Electricity companies denounced for not checking meters according to law

SPAIN (Agencies) Over 50% of our electricity meters are over 15 years ago, and therefore require regular inspections to ensure that they are measuring the wattage used with adequate precision. This has been brought to public attention by the consumers’ organisation Facua, which has filed an official complaint against the electricity boards with the Ministry of Industry. They claim that the sector has failed to comply with the substitution plan which obliged the electricity companies to install digital meters in the homes of 30 per cent of their clients (around six million in total in Spain) before the end of 2010. The association maintains that the delay may result in errors that mean that some households receive bills that do not correspond to the real amount of power consumed. The claim filed by Facua is against the five main power suppliers in the country: Endesa, Iberdrola, Gas Natural Fenosa, E.On and Hidrocantábrico, as well as the group of small suppliers operating in Spain.>
The claim denounces that the sector has been putting off replacing the old meters for years “while they continue to profit from the rent”, explains the Facua spokesman Rubén Sánchez. He also complains of the “passive attitude” shown by the ministry in recent years, while at the same time “it has allowed the electricity companies to penalise customers with up to 31 euros on each monthly bill if after two warnings they have not installed a power control switch (ICP)”, he adds.

In Facua’s opinion, this fine established by the Order ITC/1.857/2008 and dated June 26th is “absurd”, as the ICP switches customers are being forced to install will be “useless” once the new digital meters have been provided to replace the old mechanical ones, “since these have power control devices already incorporated”, Sánchez points out.

Facua estimates that the majority of electricity meters in homes in Spain are over 15 years old. At this age the reliability of the readings given cannot be guaranteed “which means that the devices should be checked periodically to make sure they are working properly”, claims the organisation.

But that is not their only complaint. Facua is also calling for the fees paid by customers for the rental of these old meters to be abolished, and has asked the Ministry of Industry to ban companies from charging rent for mechanical meters. “In June 2010 the ministry proposed abolishing the rent for customers whose companies had not replaced their old meters, but seemed to forget about their announcement”, the association points out.
According to Facua, power suppliers make millions of euros every year by charging each customer 0.64 euros (0.54 plus IVA) to rent meters “that not only are not inspected regularly, but have also paid for themselves many times over”, they maintain. How do they work that out? “The cost of a mechanical meter on the wholesale market is little more than ten euros, which means that this is recovered in less than 20 months of rental fees”, stresses Sánchez.

The plan for the renovation of electricity meters in Spain is governed by another Ministry of Industry Order, 3860/2007 dated December 28th. According to this regulation, by now 30 per cent of all meters should have been replaced. The Order states that all the meters for supplies of up to 15 kilowatts “must be exchanged for new equipment that allows time differentiation and remote management before December 31st 2018; 30% of them before the end of 2010, another 20% before the end of 2012, 20% more before the end of 2015 and the remaining 30% before the end of 2018”. With the new digital meters companies can take their monthly readings remotely, without the need to send employees to individual homes.