Electricity

Spain’s main electricity suppliers are Iberdrola and Grupo Endes. There is a Cooperative supplier in Albatera

Clients can now choose which company is to be their supplier by law! However it is not quite so easy to” choose” in some areas.

Immediately after buying a property you must sign a contract with the company who will supply you. Your solicitor or agent will arrange this on your behalf, make sure though, that all the previous bills are paid up to date. This is a job for your solicitor when making all the checks. 

Power supply

In Spain it is mostly 220 volts AC frequency 50 cycles, some areas still have 110 and possibly dual voltage still of 110 and 220 in the same.

All new builds now are 220 and all homeowners are now encouraged to switch to 220

Wiring Standards

We have all seen the wiring in Spain and it looks frightening in some places especially by UK standards. If you buy an old property it may be necessary to obtain a boletin from a qualified electrician stating that it meets with safety standards. If you buy a rural property there are usually public guarantees of services such as electric (water/sewage/telephone/etc is unlikely in some areas) and if you are on mains you are not obliged to pay for installation only for connection!

Plugs Fuses and bulbs

Depending on the country from where you are coming from you will need new plugs (enchufes). There are often a shortage of electrical points in Spanish homes so multiple adapters can prove useful. (Spaniards don’t seem to have nearly as many electrical appliances as the English are used to)

Small low wattage appliances i.e. lamps must always be used with an earth and for appliances such as fires, kettles, washing machines, and fridges etc. these plugs should all be used with earth sockets. Bad wiring can be fatal! Have yours checked and upgraded if necessary and take this into account as a hidden cost if you are buying an older property.

Electric bulbs are of the screw-in variety so if you have lamps of the bayonet style fitting it would be useful to bring with you some spares, although you can buy adaptors

Power Cuts

Power cuts can be frequent in some areas and you should always have candles and a torch handy ( we had approximately 6 power cuts last year mostly of a short duration but the odd one a good few hours) some were just our fuses blowing and our house had been "rewired" huh! to someones standard I think his name was John Wayne?

Some of these cuts are only seconds but long enough to crash your computer, believe me I know! so make sure you have a surge protector fitted if not to your whole house at least to important appliances, they are all expensive to replace here. This will avoid any permanent damage and if you rely heavily on computers (as I do) it is advisable to have back up like a battery pack in some areas but not normally necessary in towns.

If the power on your property does keep tripping out it may be advisable to have the power supply upgraded.

Costs & Bills

Electricity is generally cheaper in Spain but depends on your supplier and you may not need as much in the way of heating but had you thought about the cooling! Just as important!

Electric is billed every two months and it is easier to pay by direct debit especially if you live in a rural area and may not receive post easily. 

Gas

In Spain mains gas is only available in major cities at the moment.

Bottles of gas can be bought at many different outlets including petrol stations for around 12 euros per bottle. Initially though you pay a deposit for a contract which is drawn up after a safety inspection of the appliance to be used fitted in your home (in theory though as this didn’t happen to us, it is law thought so you have to comply with the 5 year testing)

Always make sure you have spare bottles as they have a habit of running out at the most inopportune moments. Five or six bottles last us a year with only a hob on gas, a bbq and two gas boilers now. We changed two out of three boilers to gas as its cheaper than electricity and there is less strain on an already overloaded power supply! The gas hob though can be very useful when there is a power cut because we can still boil-up the water for a cuppa when the supply is off.

Water

Or Rather lack of it!

This is a major concern here in Spain (made worse by the ever increasing number of foreigners living in Spain) and the price we have to pay for all those warm hot long sunny days!

Spain as a whole does have enough water but it's the distribution which is normally the problem

You can though help reduce this and reduce costs by collecting and storing rainwater to use for watering plants and flushing toilets along with recycling water from washing machines. They do use a frightening amount of water, as seen by me, when I had to empty the washer into a container when plumbing works were being carried out, I would never have believed so much water was used for one cycle!

It is common in Spain if you live in the “campo” to have a tank fitted that refills itself just for back up when the pressure is naturally low or turned low because of shortages. If you have this it is also sometimes necessary to have a motor fitted for when there is also low pressure, this happens sometimes at the weekends and fiestas when there is a sudden surge in residents in the campo.

After buying a property you should arrange for the water contract to be registered into your name and check that all previous bills have been paid, you could be liable if not! You can do this at the town Hall if it is not done for you when you sort everything else out at the Notary.

Costs

Water is a local matter in Spain and this means that connection and costs can vary considerably, bills are generally quarterly)

Drink or not?

Many people come to Spain and do not think it is safe to drink, cook with, wash in or even clean their teeth with. Opinions vary widely as to why they think this but here are some facts that may help you to decide.

There are around 40,000,000 people living in Spain, both foreigners and Spaniards and yet very few ever suffer with water-bourne stomach complaints according to an article in a local magazine. The various water companies are also ISO 9001 certified which means that they comply with all Spanish EU and world health organisation regulations on safe drinking water. Multiple checks are carried our each week on PH levels, colour, metal, bacteria and everything else that is in the water to confirm it’s safety. Some companies even check the smell.

If you live in the campo where a large amount of the supply is agricultural you have a choice whether you drink it. If you live in the towns or city or urbanisation then you are safe to drink the water

Sewage

For many foreigners, my family included, around 1/3 of the population is not yet connected to a sewage treatment system with sewage going straight into the ground, rivers or sea. In some areas, ours included, there are no sewerage plants and sewage is drained directly into cess pits (pozos negros), septic tanks (fosas septicas) and holding tanks which are emptied by tankers.

We have ours emptied once a year and the last cost for this was 70.00 euros. the first time we had this emptied they saw us coming and charged us 270!!!! How often it is empltied is obviously dependant upon usage and if you are a large family with lots of visitors, as we are, once a year it is! These can cause problems in the summer months because of the heat if the tank is not emptied frequently.

You should not really use toilet paper or bleach down the toilets if you have a septic tank although we do use paper, obviously if you don’t then you won't need to empty so often

You can also help with the breaking down cycle by feeding the toilets with yeast once a month for example.

Read more about these issues on this section of my website

 Heating and Air conditioning

Believe it or not but northern and central Spain can be quite cold in the winter months. However, on the other hand in some regions the temperature can reach up to 40 degrees

If you are used to a warm house in winter you will almost certainly miss central heating

Although properties are built to withstand the heat you may wish to install air conditioning. If you do, please be aware that if you suffer from Asthma or respiratory problems it can have a negative effect even though you may think you need it at the time. Try not to sleep with it on if you can help it, you could just use it to cool the room down before going to bed!

Units can cost anything from 200 euros to 2000 euros depending on size, size of rooms & quality.

Many people fit ceiling fans which cost around 50-100 euros but to be honest can just end up sometimes just blowing the warm air around . So make sure it is a high speed, powerful fan if this is what you decide.

TV’s

The standards for TV reception in Spain are different from some other countries and it’s possible that a British TV will not work in Spain unless it is played through a DVD or Spanish video. If you subscribe to either sky TV or what’s known as microwave TV it will work as it plays through the receiver

In other words if you are going to watch English TV and not solely Spanish then it will work If you want to watch Spanish TV and it is not coming through your UK tV suppliers receiver then you will probably not have either picture and or sound! Note that most appliances e.g., TV’s made for 240 volts will function with 220.