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Learn to understand the electricity bill
The electricity bills They are always a headache for the vast majority of consumers since it is one of the most complex and varied documents that any client handles on a daily basis. A survey by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) found that only the 11% of consumers understands the entire bill. In fact, there are many people who do not know if they are in a free market or a regulated market.
It seems clear that there two basic concepts: fixed cost mainly of contracted electricity and variable cost of consumption per client, it must be remembered that there are off-peak hours in which costs are lower (Monday to Friday from 0:00 to 08:00, in addition to Saturdays and Sundays during all day), flat hours with an average cost (8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. (Monday to Friday) and finally, the expensive schedule (10:00 a.m. 00 to 14:00 and 18:00 to 22:00), hours that you should avoid if you want save on your electricity bill.
In addition, other expenses such as meter rental or taxes are added.
Understanding electricity bill: step by step
Next, we break down each concept step by step so that you are able to understand the electricity bill.
- Name of the company to which you belong
This way you will identify if it belongs to the free or regulated market.
- Electricity bill number
Through this number you can check the amounts claimed in case you want to make a claim
- Consumption period
It will normally be monthly, except for some exceptions such as rate changes, delayed consumption, analog meter...
- Unified supply point code CUPS
. This code uniquely identifies the facility. The CUPS is maintained even if you change vendor.
- Type of contract
When the new rates are used, in all cases the contracted PVPC rates will appear and always differentiated by hour within the three time periods.
- Shipping and delivery costs
The 2.0TD tariff applies to all contracts of less than 15 kW (both in the free and regulated markets).
- Employment Effectiveness
Currently it is possible to have two electricity contracts, one for peak periods and the other for valley periods, both showing
- Access to contract references
The dealer's name is shown in parentheses. It is very interesting to register on the distributor's website (or Datadis.es) to access hourly consumption data, see electricity peaks and other supply data.
- Contract end date
In a regulated market, it doesn't matter because the contracts are automatically renewed year after year. In the free market, the date is important because the rate is updated each time the subscription is renewed.
- Energy Usage Information
The image is part f). Expenditure during the last 14 months for each time period. The colored keys indicate whether they are real or estimated consumption. The black line shows your average monthly usage. Below the graph is your average daily usage for the billing period and the last 14 months. In addition, the total accumulated annual consumption will also appear.
- current reading
It is also indicated in section f) of the scheme. Indicate if it is real or estimated. Only the current reading is displayed. To review previous readings and verify that your spend was correct, you must review the bill of the previous month. This is a difficult problem to control consumption.
- Consumption by time slot
It appears next to the current reading on the graph. Next to each meter reading, will show bill usage during peak periods, flat and minimum for that period. But not all information.
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