Electricity prices / guest usage rules / price hikes since booking

[Sunbeam]

Just wondering what people are doing to get guests to use electricity responsibly. We can monitor usage via our online app - and can normally afford to overlook slight excesses. But now need to be more vigilant as holidays for this summer were booked before the energy crisis and price hikes.

We've always had Ecosense aircon remote controls which allows us to set the min temperature - with guests not realising that what they see as 18 degrees, is actually 23 degrees. We're thinking of having 25 degrees as the minimum (guests will see 20 degrees).

But lights and fans are left on willy-nilly – not sure if they do this at home and think when they're on holiday they don't have to bother.

We're thinking of drawing people's attention to the energy crisis and that they must be careful with unecessary usage - but phrased in a soft way. They are on holiday and are probably thinking "but they must factor electricity into the cost" - despite holiday booked long before the price hikes.

The fear for us is we're going into the unknown as we can't get info on how much the new "Coste tope del gas RDL 10/2022” levy will be - as it seems to be variable. We've just been notified we will have this applied too future bills. (Endesa, Happy Hours, regulated tariff).

Any thoughts or advice?

[Marks]

First thing to do is have a look for a better rate. Iberdrola have a pretty good rate here:

https://www.iberdrola.es/en/electricity/online-plan

If I had switched to this one last month I would have saved 50% on my electricity use

[Sunbeam]

Hi Marks, Thanks for the reply. The thing is - up to last month our bills were no different to previous years: a fixed tariff, Happy Hours discount of anything between 15 - 35%. The new levy is variable and presumably is applied to all fixed rate/regulated tariffs.

Interested in what owners are doing with regards managing guests' electricity usage - specifically in relation to air-con. It is important that they have sufficient to keep them cool - but not to waste electricity.

We often wonder how many of our guests have taken their children on climate change marches - then go on holiday and think nothing of leaving lights on and fans running when they go out for the day!

[Marks]

The only way to focus minds is to charge separately for electricity. Someone I know did just that, bills halved immediately.

[Vera]

Just had our bill for July usage, an absolute monster and we have solar panels. Night time air con usage must be high, it has been very hot so not surprised.

It also includes,
Mecanismo de Ajuste Real Decreto-Ley 10/2022 121,11€

I found an explanation but I'm none the wiser, anyone up to speed with this?

[CSE]

Just had our bill for July usage, an absolute monster and we have solar panels. Night time air con usage must be high, it has been very hot so not surprised.

It also includes,
Mecanismo de Ajuste Real Decreto-Ley 10/2022 121,11€

I found an explanation but I'm none the wiser, anyone up to speed with this?

What do you not understand? It is a law for price capping. Agreed with the EU and is a sort of opt out of what was agreed with other EU countries. It will be there for 12 months. Unless Sánchez government collapses.
Calculations are complicated that is a certain.

[Vera]

If it is a law for price capping why has it cost me 121€?

That is what i do not understand.

[CSE]

Cannot comment as I cannot see the bill. And I do not what your contract is.
But here are some links which state this is a reduction.
https://www.ga-p.com/publicaciones/inme ... ctricidad/
https://lacorrientecoop.es/nuestras-tar ... o-de-2022/
This from the government and is amongst a lot of other actions taken at the same time.
https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/consejodem ... stros.aspx

[Sunbeam]

I am finding it virtually impossible to find out what this new charge is based on. I have translated numerous articles in Spanish.

Vera - it was announced as a "price cap" on the gas that is used to generate electricity. But am perplexed that it seems more like a levy.

From what I can make out - 50% of the population have bills with a variable rate of electricity and 50% a fixed rate of electricity for the year. Those with the variable rate have been hard hit with the price increases and those on fixed have not been affected.

So in June a new rule was introduced so that those on the fixed rate pay a levy - that is variable based on the price of gas so can't be predicted.

Those on the variable rate should see a reduction but because of the heatwave, even they are experiencing a hike.

For those on the fixed rate the new levy comes into effect when your "rolling" annual contract is renewed. So If it isn't due for renewal till next May - I think you escape the levy, unless it is extended.

We had a levy of €18 added to our July bill - but have a horrible feeling that our "new rolling contract" starts late July - so could possibly be three times that for a full month.

[costa-brava]

Ditto the comments of CSE. The cost of electricity per unit is set by the large companies and passed down to the smaller suppliers. The Governments of Spain and I believe Portugal passed a law forcing the "mayoristas" to adjust their prices of supply downwards. So, unless something weird has happened this is a reduction to your bill. The calculation may be a bit complicated but the idea is much simpler than what they are faffing about with in the UK.

[Sunbeam]

It was announced as a reduction – but for those on a variable rate.

There are many on Facebook pages with a "fixed" rate in the same position as us – and seems it is an additional 15c per kw as there is such a high demand due to having a hotter summer than normal.

We received notification from Endesa that our bill would include a variable additional charge, based in the new regulation - that currently is set to run to May 2023. It seems Vera has had the same experience as us.

Up until now we have not experienced any change to our electricity charge, despite the increase in price.

[CSE]

I found this during LMHs vacation. So it is a bit late.
They try to explain how this all works and yet it still comes across a right mess which is unexplainable.
https://www.huffingtonpost.es/entry/exp ... 615d775d64

[Vera]

We now have our August bill and this includes a charge of €177 on top of our consumption of 850Kwh. We also generated 700Kwh ourselves. Monthly bill is €426, am I the only person paying this?

Naturgy our supplier provided this explantion.

Your invoice includes a new regulated concept that you will see identified as "Adjustment Mechanism of Royal Decree-Law 10/2022” that does not modify the prices that you have signed with us. East the concept of RD-law 10/2022 of May 13 arises, which temporarily establishes a production cost adjustment mechanism to reduce the price of electricity in the wholesale market and serves to finance said mechanism.

[Marks]

No you are not. We paid 122,11€ on 860kwh making the total bill 375,56€. This was for our own house.

[CSE]

Our contract comes under PVPC. Mercado Regulado. It would seem that this additional charge is included in the price perKwH. However, we have to look at a website to see when the cheapest hours are. These fluctuate all day, everyday.
These additional charges are for contracts which have been renewed after 26 April 2022.
The post I gave above is very confusion. Maybe this explanation from Endesa is more helpful. (I am being sarcastic as it is a waste of internet space). https://www.endesa.com/en/advice/about- ... -price-gas
This is another expatiation in Spanish from OCU (Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios)
https://www.ocu.org/vivienda-y-energia/ ... pe-del-gas
The British expat forums are strangely quite about this, where as the Dutch expats are the opposite. This is where the last two links have come from