Electricity turned off at swimming pool, bar, football pitch and Instituto Al-Andalus

Instituto Al-Andalus (l.) with
football pitch in the distance

Generators hired for school and football

JIMENA On the 15th of the month, Endesa, the power company, cut the electricity to the area around the Al-Andalus vocational school, which also serves the municipal pool, the football pitch and the clubhouse and bar (sede). The reason? You guessed it: non-payment of bills. It turns out, say our sources, that while arrangements for payment had been agreed, the Council has been unable to meet them. This has been an ongoing problem: if you remember, the company turned off the power to the Town Hall on the day the new Jimena government took over. Pressure, pressure. However, generators have been hired for both the Al-Andalus school and the football pitch. The power cut happened just as the school kids were about to take their term exams. We have been unable to contact them or their teachers today to round off this item. The question arises as to whether there will be enough money for fuel to keep the generators running ... In the meantime, the people running the bar at the top of the hill complain that they have lost everything in their fridge and freezers so they might have to close but daren't because they are afraid of losing the concession, which is their only source of income.

Electricity price hikes expected on April 1

SPAIN We told you about the price hike last week but here is the reason behind it, and the percentages. The electric companies' association, Unesa, says that the peajes should be going up by 30%, which would amount to about 15% on our electricity bill. The Supreme Court sided with the companies and ordered the price hike that should have taken place on January 1 to happen as soon as possible. However, the peaje and the price the companies have to pay for the energy have come down, which means that the bills should not go up by more than 12 or 13%. The Spanish power system is so convoluted and complicated to explain that we are not bothering to do so, but way of a general concept you should know that, first, what is called a Tarifa de Último Recurso (TUR, or 'tariff of last resort') and to which some 20 million consumers -that is, the vast majority including us- are subscribed, and which is revised every three months, is made up of two components: the peajes that pay the companies and are regulated by the government, and, second, the price of energy that results from an auction called Cesur (please don't ask, just accept!).

WARNING: ARE THESE 'BOGUS PLUG-INS' BEING SOLD IN SPAIN?

(Photo: UK Trading Standards Authority)

(EXCLUSIVE) An article in The Guardian last year pointed out that the claims about these plug-in devices claim to save users anywhere between 15% and 40% on energy bills, but actually pose a risk of fire and electrocution. They were being sold over the phone by 'rogue fraudsters targeting older people', it said. (See similar reports on BBC, Moneywise, and the UK Trading Standards Authority (TSA), the source of the original warning.)  Various trading standards authorities in Britain had received complaints about them; one of these came to the conclusion that the companies involved in these scams are not actually located in the UK and that the call centres they use are based abroad and the appliances appear to be distributed by a number of individuals in the UK. Among the companies mentioned in the article are 1 Stop Marketing Solutions, ITC Development Corp, Power Saver, and Athico Ltd, but the fraudsters could be using other names as well, according to the TSA. There is no way of knowing whether these or any other such companies are operating in Spain, but there seems to be a surge of these so-called 'energy-saving' devices appearing in the English-speaking press in Spain, often in full page colour ads. We did come across a Spanish forum about Power Saver, though, with much the same derogatory comments as we mention below.>>>

Electricity bills to return to 'normal'

You will be able to choose to stay as it is now

SPAIN (Agencies) The country went up in arms in 2008 when the power companies were allowed to bill monthly, with meters being read every other month - and thus causing enormous confusion about 'estimated' bills in between. Now the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism is planning to allow consumers to pay 'only for what they use' (their words, not ours!). The project is in the hands of the National Energy Commission for review. Included in it is the possibility that some consumers might want things to stay as they are, in other words, a reading every other month but monthly bills. What's more, the project also includes the possibility of consumers providing their own reading from their own meters - which used to happen if the meter reader was unable to access the meter. The ministry explained that there had been a 'significant increase in the number of complaints' about estimated bills. IF YOU FIND THIS ARTICLE INTERESTING, USEFUL OR ENTERTAINING, PLEASE CONSIDER THE WORK, EFFORT AND COST IT TAKES TO BRING IT TO YOU. WE WOULD APPRECIATE A DONATION TO CONTINUE A FREE SERVICE.

Power cut tomorrow, Wednesday

JIMENA The Local Police issued a warning notice for tomorrow, December 15, from 8am to noon, that a power cut will take place for the following area: El Aguila, Carretera Algeciras-Ronda, Lomas de Cámara and Avda. los Deportes (does not specify how far up).

