Electricity

The majority of Electricity in Spain is supplied at 220 volts AC with a frequency of 50 cycles per second. This means that if you come from the UK, ROI and many other EU countries, electrical appliances purchased in these countries will work perfectly well. Be advised that there are still a few places left in Spain where power is supplied at 110 volts and sometimes both 110 and 220 volts are available in the same building.

If you buy a property in Spain from a competent company or agency, when it comes to arranging contracts with the various utility companies, you will find that the majority of work will have been done for you and everything is ready for you to simply move into your new home. In the event that you wish to do this yourself, the following applies. Immediately after buying a property, you must sign a contract with the local electricity company. To do this you will have to visit the appropriate office to register and pay the appropriate fee. You will need your passport for identification and someone to talk to as you are likely to be queuing for several hours.

If you are buying a resale property you must ensure that all of the previous accounts have been paid and the meter has been read. If you don't, you will end up paying the bills for the previous owners, or sitting in the dark. A point to remember is that unpaid electricity bills cannot be attached or charged to your property nor can bills from other utility companies. However, whether you ran them up or someone else did, if they remain unpaid you will soon lose your service and have much anguish ahead of you as you battle with Spanish bureaucracy.

The cost of an electricity connection, which should also include the price of the meter, is usually in the region of 90 - 220 euros. This varies according to location and the type of supply required. If you are inland and the mains have to be run 1 or 2 km the price could be enormous or even prohibitive. It is not really practical to think in terms of running pylons for miles in order that your recently acquired finca can have light at night. As with buying any inland property, believe nothing and check everything you are told by property company employees or Estate Agents. Many an inland property purchased several years ago is still in the dark despite definite assurances given at the time regarding the supply of electricity. Do not believe that the average lawyer in Spain is going to tell you anything which he will remember tomorrow either. More likely is that you will be told what you want to hear unless you have a very good lawyer.

Note: If you buy a condominium or other type of community property, the price of connection to all utility services is included in the cost of the property by law. You still pay it - but in a different way.

Although nowhere near as bad as a few short years ago, Spain still suffers from power cuts. Particularly when it rains or there are strong winds. For this reason, all properties built by us are equipped with emergency or secondary lighting. Power can fail for a fraction of a second, which is enough to crash, or re-boot a computer, or for an hour or more. Sometimes, much more. Many of the power cuts experienced in Spain are not the responsibility of the generating companies but in fact those of the owners.

Electricity is supplied on the basis of a sliding standing charge which is determined by the power made available to you and which in theory you should be able to draw at any time. For instance, if you own an apartment, you will find that a power supply of 3.5 kw is adequate. A large villa may require 7.5 kw, the supply of which costs more than a smaller supply. With this in mind, many upon arrival in Spain simply ask for a small supply because its cheaper. As soon as they attempt to draw more power than they have contracted for, their power supply fails. Many struggle on for months or longer before they realise what the problem is. Pay for what you need, in the long run it makes for a much easier life.

In relation to the robust UK three pin plug complete with onboard fuses, plugs in Spain are an exercise in faith and character building. It is quite common for rooms, even kitchens, to only have one power point. For this reason adapter plugs and extension cables are available from numerous types of shops. Spanish plugs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The smaller two pin plugs are not earthed. These are for running items such as table lamps and other low wattage devices.

Where an item is not earthed it should be double insulated. Many times this is not the case and the risk from electric shock is very real. It is quite common to touch something and feel a standing voltage on it - a feeling best described as a buzzing. Earthing sorts this out. You may well find that plug sockets have been installed at strange angles, requiring the plugs to be operated on their sides. However, regardless of how strange you find the system or if you are an electrician, how dangerous, the fact is you take it, warts and all or you leave it.

Not at all uncommon on some of the older properties is to find they have been wired with wiring of whatever colour was available at the time. One house seen by the writer had been all wired with black cable. Whilst this would not cause more than annoyance to a competent electrician, it could prove dangerous to someone attempting the replacement of a simple circuit breaker. Today, electrical installations should comply with EU legislation although there are still some which must be perilously close to that which is not acceptable.

