Iberdrola Electrical Protection Insurance

I also have Iberdrola supplying my electricity, but I do not have that Insurance (its not itemised on my bill anyway). In my own personal experience both in the UK and in Spain, I have never had an electrical emergency in 30 years of being a homeowner - other than the odd power brief outage which never had any adverse effects. In terms of electrical items failing, electrical goods are so cheap these days - I would just go out and buy another if something broke and again very little has happened except a washing machine and dishwasher needing replaced. It's up to you, but on the basis of what I have said, and in my humble opinion it doesn't seem worth it to me.

Having worked in this industry in the UK, I may be biased (but at least experienced) in my comments...

Iberdrola (actually IDE, their distribution arm) will cover any issues up to your electricity meter for free, so the electrical emergencies cover only applies within your property.

The answer comes down to how risk-averse you are? Electrical faults are few & far between, but if you lose power you can lose everything until it's fixed (cooking, how water, freezer contents, use of TV, use of the internet, for example) and you need to think about how you would find and how quickly you could get an electrician out to your property - and then their charges. Also, as most properties in Spain are electric-only, then you would have nil cooking or water heating (which are commonly supplied by gas in the UK).

The appliance cover seems well worth it - it's certainly cheaper than comparative cover in the UK. You should check if it covers 'new for old' replacement if the appliance can't be repaired or is 'Beyond Economic Repair'. Some policies will only cover XX worth of repairs and if the costs exceed that, they just say 'Sorry, you'll need to buy a new appliance', buy many good policies will provide a replacement if the appliance can't be repaired. Also, check if this includes what used to be called 'brown goods' - TVs, laptops, stereos, etc as these are commonly excluded - 'appliances' tends to mean kitchen appliances.

Although many people will say that they have had a washing machine that's never broken down in 20 years, for example, in reality appliances fail on average once every 5 years. The most likely appliances to fail, in order, are - washing machines, fridge-freezers, dishwashers. So, if you have these, plus an oven, hob, tumble-dryer, hot water heater, that's 7 items that could fail.

So the next question is how prepared are you for a sudden expense? New washing machine - approx. €400; fridge-freezer - €300-€1,000+ (for an american-style fridge freezer); dishwasher - €400. Many people prefer a regular outlay of, in your case, €10 per month to avoid the occasional hit of a €400 bill to replace an appliance.

This is a large part of Iberdrola's customer offering in Spain and they make a lot of money on it - mainly because people forget they have it and don't claim. Their reputation for honouring claims is quite good though.

Hope this helps!

Thanks everyone for your replies, yes it's a matter of risk management but as Rich T said my house is all electric and if something goes wrong who will I call? I am gutted that I have had this cover for 5 years but didn't realise it covers water heaters, mine broke last year and I paid 200e plus 100e fitting for a new one. This would have been covered under the Iberdrola policy. My fault entirely for not reading the policy. On balance for €9.70 per month I think its worth it.

What do you pay home insurance for? This normally covers all instances. I actually had a smart tv that was in a bedroom which I accidentally dropped, my insurance company actually refunded the cost of a new one when I told them what had happened 🙂

Home insurance covers damage to or theft from your property, and commonly includes accidental damage insurance, which would cover your dropped TV.

However, unless this also includes Home Emergency Cover, which would provide a plumber, heating engineer, electrician, etc. for an emergency situation, then it wouldn't cover a blown circuit or any other electrical fault; and, in any event, wouldn't cover repairs to a faulty appliance.

My home insurance covers all you state, but a normal policy would not include dropping a TV, laptop, mobile phone etc can you imagine the potential fraud risk.