Jimena electricity debt is over €220,000

(Photo: TioJimeno)

JIMENA (TioJimeno) Further to our item on elecrticity being cut off at several municipal buildings, we read on TioJimeno that the reason is that the municipality owes the power company, Endesa, €70,000 in long standing unpaid bills. The total amount owed to the company is over €220,000, according to the Spanish website. A meeting is to take place between Endesa management and the Council to try to find a solution to the problem. The photo shows a sticker the company put on one of the meters they disconnected on Tuesday.

Endesa cuts off power at several municipal buildings

JIMENA (Agencies) The elecricity company cut off supply to several municipal buildings in Jimena and San Pablo. A spokesperson said that several bills were owed, a fact confirmed by the Town Hall. Lights went out at about 10amn at several places including the Casa de la Cultura almost opposite the Town Hall, where the investiture of the new Mayor was due to take place at 8 that evening. But supply was restored during the course of the afternoon, although there were srtill several offices without light at nine p.m. There were those who joked that this was a test prepared earlier for Mayor Guillermo Ruiz, who at the end of his investiture said, "I don't have the details yet so I don't know how serious the problem is. But I will be speaking to Endesa." It is confirmed by several Town Hall functionaries that several bills are outstanding, a fact that they told nthe brand new Mayor about. (Facetious note: candles were located at the back of several drawers...)

Expensive but cheap, and not very friendly

(by Phil Heinzl) I have included a rather mundane photo about these eco lights. It isn't about the how economical they are or the wrong type of light etc., but more of a precaution for those who have them.  We noticed one which was lit and working correctly, had in fact split and was exposing its innards (how rude). On closer examination we found that the heat generated by the bulb had caused the plastic to disintegrate around its base and fall apart, thus making it almost impossible to remove without the use of pliers. Just a bad bulb I hear you say ... not so, we went to remove a second bulb and found the exact same problem. These bulbs are not cheap to buy and if they reportedly last longer than the conventional bulb, then maybe they should be made so as we can validate the manufacturers claims. (Fat chance of that happening!)

Power cut slows whole village down

JIMENA A power cut in Jimena that started at 7.45 and ended, partially, over an hour later, although the power was, and is as we write, very low indeed, has slowed the village down, as it always does. The Post Office, banks and other businesses were unable to attend to their clients, and worst of all - no coffee!! The phones at the Ayuntamiento are ringing busy all morning (we've been trying to find out if they know what caused the cut); the alarm at the pensioners' day centre have been ringing since 7.45 AND NOT A SINGLE POLICEMAN HAS TURNED UP, which they are supposed to do. We now have reports that the lights went out in San Pablo, but we have no news of anywhere else (do you?) And it is still at half power at whatever time this post is posted ... But Endesa ain't half fast in cutting you off if you don't pay!

Please allow us another Endesa whinge...

We spent three hours this morning gathering and translating news for you, Dear Reader, only to have a large part of the work disappear thanks to a couple of those little power cuts Endesa is so fond of giving us at no charge. Okay, maybe we haven't got the very best saving system on the computer, maybe we're not up to date in all sorts of ways, but we're much like most of our Dear Readers. To be well into the 21st century and to still get these cutas that more appropriately belong to the beginning of the last is, or should be, shameful to one of Europe's largest electricity suppliers. REMEMBER: TONIGHT AT 10PM, THERE IS A 5 MINUTE SWITCH-OFF TO PROTEST AGAINST THE ABUSIVE INCREASE IN OUR ENDESA BILLS.

Power cut in Jimena on Tuesday

Endesa announces that there will be a power cut on Calle Llana and Pasada de Alcalá next Tuesday, February 15 from 9am to 1pm. The reason: repairs and reconditioning at the supply transformer. (Thank you for telling us, Endesa...)

Further to the electricity cuts question...

(Via e-mail) "Further to the electricity cuts question. This is a photo of my castelete and my chimney,  my neighbour's tv aerial and castelete plus a small piece of the old San Pablo Adult Education building ... well we do live pretty near Africa. Louie". Comment, anyone? (Prospero note: we are very pleased that Louie has finally managed to get in touch with JimenaPulse - she'll know what we mean, bless. Also, we hadn't heard the word castelete, so we're happy to learn something new today in any language, always supposing she means those little 'buildings' at the top of the stairs that lead to a flat roof terrace. Then again, maybe we're just ignoramuses.)

Reader's Question: Why do we keep getting those annoying little power cuts?

