Practical information on electricity
Electricity is one of the basic supplies for homes. Its daily use is essential and necessary for consumers and, in addition, it represents one of the most important expenses in households at the end of the month.
Knowing the specific characteristics of the electricity market can help us to contract the rate that most closely matches our needs, make a more responsible consumption of energy or know who we should complain to when we have a problem.
In the next section we will help you understand easily and simply some concepts such as contracted power, regulated market, access tolls, consumed energy or point of supply, which are essential when deciding to contract a specific type of service and that can allow us to save at the end of the month in the bill and a more efficient consumption of energy.
How to contract the electricity supply
After the liberalization of the electricity sector in 2009, as an electricity consumer, you can contract the electrical power supply in the free market or in the regulated market:
Regulated market
In the regulated market, the price of the energy consumed is established by the government and is set taking as reference the amount of kilowatt (kW) according to your daily quote in the wholesale market.
In this market there are three contracting modalities:
Voluntary price for the small consumer (PVPC)
They can avail themselves of it all consumers that are connected in low voltage with a contracted power less than or equal to 10 kW.
Annual fixed price
In this modality, a fixed price is offered for the whole year, which is established by the marketer.
Social bonus
It's a discount code in the electricity bill, which can be used by users who are in PVPC and be considerate vulnerable consumers, the severely vulnerable and those of social exclusion.
Free market
On the other hand, in the free market, you can contract the supply of electricity with any electricity trading company, What are the companies in charge of the contracts?.
El price of energy consumed, in this case, It will be established in the conditions of the contract offered by the company.
The companies that can supply us with electricity on the regulated market are the reference marketers and it will only be with them that you can sign a contract in any of these three modalities.
The price of energy
It is important to know that, both in the regulated and free markets, in our electricity bill each month we will pay for the following items:
Fixed
Hired potency. It is the maximum electrical consumption that can be used in a home at any given time, it is measured in kW and different sections can be contracted, depending on your needs or the number of electrical appliances that the house has.
Access toll. They are the costs of access to the electricity grid, that is, the transport and distribution of energy to homes. This access toll will be reflected in the bill both in the energy consumed and in the contracted power.
Rental of measurement and control equipment. It is the price paid for the rental of measurement and control equipment, such as meters.
Variables
Consumed energy. It is also measured in kW and represents the energy consumed by the home in the billing period. It varies each month depending on what we consume.
It is convenient that, before contracting with an electricity company, compare offers and analyze which of the rates offered by the companies best suits your needs.
Check what is the power you need in your home and try not to hire more than you need.
Since January 2019, all consumers have counters that allow telemetry and telemanagement per hour, so the energy we consume is paid at the exact price to which you have quoted at all times. There are no more estimated readings.
Characteristics of the contracts
The contracting of the electricity supply is commitment and is associated with the House for which the contract has been requested. Whenever you contract the electricity supply, you must take into account that:
You have the right to choose freely the rate you want to contract, as well as the power among those available according to the type of rate.
The duration of the supply contract it's annual and is tacitly extended for equal terms.
Can modify the rate, change the power or the mode of application of your contract. Can do it alone once a year. The company may refuse or charge an amount for more than one annual change.
The marketer may demand, at the time of contracting, the delivery of a Down Payment, which will be returned automatically when the contract ends.
Companies can refuse to enter into supply contracts when have debts with any company, provided that the amount exceeds € 150,25 or when your facilities electrical do not gather regulatory technical and safety conditions.
Can always cancel the contract power supply warning with 5 working days in advance before the date you wish to cancel.
Demand that they offer you all information about rates, powers and contracts and read the general conditions of the hiring before the contract is signed. If you don't understand a concept, ask what it means.If you hire for Internet or phone, dispose of 14 calendar days to withdraw from the contract, without any penalty, counted from the moment of signing.
Electricity companies They are prohibited from selling for commercial or contracting purposes in homes, unless you have requested the visit. If you have not asked for it, do not let the salesperson enter and do not show him your invoice.
How to register the supply
El electrical power supply is delivery of energy to our supply point through the transport and distribution networks on a regular basis and under quality conditions.
When it is given high a supply, we must carry out two different actions: on the one hand, we have to request access to the distributor's network in the area so that they supply us with energy, and on the other, we must sign a supply contract with the marketer.
The supply point is unique for our facility and home and is identified on the invoice and in the contract with a number, which is the CUPS (Unified Point of Supply Code).
