for many years, but everything I turned my hand to was met with problems, down to finding work, there was none.  I tried my hand at being self employed, I earned 180€ a month, i had to give the government €264 pcm for social security, I can´t say I miss it.  My savings have more or less disappeared, and I now wish that I would have stayed with the devil I knew.

 This saga goes on and on.  The tale below is only a rough outline. My lawyer has since told me that everything has to be written in tablets of stone before anything will be closed off - and that E have the last word on the matter.  That was certainly the case when I rang their debt collectors who were rude, curt and downright dismissive of me.

I could pay them the 525€ just to settle the matter, but why should I pay for someone else´s electricity??  I have already done that with the second apartment, I paid a standing charge for 3 months due to their incompetence.  Enough said.

Telefonica are also another body to watch out for a similar horror story - rang them up to say I was moving, needed to cancel the account in the apartment, and switch over to a new apartment..... Did it happen no.  But what did happen was this, I continued to get the phone bills, the money kept on going out of the bank, the phone bills still arrive in my in-box despite having told them seriously months ago that I no longer needed this line.  On checking the on line bills someone is making calls from that number, I told them that I was leaving Spain, were they interested? NO.  They connected a line for me at the new apartment, collected the money every month from our bank account, yet every month around the same time we were disconnected, this was around the time of the pay cycle.  When we rang them and eventually got through to an agent we were told that we were not with them but another supplier, if there is another good supplier on the coast then please do let me know who they are.  We were not with another supplier, why would we be, we were paying Telefonica..... No phone, no internet, yet money leaving our bank account each month.  

Sometime before we were due to leave Spain we rang our friends and told them that we needed to settle the account (the new one - not the old one) and they said they would send us a letter, the letter never arrived, we even rang them up again and again, but to no avail.  

I hate to say it but these problems have left a very sour taste in my mouth and a very negative opinion of Spain, I had hoped that I could have lived there happily, and without fuss for many years, but everything I turned my hand to was met with problems, down to finding work, there was none.  I tried my hand at being self employed, I earned 180€ a month, i had to give the government €264 pcm for social security, I can´t say I miss it.  My savings have more or less disappeared, and I now wish that I would have stayed with the devil I knew.

Sensible -  I posted on your other thread though just had to mention about Telefonica also! My parents in law moved apartments in January. They were renting so with the previous line they contacted telefonica and informed then that it had to go back into the owners name and bank account details. Telefonica said this was confirmed so my parents in law took out a new contract under their name at the new apartment. All was going well until about 6 months later they were cut off. Their bills were up to date so they contacted telefonica who informed then that there were unpaid bills totalling 150 euros for the other line! Telefonica had not actually changed the title holder although they had changed the bank account details back to the owner. The owner had not been paying the bills but as the title holder was my mother in law she was responsible!! We faxed the tenancy documents over to telefonica and went in person to our local office but they still claimed that my mother in law was responsible for the bills and her line would not be reconnected until the bills were paid. As she needs the line for work she eventually had to give in and pay which is disgusting as they were not her calls or line but they have got you!

On another note a friend of mine moved and got a phone line installed with a new number. However she soon realised no one could get through to her so she called herself from her landline to her mobile and the number that showed up was completey different. She contacted telefonica who were adament that she was registered to the other number despite her calling from that number and that they couldn't help her as the number she had show up on her mobile belonged to someone else!!! Eventually after 2 weeks it was sorted.

I honestly think that if you told these stories to some back home they would swear you were making them up!!!

Good luck everyone with Endesa and as I mentioned on the other recent post about Sevillanas problems I would advise people to pay in cash and avoid giving them your card details over the phone.