Modern houses in Spain are equipped with earth leakage trips which ensure that in the event of a fault, you will be protected. If you don't have this protection ensure that you do not connect metal lamps to non-earthed plugs. Computers are also better earthed, both as a protection to the equipment and to yourself. On the subject of computers, lap tops with their own batteries or computers with uninterruptible power supplies are by far the best method of using a computer in Spain. Spikes through the mains, can constantly reboot your machine, making its use impossible for a time. This may cause your machine to lose information or even suffer damage. Protecting the power supply will obviate these risks.

In many cases, there will be no need to replace UK plugs on your appliances as a superb range of adapter plugs exist in Spain which are both functional and safe. They are also quite cheap at just over £1 per plug. Light bulbs in Spain are ES ( Edison Screw) and the bayonet type fitting used in the UK will be of no use to you.

Remember this if you intend to bring lamps and lighting with you. Whilst many do, they have to import their light bulbs or rely on others to bring them out from the UK. Energy saving lighting is becoming extremely popular in Spain. Initially expensive to buy, 11 watts of consumed power produces about 60 watts of lighting which soon repays the extra cost of the light. This said, recently the writer came across a supply of energy saving light bulbs which were only about £1.25p each.

One thing worth mentioning is the relatively low prices of uninterruptible power supplies. A ups can ensure that a computer continue to function following a power failure for whatever reason and further, can easily run a 60 watt table lamp which stops you being plunged into darkness.

Electricity is billed every two months following your meter having been read. However, it is totally legal for the electricity companies to estimate your power usage every second period. You should always read your own meter in order to avoid being overcharged. That is if you can get at it. Many are now locked away in steel boxes in an attempt to prevent people from stealing electricity or trying to turn their meters back. If you compare your Spanish electricity bill with what you paid in the UK, don't forget that your Spanish bill is bi-monthly, your UK account is quarterly. As with all Spanish utilities there are two basic methods of payment: Direct debit and through the nose.

Finally on the subject of electricity, we have spoken of power cuts, indicating that they are far from rare. The majority of cuts last only seconds - those that last longer usually being attributed to either inclement weather or massive demand for air conditioning on very hot days. When they do occur they are not the problem they are in the UK and life continues quite normally. On average you can expect four or five power cuts over a year with one of them being longer than ten minutes.

Gas

Unlike countries of northern Europe, in Spain, mains gas exists only in major cities. If you are moving to a major city in Spain and mains gas is available, you simply make application to the appropriate utility company for a supply. If mains gas is not available the only alternative available to you is bottled gas. Don't worry about the cost, in Spain, bottled gas is about half the price you will pay for bottled gas in the UK . However, in common with all petroleum products the price is rising on a very regular basis. .

Today, a bottle of gas is around €11 and when it comes to heating water, there is little difference between the cost of gas or electricity. It does however pay to keep alternative energy supplies and something to bear in mind is the fact that an immersion heater will eat into your limited available power. Unless that is you have solar panels for water heating when the cost of heating hot water is reduced by about 75 per cent over the course of one year.

Obviously, with gas you need to keep an eye on your usage and ensure that you always have bottles in reserve. Failure to do so may result in you having to take a cold shower or do the washing up in cold water until supplies have been replenished. Laundry will be unaffected because Spanish washing machines always heat water from cold and even then use a relatively cold wash.

If you use gas it's well worth the money having an automatic manifold installed. These simple devices detect when one bottle of gas has run out and switch immediately to another. This means that you don't have to constantly check your gas bottles so as to be able to change them over without the boiler pilot light going out. Further, the manifold indicates which bottle is being used so you know which one requires changing. Without an automatic manifold, expect the water to run cold every now and again - usually, whilst you are under the shower.

Up until recently, heating water and cooking by bottled gas was far cheaper than electricity. For this reason, many people ran as many gas appliances as possible in order to reduce their consumption of electricity. Today, there seems little different in price but it is still good policy to split your energy usage in case of problem with one or the other. When it comes to cooking, most people opt for a four ring gas hob and an electric oven. With no dependency upon either gas or electricity, a hot meal is always going to be possible.

