Monthly Electricity Bills.

Throughout Spain electricity consumption will now be charged on a monthly basis, regardless of the supplier (generally Iberdrola or Endesa).

A new law was approved by the Ministry of Tourism and Industry in September 2008, which came into effect in November 2008 and from now on customers who have contracted up to 10 kw of power will receive their bill monthly, instead of every two months.

The electricity meter will continue to be read every two months signifying that the bills will alternate between being actual readings and estimations.

How will the bill be estimated?

If an actual reading is available for the same period of the previous year this information will be used to make a calculation of the average daily consumption by dividing last year’s two monthly bill by the number of days included. Once the average daily usage has been established this will be multiplied by the number of days to be billed for the one month period this year (depending on how many days in the month) and an estimated bill will be issued.

If no data from the previous year is available but the customer can provide a meter reading the reading will be used. If there is no previous data and no reading only the standing charge will be made. Any difference caused by a low estimated bill or a high estimated bill will be regulated in the next monthly bill, which will be an actual reading.                              

Please bear in mind that one will always have to pay a minimum standing charge that covers the meter rental as well as fee for the wattage contracted.
The usual domestic wattage is 3.3kw or 5.5kw and the charge is approximately 5 euros or 7 euros respectively per month. This amount added to the few cents charged for the meter rental and the V.A.T. result in a bill of between 7 and 12 euros per month, even when the property is empty and there is no electricity consumption. This, however, is not a new situation; the same principal was applied when the bills were bi-monthly.