Electricity Supply & Heating? - Page 2

Hi David.

The electric companies sell contracts according to the power requested; the higher the power, the more expensive the package, then your consumption will be added. Take into consideration that from April, you no longer need to heat, so you will no longer need a high flat rate. I live in a country house, and in summer I consume 3 times less electricity than in winter. I use a wood stove that generates 11,000 watts of power, it's powerful enough to heat 100m2, and cost me around 15€ for wood per week, cold weeks only. In the bedrooms, 350watt radiators would be sufficient for the night. As for your current electrical installation, I can advise you. I have done electrical installations in country houses, and most of them are 40 years old or more, not always suitable for nowdays. With a pics of the fuse box, and the cables coming out of it, I can give you an opinion. Generally, the old electrical installations support max 3500watt, but it is necessary to see how they will be distributed in the house.

3500watt is enough. If you want to increase the power, the electrical company will send a technician to check that your electrical installation is suitable for the power you require.

Hi David,

British people are used to virtually unlimited power which doesn’t exist in lots of other countries. In Italy, where I lived for 40 years, most meters cater for 3kW and people learn how to manage that. Just like in Spain. It is fairly easy to upgrade your electricity unless you are in an old flat, in which case lots of inspections may take place as the building’s cables may not support a large power increase. 

Living in the campo I was able to upgrade to 5kW, which I can manage efficiently. I have a 3-bedroom house, with 2 kitchens in use with gas hobs but electric ovens, 1 solar panel for hot water in most of the house but an electric water heater in my en-suite and a pool to run. I use all energy-saving light bulbs, solar lights around the outside areas. I had a 12kW pellet stove installed which is reasonably efficient but I do need an electric fire in the bathroom in the winter! 

You must however have the assistance of a qualified and registered electrician who will carry out the rewiring with new, suitable cables. He must fill in the electric company’s form with all relevant details. Think carefully before requesting anything over 5kW power supply as it will be expensive. 

If you can invest in photovoltaic solar panels, do so, you will save money in the long run with the current power supply increases.

Hi again,

You are going to have to learn how to get by on a lower power supply. 

I have 5kW but some people survive on 2kW so it’s just a question of not having everything on at once! My neighbours asked for an upgrade for years before they got it last year. As my daughter lives in an annex, I am running 2 kitchens with all appliances, a pool, and the usual home appliances (obviously with energy-saving light bulbs) on 5kW with no problem at all. 

They do not always accept higher upgrades for homes.

Good luck,

Jan

Hi Victor, We spoke a few weeks ago about the electricity supply at our house in the campo near Villena. You said that you might be able to advise me if I were able to get a picture of the electricity  box. Our neighbour has sent me a couple of pics. I don't know whether they will show you what you need to see but I've attached them. 

I guess what I'm trying to work out is - I think we're on the lowest possible power rating (3.4kw?). The fuses pop when we all use things (there are 5 of us) and it's extremely cold in the winter. We have a log burner, but I suspect it's not fit for purpose, and some portable gas heaters. I'm wondering if the first thing to do would be to increase our power rating (to 5kw or 7 kw?) so that we have more heating options. Storage heaters sound interesting.

Any thoughts and advise would be very gratefully received. David 

Hi David

Here you see the vaious power offered by iberdrola : https://selectra.es/energia/companias/iberdrola/potencia-contratada

As many said here, with 3,5 Kwatt it should be enought, and with this, you have to manage the used of electric machine, example if the water-heater is 1,4Kw, your radiator 2Kw, so you can't use anymore electric material. You have to manage the used, not in the same moment. A washing-machine is generally around 1,2kw and a pump for water-pool is around 1.4kw.

I don't see correctly the datas in the 2 pics, but it seems that the main cable coming in the house is a 4mm cable, and I don't see clearly, but the cable going in the fuse-box seems to be a 2.5mm.