If you cook by gas, using the above combination, a 12.5 kg container of gas will last somewhere between 3 and 6 months. If you use a gas hot water heater, a family of four will use between one and two bottles per month. In the summer months, gas can last 2 or 3 times as long due to the raised temperature in the water main. All SPC properties now come complete with solar heated water as a routine. In the summer the water is heated almost to boiling and even in a cold winter, a 10 or 20 degree lift on water is possible. Put simply this means that you are saving a significant amount of money. How this is not mandatory under law, as in countries like Cyprus, is quite puzzling.

Gas is supplied by two companies, Repsol and Cepsa. You will need a contract with either if you are to be supplied with gas and currently, the price which is fixed by government, is 12 Euros plus a few cents per bottle. Price fluctuates constantly and can go down but it seems a long time since this has happened and with oil prices as they are, it seems unlikely that this will ever happen. Be careful when you apply for a contract. For insurance purposes it will be necessary for the supplier to visit your premises in order to ascertain that the equipment you intend to use is safe. There is no charge for this inspection, being a requirement under law as well as a requirement of the insurance companies.

Notwithstanding this, It is quite common for employees of either of the gas companies to submit an account and ask for money either for the inspection or as premium for a non-existent insurance. €30 is common. Don't pay it. There may be a charge in some parts of Spain for the initial visit to check that everything is OK but should this be the case it will be made clear prior to the visit and well supported with the appropriate official documentation. Further, an official receipt will be issued which can be verified. Despite these regular attempts at fraud, no one seems to be brought to task and the same employees wend their way around the new customers.

Repsol supply butane in bright red steel containers which are extremely heavy. Your first bottle will cost 28 Euros which consists of a 18 Euros deposit and a charge for the gas of just over 10 euros. Thereafter, you simply swap an empty container for a full one and pay the going rate. Bear in mind that you always need one bottle as a spare for each gas appliance. Repsol have regular gas deliveries which in many places are every other working day.

Cepsa, also one of Spain's petrol companies, supply butane but they supply it in lightweight stainless steel containers. Their terms of business are identical to Repsol but in addition to regular deliveries, Cepsa also sell butane on the forecourts of their own garages, ensuring that you really never need run out. Recently, they have also started to make it available through hardware shops and supermarkets.

We mentioned above the situation regarding bogus demands for money relating to services and or insurances premiums. In fact, this scam is spreading and it is not at all uncommon now for bogus butane representatives to call unannounced to inspect gas appliances. They usually carry some form of identification, which may or may not be genuine. Their modus operandi is to inspect gas appliances and condemn pipes and regulators as not being safe. For an extortionate fee they will replace them. Gas pipes are bright orange and have the date of expiry written every few centimetres in black, bold print.

You can obtain replacements at most hardware stores and some of the bigger department stores. The same goes for regulators. If you are visited by these people, smile and politely decline their services. When replacing pipes or regulators, check very carefully that there are no gas leaks. You can do this by mixing a weak solution of washing up liquid and water then pouring it on to the points where the pipes attach to the regulator and appliance and checking for bubbles.

In actual fact, it's worth doing this once a year and recording the fact in a little cheap book you purchased for the purpose. Any claim on insurance for gas fires or explosion will be assisted greatly by such foresight. Don´t forge the book, aged writing is easily detectable. From time to time the gas companies must, by law satisfy themselves that the gas installation is safe. They will contact you asking for a day to visit. Don't confuse this genuine visit with one of the scams mentioned above.

If the idea of dragging bottles of gas around does not appeal, you could consider the installation of a bulk propane tank. This would entail filling once a year but frankly, the cost of the installation does not justify the slight amount of work involved in changing bottles. Bulk propane tanks also take up space in your garden and are quite unsightly. However, it may be possible to obtain the tank and installation free of charge providing you sign a long term contract. Something to bear in mind about the bulk delivery system is that unlike gas delivered in bottles, there is no government limit on what can be charged so you may find that your free installation was not quite as free as you thought it would be. On the subject of bulk gas tanks, many people are able to disguise their appearance by covering them with climbing flowers.