(By e-mail on JimenaPulse) "Can anyone tell me why we keep getting those annoying little power cuts that turn off the computers and damage all kinds of things like fridges, etc.? Thanks, Andrea." Your favourite website went to find out, Andrea. Nobody at Endesa could tell us over the phone, not even at the press office in Madrid! So we went straight to our local sources and discovered the simple answer:>

Electricity goes up by 10%, gas by an average of 3.9%

As we announced here, electricity will be going up by 9.8% next on Saturday, January 1. That, according to the Minister of Industry, Miguel Sebastián, is the equivalent of a little over one coffee per month per inhabitant. The fact is, according to consumers' organizations, it actually means just under €7 per family per month (with national unemployment at 20%), taking the number of users as seventeen millions. Equally, the cost of a bombona will also rise by 43 céntimos per bottle. That usually means an increase in the price of petrol as well. The background to the increase is tied up in the Tarifa de Último Recurso (TUR, or Tariff of Last Recourse), in itself a complex system that allows the power companies (many of them producing record benefits) to up their prices independently of the taxes imposed by the government. The latter says it is not touching these taxes.>

Electricity could go up by 10% in January

SPAIN (Agencies) The Tarifa de Último Recurso (TUR in its Spanish acronym, meaning 'Tariff of Last Recourse'), whatever that is but which is part of the consumer cost of electricity, could be going up by 9.9% in January, according to the National Energy Commission. This has to do with the price paid at the last auction of 'product', i.e. electricity, held among suppliers. A convoluted press release from the commission yesterday (for which an engineering degree is clearly necessary) also said that even with this possible (probable?) increase, power in Spain will still be cheaper than other European countries such as Italia (€67 per MWh, MegaWatt/hour), France (57), Germany (52) and UK (60). What it did not add is that wages and pensions in Spain are on the average well below these countries... (This item also appears in CampoPulse, but have you missed anything else?)

No power cut for Jimena - only San Pablo

Further to our Reader's Question of yesterday, the Town Hall says that they have had no official notification from Endesa about there being a power cut in Jimena any time soon. The last notification was one issued for San Pablo, which has apparently created a rush on candles from the Chinese shop in the village. If the lights go out this evening, then it's for some other reason (in our case, because we haven't paid the bill). Presumably the repair work being carred out in San Pablo has something to do with the high voltage cable falling onto the railway tracks recently.

High voltage cable break in San Pablo causes 2-hour power outage this morning

(Photo: illustration of outage chart) You didn't notice? The almost two hour electricity cut (from 9.15 to 10.08) in Jimena and Estacion was caused by the breakage of a high voltage cable in San Pablo, according to the Town Hall. And as we were writing this, at about 12.15, another little power outage                 there it is agai             so it's now almost 4pm and... well, that's the story. Word of warning: watch these little outages 'cos when the light comes back on it can burn out your computer, fridge or wahtever...

Gas rises, didn't you know?

The price of a bombona (gas bottle) went up yesterday to €12.80, its record price. This is the fourth time the price of bottled gas has gone up in 12 months, the last time on July 1. You may not need reminding that electricity went up yesterday as well, by 4.8%. It would all be fine if salaries, pensions, income, went up accordingly. But then, that's one of the reasons why there was a general strike on Wednesday...

Electricity bills to go up by 4.8% on October 1

SPAIN (Agencies) The Ministry of Industry announced yesterday that electricity bills will be going up by a shocking 4.8% on October 1. The reason behind it -which amounts to a 30% rise in three years- is that 'it costs the supplier more', according to one of the energy companies, Endesa. Consumers organizations throughout the country have called the rise variously as 'unnecessary', 'unjustified', 'barbarous', 'indecent' and the like. One of them, FACUA, says that the government "bends to the interests of the comapnies and not the consumer." So far this year our bills have gone up by about 10%. (Please leave your comments below.)

Electricity and VAT on the rise...

The government regulatory authorities, i.e. the Industry Ministry, are planning a rise of an average 4% in electricity bills for later this year. This coincides with a rise of 2% (from 16% to 18%) in the Impuesto de Valor Añadido (IVA, the equivalent to VAT) set for July 1. At the bottom end of the scale of electricity rises are small and medium companies (pymes, including the self-employed, about 5% rise) with households at the top (approximately 10%). While the rises are in the planning and pre-approval stages, consumer organizations are already saying that the price of electricity has risen by 26.1% in 30 months, which is six times the rise of the cost of living index (IPC in its Spanish acronym). See more on CampoPulse.