The 4mm cable can support 5,7kw and the 2.5mm support 3,7kw. If you want from iberdrola a 3.5Kw, better to have the main cable in 4mm.

The fuses with 10A is generally for lights with a cable of 1.5mm, and a fuse of 16A is for electrical outlet with cable of 2.5mm.

One day, in a country house, I found that the ground/earth cable was missing int the electrical outlet of all the rooms, this is a point to verify in your electrical installation.

In resum, take in mind that with 3.5Kw for your full house is sufficient, but you'll need to take care to not use in the same time your powerfull electric machines. Ask iberdrola or your electrical company how much Kw you have now (or see your personal profil in iberdrola web-site, or any contract you have with them).

Regards

Hi Victor,

Thanks very much for the information. Very interesting and helpful. David

Hi Kim

We also live in a campo near Villena and are currently running a house on 2kw!  We are waiting for iberdrola to upgrade but to do so, we are having to pay for new posts etc which in total is going to cost circa 5k.  this wasn't our first or highest quote and it includes removing the main cable  junction that feeds us and our neighbours from our house.   However, we are managing with this and actually for you, 4-5kw is not low in this area!  One thing you can change is if you have a gas cooker and an electric kettle,  change to a gas kettle.  how many times do you put your electric kettle on, only to walk away and have to reboil - 3 kw a time?  at least with a gas kettle, the whistle won't stop til you turn it off :)   We also changed all of our bulbs to low energy and do our wash on cold as the spanish washing products are designed for this. (and yes it does get it clean)   i run my office from home without any issue.

 if you have the budget, to resolve your electricity issues, have you thought of upping it with the use of  solar?

As for heating, how insulated are you, what windows do you have?  it may be that your log burner isn't suitable but check the seals are all good (changing can make a huge difference).  You can get other types of central heating - a boiler that takes wood pellets, oil or bottled gas are all available but not cheap.  

Hi Sue, Thanks so much for your message. Very interesting. When you mention the "seals" are you talking about the windows or the wood burner? Both are probably bad!

Hi Kelvin, I'm just re-reading all the messages on the subject of heating and am interested in what you said about a propane combi-boiler central heating system. How much would that cost to install (with a 1000 litre tank)? David

Hi David

I did (most of) our original heating system myself, in 2019.

Here is a thread from late 2019, in which I detailed the costs. In total, it cost me around 4,300 Eu. I have friends who paid someone to do it and they paid 5,500 Eu. 

Gas Central heating - General Almoradí discussion - Almoradí forum - Costa Blanca forum in the Alicante province of Spain

Our house has since been renovated, so only around half of my original work survives, but it worked well.

The renovation included a 1000 litre propane tank, underground gas pipe, relocation of our boiler etc., so the actual cost of the tank was lost in the overall figure.

Before committing to the renovation work, I obtained a separate quote to supply/install/commission a tank for around 500 Eu.

The way it works, in our case, is we don't own the tank. The tank costs are factored into the price we pay for the gas refills (we have a long-term contract).

Our gas costs a bit more per litre than buying it in the small 11.5 kg bottles, but less then the tall 34 kg bottles.

That extra cost is the price of convenience.

... We have also just had our electricity supply upgrade. We now have 7kw.

Our electrician submitted his papers and the supply upgrade request to Iberdrola, who emailed us a new contract to print/sign/scan/return, and we had a confirmation email a few days later.

The pre-tax base costs are now:

Supply costs (standing charge)

- peak Eu 36.869137/kW/year

- off peak 1.672330/kW/year (excluding metering equipment rental)

Consumption costs

- promotion Eu 0.139718/kWh

- non promotion Eu 0.203876/kWh

I think this means that our standing charge, before taxes etc., will average Eu 22.49/month (it was Eu 11.08 when we had a total capacity of 3.45 kW). So ... twice the capacity = twice the standing charge.

The unit cost of power (per kw/hour, on peak and off peak) has not changed.

I am comparing with our February 2022 bill.