Providing you have enough bottles to have a healthy reserve there is no problem with changing them as and when required. If you have gas central heating, bottles are still used but three times larger and instead of butane, propane, which burns hotter is used. A little construction at the end of the drive to house these bottles is required and the deliverymen change the bottles for you. Heating systems usually have all the bottles attached to a gas manifold which indicates when one bank has become exhausted so you can re-order.

When you first apply for a gas contract for which there will be a fee, you will need to decide how many bottles that you require. As mentioned, you will have to pay a deposit of €18 per bottle. If you ever decide to return your bottles you will only receive €5 for them. It's not worth asking why - nobody knows or has ever been able to find out. For this reason, most people sell their bottles to other users at a more realistic price. Only in Spain could there be a black market in empty gas bottles!

Many people in smaller properties use the Calor gas or cabinet type heater. These are usually catalytic types and burn very cleanly but they do still give off fumes and must be used in well ventilated rooms. Failure to observe this requirement is the cause of one or two deaths each winter. You need a window or two open. You can obtain carbon monoxide detectors for a few euros and they are well worth having if you intend to use this type of heater.

Water

The rain in Spain does not fall mainly in the plain, but mainly in the Northwest and centre of Spain with shortfall along most of the coasts, Balearic and Canary islands. Spain has more than enough rainfall to meet its requirements, including those of agriculture but what it has, isn't very well distributed. A Spanish song dealing with this point is entitled "It doesn't know how to rain"! In the Canaries, most water is provided by desalination plants. On the Costa del Sol, a desalination plant has been installed but has yet to be used.

The Costa Blanca with its near perfect climate has yet to suffer from any form of permanent water shortages but with the ever increasing demand for this coast by foreigners, this may not always be the case despite the millions being spent on a desalination plant at Torrevieja.

Those who visited Spain during the early 70's will no doubt recall the notices in hotels and apartments urging them not to waste water. In those days it was quite common for holidaymaker's to be covered with soap and the water supply to fail. Today, this type of situation is not common, although there are still areas such as Almeria, where competition for water from crops is quite stiff. Crop irrigation, much of which is wasteful, accounts for around 80 per cent of all fresh water used. On the Costa del Sol, purification plants recycle waste water from urban areas for crop irrigation and for watering golf courses.

In many areas frequented by tourists, water shortages are particularly bad during the peak summer season when the population may increase five to ten fold. The situation is made even worse by the fact that this is the driest time of the year with the heaviest demand for water.

Halfway through the 90's, the reservoirs in both southern and eastern Spain were virtually depleted. Water rationing was introduced and in some areas, the water table fell so low as to allow sea water to penetrate and pollute many of the wells in use. The situation came to an end during the winter of 95/96 when months of torrential rain caused widespread flooding throughout Spain but by 1999, drought had returned to many areas.

In 2005 drought returned again and as the year changed to 2006 it soon became apparent that the water supply would fail if things did not change. However, much to the credit of the water companies, they kept all balls in the air with the minimum of inconvenience to the majority of consumers. Some areas did dry up though. Drought in Spain is cyclical and increasingly the Spanish authorities are beginning to turn to desalination plants as a permanent solution to water shortages. These are expensive to build and operate and the price of water is being driven up reflecting this fact. Amusingly, water in Spain is still much cheaper than the UK which spends most of its time waterlogged!

If you intend to purchase property in Spain do not assume that water is either connected to it or available. In many cases it won't be and worse, never will. To live in such areas will require tanker loads of water delivered regularly and dealing with the problems of storing this amount of water and keeping it clean.

As mentioned, wastage due to poor irrigation methods consumes most water but much of what's left is lost through leaking pipes. There seems to be a reluctance on behalf of the Spanish authorities to encourage conservation, particularly in the resort areas. No doubt there is a reluctance to inconvenience or discourage the 60,000,000 people who visit Spain each year. Resort and coastal areas generally fare quite well in the water stakes for obvious reasons and together with their climate, make them sought after among those looking for property.