Su distribution company He will be in charge of the maintenance work of the electricity distribution facilities, giving him access to the electrical system and his problems with the meter. On your invoice, the one that corresponds to you should be indicated according to the area in which you live.
Su trading company It will be in charge of acquiring the energy to supply it to your home. It is the company with which will sign the contract supply, will issue the bills or with which you can negotiate a rate change.
All homes must have a electrical installation certificate (known as the Electric Bulletin) that gathers the technical characteristics of the installation and the power it supports.
In the "contract data" section of your invoice, you will find information about CUPS, its distributor and marketer.
Steps to follow
Registering the electricity supply has a cost for the consumer who must pay, depending on each case, the hooking, verification of the installation, connection or actions on the measurement equipment, among others.
In the event that there is bought a home and you need to contract the supply, you may find yourself in one of three situations:
Change of holder: subrogation of the contract
Happens when the consumer is subrogated to an existing contract. It does not entail any cost, unless you want to change the contracted power, then you will have to pay for certain verification and performance tasks on the measurement equipment, depending on whether the power increases or decreases.
In this case will keep the CUPS from the point of supply.
Change of supply contract
Occurs when the previous holder terminates the supply contract and we must proceed to register a new contract. In this case, it remains the CUPS that had the installation and the costs of giving it access to the network and extension are paid (only if they have expired).
Registration of supply point and supply contract
It happens when we buy a new home and we must establish a new supply point and contract.
In this case, we will be responsible for paying for the work rush, including the actions of extension and access to the network, as well as the costs of hooking up, verification and action on measuring equipment.
El CUPS will be newIn the contract we must indicate the power we want to contract, and they will have to provide us with the electrical bulletin of the house.
If it does a change in electrical installation of your home, you must ask the technician to issue you the installation certificate (known as House Electrical Bulletin). It will be necessary if you want to change the power later.
Companies must offer us a quality supply. So the interruptions that occur in the facilities they can't get over neither in number nor in time established limits.
In case of suspension of supply due to non-payment, they must restore the service assistance after payment of those owed.
Invoices: what can be found on them
The invoice with a contracted power less than 15 kW se issues and charges monthly. Given the complexity of the electricity market, they have established five models regulated depending on the type of rate that we have contracted, which makes the invoice that we receive every month more understandable.
- If you are a consumer in the regulated market, the payment period is twenty days natural from the issuance of the invoice. You can make the deposit by direct debit or at the company offices.
- If you are a consumer in the free market, the conditions are agreed in the contract with the company.
In both cases, if the payment is made by direct debit, the charge cannot be made before 7 calendar days from the issuance of the invoice.
Regardless of the type of rate you contract, the electricity bill must include the concepts of billing for power and consumption, the electricity tax and the payment of rental of measurement equipment (in the event that they are not owned by you), as well as taxes.
It is convenient that you check that they are billing awarded by the power you have contracted. Look at this information in your contract and check that it is the same that appears on your monthly invoice. Each power jump in the bill represents an increase in the price.
Check that the reading that appears on the invoice is correlative with the last paid. To do this, you can compare with the previous invoice that the current reading data and the previous reading match and there has not been a jump between one and the other.
Check that you have not been included any service that you do not have contracted. If you see any information that you do not recognize in the summary or in the detail of the invoice, contact your marketer for clarification.
How to claim
- Marketers must have a customer service to possible complaints, claims, requests for information or communications of any incident in relation to the service contracted or offered. You can contact your company to try to fix the problem.
- If your claim is related to an invoice sent by your company with the concept of counter manipulation and you do not agree, know that you can ask the distributor for the inspection report (which must contain: date and time of the inspection, the technician who performed it and his signature) on which it is based that you manipulated the meter. If you have any discrepancies on this matter, you should submit your claim in the competent body of the Community of Madrid requesting suspension of the interruption of the supply due to non-payment.
- In this sense, you can request a meter verification laboratory to make a report to verify that your electricity meter works correctly and has not been tampered with.
- If your claim is related to a denial of access, you have discrepancies in the reading of your meters, power and others of a technical control and measurement nature, you should contact the aforementioned Industry body.
- If within a month, you do not receive a response or it is not satisfactory, you can go to the General Directorate of Commerce, Consumption and Services; as well as, to any of the consumer service offices closest to your home. If you want to claim compensation, you can request arbitration or go to court.
