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How your Electricity Bill is calculated Changes from 1st June 2021

By May 27, 2021No Comments

With more and more renewable sources of energy, everyone needs to match times of consumption to times of supply.

The new method of charging for electricity helps with that, as the fixed price for power goes down and the variable part goes up; that is, you pay more for the actual electricity you use.

In every electricity bill, no matter who it’s from, there are Government fixed costs of –

  1. Access Fee – pay the costs of maintaining the electricity grid and transporting the electricity to your home.
  2. Taxes – Special tax on electricity and VAT.

As of 1st June 2021, due to the use of ‘smart’ digital meters, the actual amount of electricity can be charged in four time sections.

  1. All 24 hours (2.0 TD) – A single rate for the first 15kW.
  2. Low (Valle) – Monday to Friday, between Midnight and 08:00, and all day on weekends and national holidays.
  3. Middle (Llano) – Monday to Friday, between 08:00 and 10:00, between 14:00 and 18:00, and between 22:00 and 24:00. – 1.5 times the Low Rate
  4. Peak (Punta) – Monday to Friday, between 10:00 and 14:00 and between 18:00 and 22:00. – The most expensive. 3.75 time the Low Rate

At present, every consumer has agreed a Potencia of their supply. Potencia is the minimum amount of electricity you have agreed to Electricity pylon at sunsetpay each month, whether it is used or not. The lowest is not necessarily the cheapest as use of electricity more than that costs more. This is where study of previous bills will show how much the peak is on average and so the Potencia should be fixed near that. The new contracts are allowing two different Potenciasduring the day, so that, for example, if you use very little at the peak rate, you can fix a lower Potencia for that time, whilst having a higher Potencia during the rest of the day.

There will be different charges according to the calendar seasons, with Low (April, May, October), Medium (June, August, September), Medium High (March, November) and High (January, February, July, December).

Complicating matters, the Balearic and Canary Islands, and the N African enclaves, will have different rates from mainland Spain, being Low (March, April, November), Medium (January, February, December), Medium High (May, October) and High (June, July, August, September).

So, it’s still going to be a mathematician’s delight, but with concentration, it should be possible to reduce the cost. Those studying their invoices, will be able to change their potencia twice during the next 12 months, free of charge.

Note that these rates don’t apply to properties with a Potencia of more than 15kW, which Survey Spain see in many large houses during Building Condition Surveys. If it’s lower than 50kW (what are you growing?), it’s the 3.0TD rate.

Effectively, the Peak (Punta) times are longer, but there is more opportunity to vary the charges as it’s possible to have 6 Potencias during the day. Now that really will need a mathematician to get all of those right, and a very strict regime of use in the house. It’s got to be correct as, if the Potencia is exceeded, the cost can be up to double for the surplus.

These changes are included in the Government’s commitment to a green economy, in which people should recharge batteries of electric cars, etc, overnight, leaving the electricity generated during the day available for regular immediate use.

Different companies, apparently there are 333 throughout Spain, are free to charge different prices for the Low Rate and it will still be possible to shop around for the lowest for you. All electricity invoices will be of two ‘easy to understand’ pages. They will incorporate a QR code that will take you directly to the government rate comparer, so everyone can choose the best rates according to how they live their lives.

If you want to check prices in your postcode this is the link: https://comparador.cnmc.gob.es/ Unfortunately, it’s only in Spanish now, but most of us have a translator on our web browser.

Sources

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