Electricity - Getting Connected in Andalucia
By Dee McMath

When you move to Spain, whether you rent or buy, in order to receive electric power to your home, you will need to have a contract, which will most likely be with the Electricity Company - Sevillana-Endesa. Although this is the main company in Andalucia, which has enjoyed a monopoly over the supply of electric energy for many years, this is gradually changing.

Since January of 2003 authorities have allowed the market to open up to other independent companies. Other types of energy, such as Natural Gas are being gradually introduced into Andalucia and companies such as Iberdrola are vying for business. The hope is that with the introduction of competition, the customer should benefit from better service and prices. Time will tell.

With Sevillana-Endesa you can set up a contract on-line, by phone or by calling in to the nearest Sevillana-Endesa offices.

The Website is www.endesaonline.com, but the information is in Spanish.

For information by phone, call (national) 902 509 509. Here you can ask to speak to an English-speaking call assistant, who will be able to deal with your enquiry. Like all automated call centres, you are sometimes left waiting for a while before connecting to a human voice, but normally this is only a few minutes.

In general the information you will need to provide, in order to be contracted to receive the electricity supply in your name is as follows:

For a newly built house that has never had an electricity supply before:

• Boletin de Enganche (connection certificate) - must be supplied by the electrician who installed all electrical wiring, etc.
• Licencia de Primera ocupación (or Certificado de Habitabilidad) - This is the First Occupation Licence and is obtained from the Town Hall.

Whether for supply to a new building or a property with an existing supply, you will also need:

• A copy of the last electricity bill pertaining the property
• Passport or Spanish NIE number
• If renting, then you will need to give details of the rental contract
• If you have purchased a property then you will need to provide details from the title deeds
• In all cases, you will have to give bank account details in order to set up payment of the bimonthly bills on Standing Order.

Sevillana-Endesa Electricity Bill Explained:

Once you have the contract set up, you will receive the bill by post notifying you of the total amount that will go through your account.

At the top right hand corner of the bill are the 'Client Details'. You should check that these are correct when you receive your fist bill:

They appear as follows:

Datos del Cliente: (Client Details)
Titular: (Name on Contract)
DNI/NIF: (This is your Spanish ID number - or you can give your passport number)
Dirección: (Address)
Actividad económica (CNAE): (This relates to domestic or Commercial use - domestic is 95100)
Tarifa: (Tariff): (For normal domestic bills the tariff is usually 2.0)
Potencia Contrada: (Power in kWh contracted - This would normally be somewhere between 4 and 5 kWh, but if you have air conditioning it is more likely to be up to 6,560 kWh)
Contador / es No.: (Meter(s)number)
CUPS : (this is a reference number which has been introduced since January 2003, when Sevillana-Endesa no longer had monopoly over electric energy supply in Andalucia and this number will be used if you transfer to another company)

Then you will see your name and address below this and to the left:

RESUMEN DE LA FACTURA (Invoice details in brief)

Emisión (issued) - this usually says Madrid +the date issue
Periodo de Facturación (period covered by invoice) ... from ... to...
Contrato de Suminstro No. (Supply contract number) .......
Factura No. (Invoice Number)
Ref: (reference number)
Total Factura: (Total amount of Invoice)

Below this are two columns - Consumo (Consumption) to the left and Facturación (Billing details) to the right.

Here you will see the reading from your electric meter and the dates made. The total is the 'Consumo del Periodo' and gives the total kWH consumed. 'Lectura real' means that this was the actual reading on the meter and 'Lectura Estimada' means that for some reason an estimate has been made. This can sometimes be because the meter was not accessible or perhaps extreme weather conditions or even staff problems. An estimated reading can sometimes be higher than actual consumption, but the difference is usually adjusted on future electricity bills. If you feel there is an error, then contact Sevillana-Endesa on 902 509 509.

The Facturación (Billing Details) give the details of the calculation of the number of kWh multiplied by the price to give the total. 16% IVA (VAT) is then added to give to final total.

Under this you will see 'Datos de Pago'. Here you see your bank details reflected with the first 5 digits of your bank account, to let you know that this amount will be presented to that bank account for payment. The date underneath this lets you know will be presented for payment to your bank. This is very important and allows you to make sure that have those funds available in your bank account to avoid non-payment, which could lead to having your electricity cut off. This is something often overlooked by people who only spend part of the year in their Spanish home to forget to top up funds in the account where the Standing Orders are set up.

The last section of the Electricity Bill shows a chart of 'Consumos Anteriores en kWh' (Record of Previous Consumpiton in kWh). It also gives the 'Coste medio diario del periodo' (Average cost per day over the period).

The last information at the bottom right hand corner of the bill is the 'Servicio Atención al Cliente' (Client Service Line) as well as 'Teléfono de Averías' (Telephone number for faults or line breakdowns) and lastly the website address is given.

It's a good idea to keep your electricity bills for at least a year, not only to let you know how much to have available in the bank to cover payment, but also in case you decide to claim any error in calculation.

Information on other companies and new forms of energy is gradually coming on the market and will soon widen the choice of energy for homes in the cities and villages of Andalucia.

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