Winter is here, the time of year I take more ’emergency’ calls than at any other time of year. I have posted this information previously but thought I’d update it and repost. You may want to print this and keep a copy near your fusebox.

If you suffer from ‘nuisance tripping’ or power cuts on a regular basis, and wonder why your neighbours still have electricity? Well, before contacting your electricity provider or your ‘shockingly good’ electrician here are a few tips and tricks that might help. First of all, acquaint yourself with your fuse box, before your next power cut! … you may be glad you did! Do you recognise any of these circuit breakers?

Hopefully you identified most of them! But what do they all do? And what can you do if any of these breakers trip (i.e. switch OFF). Read on to find out!

The next time you lose power in your home, go to the main fuse box, with a torch if necessary and follow these tips and tricks!

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May I begin by wishing you all a Happy Healthy and Harmonious Year in 2013, and if it is not too much to hope, a Prosperous New Year to boot!

Most consumers will not yet have received a bill this year so it may come as a surprise the cost of electricity went up again in Spain, just as we entered 2013.

The new conditions to the ‘TUR’ tariff (Tarifa de Último Recurso) as controlled by the Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio were published in the Official State Bulletin 313 dated 31st December 2012.

The ‘standing’ or monthly charge for the ‘TUR’ tariff for consumers contracted at 10KW or less has been set at 1,824432€/KW/month, this is itemised on your bill as ‘Potenia’, and is calculated as a factor of your ‘potencia contratada’ (contracted power in KW) as shown on the top of the bill.

The unit charges in €/KWh have increased as shown below, this is itemised on your bill as ‘Consumo’ or ‘Fact. consumo lecturas reales’:

‘Discriminación Horaria’ is the Off-Peak tariff, the cheap rate period during the winter months is 22:00hrs to 12:00 (midday), peak rate is 12.00 (midday) to 22:00hrs. During the summer months the cheap rate is 23:00hrs to 13:00hrs and peak rate is 13:00hrs to 23:00hrs.

This price increase will affect everyone on the TUR tariff, regardless of your contracted electricity provider. If you have recontracted within the new ‘free market’ then please contact your supplier to find out if this price increase affects you. Not all ‘free market’ providers will pass on this Government announced price increase, so it may be a Happier New Year for you!

13th January 2013