Iberdrola new gas tax - Page 3

I think we have a misunderstanding. Our bills when I changed to the ‘standard’. rate varied by no more than a few euros from the night time contract to which we previously subscribed. We have sn entirely electric house, no gas, heat pump for hot water running 24/7 and separate heat pump for underfloor heating. Which we aren’t using yet. But our bills during the summer varied slightly between 70 and 80 euros which does not seem unreasonable to me?

Hi Stephanie,

How does the gas surcharge appear on your bill?  I've attached a copy of my bill, on which it doesn't appear, but my neighbours, who are on the Regulated tariff and pay much more than us, don't have it on their bill either 🤔

Kind regards, 

Kim

Kim, I cant bring it up atm as I am in the middle of something, but I have a vague memory of it at the bottom of the bill, relating to the Kwh consumed. I had no idea I was on something called a ‘regulated’ tariff, it was just their standard 24/7 pricing with no elected hours or anything?

Hi

Just to help clear this up. I have no gas from Iberdrola and as I understand it this is a tax from the government to pay for the gas, bought on the open market and used to produce the National electricity. In other words I am paying a tax to buy some of the National gas bought to produce electricity and then having to pay Iberdrola again for that same electricity plus all the add ons (IVA etc) added to the sum of both? Others, who I believe are on a fixed 5 or 6 year tariff, have been told that they do not have to pay it? Is that fair?

My bill:

735 KWh.   Cost.   117 euros

735 KWh.  Gas tax 115 euros

Total bill with add ons. 264 euros

I cannot believe this is legal and also there has been no explanation, warning or notification. The money was just removed from my account. I have a direct debit but did not sign up or know anything about them taking money from my account for this gas tax?

Blame Putin, the illegal war in Ukraine and the diminishing gas supplies from Russia. This was actually notified in the Spanish news, I believe, and helps spread the cost so that the poorest people don’t suffer huge bills they have nohope of paying.

As to it being illegal, it’s an emergency situation which has to be dealt with. Good luck if you want to complain to the government about it!

Hi Kim,

I'm not sure if I heard about this a while ago or not, anyway according to my Iberdrola bill I am on what they call a "VPSC - Regulated Market" contract and the rate I pay per Kwh is determined by one of the three time periods (Peak/Off Peak/Flat). 

Reading through some of the comments on this thread am I to assume that as I'm on the aforementioned contract type I will not be liable for this new Gas Tax ?

Regards

Gary 

Hi Gary,

That's certainly the case with my neighbours.  However, Stephanie said she IS paying the gas surcharge and the explanation on Endesa's website suggests that consumers on the Regulated rate WILL see the gas surcharge added directly to their bills.  Have you received a bill since signing up for your Regulated tariff?

It also says that ALL consumers are paying for the gas cap, either directly or indirectly.  Yet, year on year, I've seen little difference in my own electricity bills; likewise for others on a pre-existing plan, such as Plan Noche.

Despite how the electricity companies say the surcharge is being applied, anecdotal evidence from members seems to suggest inconsistency 🤔

https://www.endesa.com/en/advice/about-your-bill/cap-price-gas

As I've previously advised, no-one should consider changing their contract unless they understand what tariff they are already contracted to, i.e. Regulated, Free Market or Fixed Plan, and how they use their supply.  For example, an elderly neighbour of mine on a Free Market contract noticed an increase in his bills, so (despite me and his Ukrainian builder telling him not to go alone) he went to Iberdrola in Almoradí and asked to change to a 'cheaper' contract.  They switched his tariff from 0.22c per kWh to 0.18c, reducing his electricity charge, but because it's a new contract following the introduction of the gas surcharge, which he was not previously paying, his overall bill has now doubled 😔

Kind regards,

Kim

I am on some "homeowner's association" plan valid till 2025, same price all day, and the gas surcharge has not been applied to my bill. I pay just under 30 EUR when the house is empty and around 70 EUR when we are there.

It transpires that I owe you and other correspondents an apology, Kim. No, we do not seem to be being charged the gas tax, having just dragged up the accounts from the depths of the laptop. This was a confusion on my part because a couple of months ago Iberdrola managed to completely mess up our billing, none of which made any sense and it took them some time and a couple of subsidiary bills to sort it out, The figures were very confusing!

But, FYI, we are not on a ´regulated´tariff, the contract says ´plan estable online´ and effectively is the same price all day and night- The reason being, as I have said before, that we are never going to be organised enough to do laundry at night etc etc and I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it and not for the benefit of iberdrola! I did an exercise before changing the tariff from the night time one, in that I took a year´s bills and carefully calculated what the cost would have been had we had the 24/7 account. The cost differential was minimal, mainly because the kwh charges may be cheaper but the standing charges are  not. And since I changed, the difference in bills has been negligible. But that´s just me, but we have an all electric house with no gas and all the usual appurtenences; but we do have a heat pump for hot water and also a bigger separate heat pump for the underfloor  heating. The latter does of course increase the bill in winter, but both bits of kit are very efficient. Our last bill was under 70 eu which doesn´t strike me as astronomical and we don´t have to mess about with gas bottles!!! Oh joy!!!!

Hi Kim,

Thanks for the comprehensive reply and information.

I haven't had my Iberdrola bill this month yet, I normally see it around the 16th. I always check it for any price increases and/or any unusual elements such as this new gas charge and up till now everything has been normal. Incidentally the cost of all the individual elements have been the same since April this year.

So far this year my average monthly bills have been around €70 for consuming an average of 170 Kwh and that's taking into consideration using the air con more during July/August/September. Since I am not really using it much now my current consumption is 112 Kwh, so that "should" reflect in a lower bill this month right ?

I noticed in the link you sent that this gas tax was applied in June this year as a temporary measure in force until May 2023? so I'm hoping that since I haven't been charged it yet then maybe I won't be. 

I certainly won't be changing tariffs as it seems that (unless I misunderstood) being tempted by a lower cost Kwh I could end up having my bills "doubled"

Apparently this new so called gas tax will show on the bill as "Cost for RDL 10/2022 Gas price cap" so if it does appear on my next bill I will let you know.

I did have mains gas installed (by endesa) a couple of years ago but I only use that for hot water and the bills have never been more than €30 for two months and I'm more than happy with that.

Regards

Gary