Iberdrola v Octopus Energy

Herefordjack wrote on Thu Feb 5, 2026 6:42pm:

Who do people who have solar panels recommend? I was with Iberdrola pre panels, but switched to Naturgy after installation, at the recommendation of the panel company. I've been less than impressed with Naturgy, and am now thinking of Octopus. 

Although they give less than others for excess electricity you supply to the grid, this tends to be a minor factor in the overall bill, and their rates for power and potencia are lower than the others....

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marcliff wrote on Thu Feb 5, 2026 6:11pm:

No idea but I asked Octopus and they came up with 47 euro a month or 13 euro cheaper than my Iberdrola bill. Trouble is, that amount didn't change when I asked for the tax rate so i had to add the tax and the contracted power and the bill, using my Iberdrola usage for January, would have come to ...

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...4 euro more than my Iberdrola bill.

The only thing gone up with my bills has been the tax after the government put IVA back to 21% but that would  be the same no matter which company you use.

We have had conversations like this many, many times over the past couple of weeks. It would be nice to compare those who have moved with those who have stayed with Iberdrola. We are a 3 bed, 2 bath semi detached with two of us living here permanently and several lots of visitors throughout the year. My average bill last year, on 5.75kw contracted. was 55 euro a month. Now IVA is up it is 60 a month with Jan, and a fair amount of heating, was 62.55 euro. 

My Jan bill

ENERGY.............................................................................50,55 €

REGULATORY CHARGES ..............................................0,36 €

SERVICES AND OTHER ITEMS.....................................0,75 €

VAT.......................................................................................10,85 €

TOTAL 62,51€

On-peak 5,75 kW x 28 days x 0,091996 €/kW day 14,81 €

Off-Peak 5,75 kW x 28 days x 0,002757 €/kW day 0,44 €

Total power amounts to 22/12/2025 15,25 €

Energy consumed Non-promotional hours 128 kWh x 0,202904 €/kWh 25,97 €

Promotional hours 75 kWh x 0,091327 €/kWh 6,85 €

Total energy amounts to 22/12/2025 32,82 €

REGULATORY CHARGES

Fixed funding for subsidised rate 28 days x 0,012742 €/day 0,36 €

Electricity tax 5,11269632 % s/48,43 € 2,48 €

TOTAL ENERGY 50,91 €

SERVICES AND OTHER ITEMS

Meter equipment rental 28 days x 0,02663 €/day 0,75 €

TOTAL SERVICES AND OTHER ITEMS 0,75 €

TOTAL AMOUNT 51,66 €

IVA 21 % s/51,66 € 10,85 €

TOTAL 62,51 €

How do those on other companies compare? This is the choose your own 8 hour plan but, as you can see, we don't let that rule us but just use the washing machine, dishwasher and water heating in the promotional hours. If it gets hot, we put the aircon regardless of time of day. If cold we put the heating on regardless of time of day as we do with everything else.

George55 wrote on Thu Feb 5, 2026 7:04pm:

This is going somewhat off-topic for the thread but did you use Naturgy to do the install or someone local?

I'm contemplating the whole set-up together with battery and fall-over (should we have another April-25 event) but unsure as to installers. (There is one very local to us but no-one on here has ever mentioned them when the discussion has come up previously)....

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In terms of my Iberdrola contract, I must have been late to the party compared to Marcliff as my Iberdrola 8 hour tariff has higher standing charges and higher rates (although not meaingfully so and the usage is similar for the same size of house 3 bed 2 bath).

marcliff wrote on Thu Feb 5, 2026 6:11pm:

No idea but I asked Octopus and they came up with 47 euro a month or 13 euro cheaper than my Iberdrola bill. Trouble is, that amount didn't change when I asked for the tax rate so i had to add the tax and the contracted power and the bill, using my Iberdrola usage for January, would have come to ...

Read more...

...4 euro more than my Iberdrola bill.

The only thing gone up with my bills has been the tax after the government put IVA back to 21% but that would  be the same no matter which company you use.

