Electric supply ‘upgrade’

Roland wrote on Thu Dec 14, 2023 9:58pm:

What potencia is your supply at the moment ??

Look on your electric bill.

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Is it 3.3 KW or 5.0 KW ?

If your supply does not trip the breakers then I would suggest that there is some other problem.

Markross62 wrote on Thu Dec 14, 2023 7:14pm:

Hi all, we have a problem with our electric as it keeps tripping out and comes back on just over a minute later but no breakers pop out so clearly the actual wattage supplied into our property is not sufficient and it trips with only 3 or 4 items running at the same time 🤬 Iberdrola have told ...

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...us that we need a larger supply but we were never given an option of supply size. They said we need to call an electrician to check if we can have a bigger supply for €200, is this correct or another rip off and can anyone recommend a sensibly priced electrician to ‘check’ the fuse board please. Thank you . 

Mags44 wrote on Thu Dec 14, 2023 11:30pm:

Your property will have been set up with a certain maximum electricity supply but if your appliances are trying to consume more electricity than you have contracted then you will experience electrical failures. You need to get a qualified electrician, who can check your current installation and e...

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...stimate what potencia you would need to upgrade to in order to satisfy all your electrical needs. Once the estimation has been done, before you request this update from your electricity supplier, you may need to apply for a new "boletín", which may involve the installation of new cabling throughout the property. This is often required if the property is older than 10 years as older installations may not comply with the current electrical requirements. 

This is from the Selectra website:

"In Spain, the average electrical power is between 3.45 kW and 4.6 kW.

Electric power formula

The recommended electrical power can be calculated by adding the kilowatts (kW) of power that each appliance has:

  Television (0.5 kW) + Ceramic hob (1.5 kW) + Washing machine (1.5 kW) + Oven (2 kW) + Dishwasher (2 kW) + Refrigerator (0.5 kW) + Microwave (1 kW) + Heating (2 kW) = 11 kW.

The simultaneity factor of 0.25 must be applied to the total kW and 1 kW must be added to the final result to calculate the minimum contracted power:

  Total kW (11 kW) * 0.25 + 1 kW = 3.75 kW"

This is assuming that you only have one TV on at the time, no pool or pool heating, no air-conditioning, no deep freezer and no kettle (kettles can be 1.5kW) and the Spanish are not known for using ovens as much as they do use a hob.

It's better to have the property installation prepared for a higher potencia with your electicity supplier to futureproof your needs. You can have an installation that would cover you for up to 8kW but only contract 6kW but be able to increase this if necessary.

Markross62 wrote on Fri Dec 15, 2023 5:48am:

Hi Mags, very informative, thank you a you recommend an electrician to go to please ? Thank you 😊

Mags44 wrote on Fri Dec 15, 2023 2:40pm:

No, I'm sorry that I can't as I've never needed to call one. There are various tradesmen advertised on this forum if you do a search.

Anne O wrote on Sat Dec 16, 2023 12:20pm:

Recommend Liarte Electrician

+34 650 11 75 19

Markross62 wrote on Sat Dec 16, 2023 1:06pm:

Thank you Anne, do you happen to know what the charge is please ? 
kind Regards

Mark