NEW HOUR BY HOUR ELECTRIC BILLING COMES INTO EFFECT IN APRIL

The Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, Jose Manuel Soria, confirmed that the new hour by hour billing method for telemanaged, digital electricity meters will come into effect in the month of April.

In any case, the Minister has advised during "Los Desayunos de TVE" (“Breakfast with Spanish Television”) that at this time there are close to seven million "smart" meters in Spain although they are not "interconnected" because "the aim of those installed through 2013 was to improve measurements, not hour by hour."

"Starting in April, interconnection will start with sales company centers and we will be able to know what the cheapest hour is at home. This will always be determined by strictly technical factors," he said.

On the other hand, the Minister assured that the price of electricity went down 4.5% in 2014 in addition to a 3.9% decrease in 2013, a great improvement from the average annual increases of 5.4% since 2004. These are good numbers for apartment owners and tenants.

"It is the first time in ten years that the price of electric power has gone down, but we are still one of the countries with the most expensive electricity due to big increases," he said.