We have had conversations like this many, many times over the past couple of weeks. It would be nice to compare those who have moved with those who have stayed with Iberdrola. We are a 3 bed, 2 bath semi detached with two of us living here permanently and several lots of visitors throughout the year. My average bill last year, on 5.75kw contracted. was 55 euro a month. Now IVA is up it is 60 a month with Jan, and a fair amount of heating, was 62.55 euro. 

My Jan bill

ENERGY.............................................................................50,55 €

REGULATORY CHARGES ..............................................0,36 €

SERVICES AND OTHER ITEMS.....................................0,75 €

VAT.......................................................................................10,85 €

TOTAL 62,51€

On-peak 5,75 kW x 28 days x 0,091996 €/kW day 14,81 €

Off-Peak 5,75 kW x 28 days x 0,002757 €/kW day 0,44 €

Total power amounts to 22/12/2025 15,25 €

Energy consumed Non-promotional hours 128 kWh x 0,202904 €/kWh 25,97 €

Promotional hours 75 kWh x 0,091327 €/kWh 6,85 €

Total energy amounts to 22/12/2025 32,82 €

REGULATORY CHARGES

Fixed funding for subsidised rate 28 days x 0,012742 €/day 0,36 €

Electricity tax 5,11269632 % s/48,43 € 2,48 €

TOTAL ENERGY 50,91 €

SERVICES AND OTHER ITEMS

Meter equipment rental 28 days x 0,02663 €/day 0,75 €

TOTAL SERVICES AND OTHER ITEMS 0,75 €

TOTAL AMOUNT 51,66 €

IVA 21 % s/51,66 € 10,85 €

TOTAL 62,51 €

How do those on other companies compare? This is the choose your own 8 hour plan but, as you can see, we don't let that rule us but just use the washing machine, dishwasher and water heating in the promotional hours. If it gets hot, we put the aircon regardless of time of day. If cold we put the heating on regardless of time of day as we do with everything else.

Stephanie86 wrote on Fri Feb 6, 2026 2:36pm:

This reply will not be very popular, but some years ago, as I have explained in other posts, I started to find the 8 hour night plan very inconvenient. We also have piped underfloor heating, run by an external heat pump on a timer and thermostat, and all our hot water is a separate external heat ...

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...pump. We are with Iberdrola. We had 5.75 potencia, and have a two bed two bath campo property. We live here full time.

So I made a spreadsheet of the previous year’s charges, broken down to daily charges for supply and actual usage. I then entered what the charges would have been had we been on a flat rate, ie the same prices 24/7. The result was interesting, in that it would have been slightly cheaper to have been on the flat rate due to the difference in daily charges, which were less on the flat rate. So I promptly  changed the contract online, to the 24/7 rate, to very little noticeable cost differential.

However, recently, partly due to the appalling weather we have had, and resultant low temperatures, and the incredibly high winds in the campo here, we have experienced several outages at very inconvenient hours. The last time when I contacted Iberdrola to sort this out they stated that it was due to exceeding the permitted potencia. As we have used and done nothing different to always, I remain baffled. However, I called our electrician, fully qualified and registered Spanish tradesman, who has had our potencia increased to 7.25. There were handling charges for this, obviously, but not outrageous, and although I have not really had time to examine the bill in detail, it does not seem to be overly extravagant, given that for several months we run the underfloor heating twice a day. I refuse to live in misery and be cold at our age!

My opinion is that one may save a few euros by changing supplier, but unlikely to be huge amounts, and personally, I have so far found the ‘plans’ to be deeply inconvenient and not noticeably more economical.

Badger1234 wrote on Sat Feb 7, 2026 11:08am:

I'm perplexed.

If you're using Heat pumps for your heating, in a 2 bed property, I don't see why you need 5.75, let alone 7.25.

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That's a serious amount of power, given that most people run on the standard 3.3 without a problem. Was there a particular item that tripped your supply?

I'm thinking the hob here.

If I didn't know better, I'd be wondering if you're running a large, er, greenhouse lol.