Are You Paying High Energy Bills in Spain?

Javier Rodríguez July 5, 2019 0 Advices & useful topics

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Best Advice: use an agency to analyse your energy bills and find the best “comercializadora” (marketer) around Spain

Stop Paying High Energy Bills
in Spain: A Few Advices

As everywhere, especially during the hardest seasons of the year (Winter & Summer), you could start paying high energy bills in Spain. Find out some possible reasons and advices to solve it soon.

Some customers find that their energy bill is too high for what they actually consume. The high amount of the receipt may be due to the following causes specified below:

Some companies offer discounts that have a fixed period of time and after this will be charged the normal price.
The consumer pays both a high power term and a very high consumption.
In the winter season, the energy bill is high, due to the few hours of sunlight and also to the use of electric heating in the house. In the summer season, rather the opposite: we use the aircond too long.
Sometimes, there is an error in the electric counter, which the marketer will have to correct.

What do I pay on a Spanish Energy Bill?

The energy bill is composed of three sections: the power term, the energy term and taxes or services. The power term is an amount that will be fixed, that is, the amount that will have to be paid will be the same since the calculation does not change.

This calculation is made by multiplying the number of kW of power contracted by the price of the kW contracted in the tariff. Then, there is energy term that is calculated through the energy consumed in the billing period and the price of kWh.

And finally, there are the taxes and services that are charges related to taxes and services contracted by the client, in which are, for example, the rent of the meters, the electricity tax by the Government, the services contracted by the client, the discounts through the offers that the client has and the VAT that is added to the final amount of the energy bill.

What does “Consumo estimado” mean?

In this case, it is likely that the technicians of the Distributor, in charge of carrying out the reading, would have been unable to access the electric counter.

In the event that the person in charge of reading can not access the measuring equipment, they must leave a notice specifying the contact information and the stipulated period so that the user can facilitate the reading of their equipment. If the consumer does not respond to the notice, the Distributor may estimate the consumption, with the obligation to perform an annual regularization based on real readings.

How to save money on the energy bill?

First, be sure that if it is a mistake of the marketer, the customer has to contact as soon as possible to know the problem or the origin of the error.

Second, in the event that the offer of the rate has been completed, the client can change the rate at any time and free of charge, so that he can compare the different rates that the marketer has according to the consumption made .

And third, if the customer is not satisfied with the marketer (Endesa, Iberdrola, Gas Natural…), he can change it whenever he wants without having to pay costs for it.

Customers should know that there are several savings measures to reduce the amount of the energy bill. Some of the aspects that must take into account to reduce the amount of light will be the following:

Reduce the electric power contracted to try to save on the receipt of light.
If the discounts have been completed it would be convenient to use a light comparator, which looks for the cheapest offers and specifies with which company the change would be made.
Carry out saving measures to reduce consumption in the home, such as the following:

1. Avoid turning on the lights when there is still sunlight.
2. Use energy saving light bulbs in the home.
3. Unplug appliances when they are not being used.
4. Your electronic devices can continue to waste electricity even when you turn them off. When you press the power off button, many devices – such as televisions, DVRs, or satellite connection boxes – switch to standby mode.
5. Hire a rate with hourly discrimination if more than 33% of the consumption is done in the night hours.