The Costa del Sol uses double the national average per person for its numerous swimming pools, lawns, gardens and golf courses and people in its various towns consume more water per person per day than any other Europeans. At the same time, hundreds of rural towns and villages have water on tap for just a few hours a day during the summer months and many farmers face bankruptcy due to the lack of water for their crops.

Again, be careful where you purchase property and do not take the word of anyone who may be selling it. You need both water and electricity and if its not on site there is a reason for it. Few estate agents will lose a sale because of a mere "technicality"! Most will tell you exactly what you want to hear. You need the situation in writing from the utility companies not guff from an estate agent.

Even if you are careful in regard to the water situation, if you don't know what you are buying and the restrictions which may apply to the area you hope to buy in then you could well end up restricted to 3 cubic metres of water per month. This is equivalent to about 10 baths or 15 - 20 showers. An average family would require about 120. As for the swimming pool you were so keen to have.

If you find an area or location in which you wish to live, check the reliability of the water supply over the previous five or more years. Ask anyone who you think may have information. This includes neighbours, tradesmen, Gestors, lawyers etc. In most towns, water supplies are adequate but there may be cuts of varying length during some of the summer months.

If you intend to buy an inland property, such as a finca or other type of remote building, there are many things you need to check. Is water available? From where? Does it last all year round? If not are there alternative supplies? These and the answers to many other questions you must have before you commit yourself to buying a property. Without an adequate supply of water you have absolutely nothing. If you intend to build your own house ensure that you have your water supply assured in writing before you spend a single penny.

The cost of water has risen dramatically in Spain in recent years and in some areas, water bills have increased by as much as 350 per cent. During 2002, the authorities gave notice that water charges were to rise by 10 per cent per annum over the next 10 years in order to be able to provide the facilities required by ever increasing amounts of users. Whether or not this amount will prove adequate remains to be seen.

Water charges vary from an average of around 72 cents per cubic metre on the mainland to between €1.90 - 3.00 per cubic metre in the Canaries and some parts of the Balearics, where it is delivered by truck. If water is supplied from a desalination plant, the cost will be high and whilst drinkable and safe, the taste may be quite unpleasant.

Spanish water from the mains is safe to drink in all areas although the quality may be poor in some. On the Costa Blanca, water is clean and pure but from time to time the taste may leave something to be desired. In fact, it can leave a lot to be desired. If you do not like the taste the answer is simple - bottled water, of which there are over 3,000 million litres consumed each year in Spain. Silly as it may seem, prices vary enormously for bottled water according to the brand but in the opinion of the writer there is absolutely no difference at all in taste or quality. Moral: cheaper is best! An even better solution may be to purchase a simple water filter.

There are several on the market but the most popular seems to be "Brita". This is a two litre jug, which when water is poured in the top, filters through to the bottom. Not only does the filter remove unpleasant tastes from the water but it also removes hardness. Instruction advise you to change the filter once per month at a cost of 4 euros but they will last far longer. You can tell quite easily when the filter needs replacing simply by keeping an eye on your kettle element. At the first sign of calcium, change your filter. Vinegar will clean the kettle element quickly which is now ready to act as your indicator once again.

As you shop around, you may well see demonstrations or advertisements for "plumbed in water filters". These are quite expensive to buy and the replacement cartridges are also expensive. Apart from a little convenience, there seems little point in spending the money, which can be better used to purchase alcohol, which in Spain is very cheap and if drunk to excess will make your water filter last even longer. . . . . !!! As a footnote to this subject, you can safely use the water from a Brita filter in steam irons or car batteries although the latter tend to be sealed these days.

Not all inland properties have water problems but if the number was only 1 in 100, if you are the one, life will be miserable. This is not why you want to come to Spain. Check, check and check again in regard to the situation with water as it applies to any property be it new or old if it is inland. And again. . . . .if the salesmen says there is no problem, perhaps this is simply a case of "well he would say that wouldn't he"

Newly built properties will obviously have neither water or electricity problems. Planning will have required that both utilities be available.