Power cuts in Jimena on Friday

JIMENA The Town Hall has advised of a power cut on Friday, November 16, between 11am and 8,30pm that will impact the following areas: the bottom part of the village including Pasada de Alcalá, El Gaditano, Las Limas, as well as some streets in the village, including Llana. The image is of the letter received by the Town Hall, but, as usual, is not particularly clear as to which streets exactly. In any case, be advised, although, from past experience, the power cut is unlikely to last the whole of the time they have said.

Programmed power outage without warning

JIMENA This man up a pole works for a subcontractor of Endesa, one of the world's major power companies that is in turn owned by the Italian public company Enel and the Spanish construction company Acciona. Yesterday morning, Tuesday, Dielectric (the subcontractor) personnel were working on a 'distribution centre' (whatever that might be) in Estación de Jimena. They started work at about 8.30, when the man up the pole cut off supply to a large portion of the village. Without warning. Oh yes, bits of printouts were put about, under doors, and a local bar knew about the imminent outage the day before. Among other places impacted and never advised were the local chemist (where plenty of medications must be kept under strict refrigeration temperatures) and at least two local bars, who not only couldn't serve up coffee at their busiest time of day (breakfast), but their ice creams threatened to melt in the heat (Prospero got one for free, only a little bent, in the evening, for which thank you, Morales). Power was restored at about 2.30. We did not register a particularly bad surge when the light came back on, which is the most dangerous part of the way this company carries out its maintenance work - at least for our white goods and computers, etc.

Ex-President Aznar get €200,000 job with Endesa

SPAIN (Agencies) Former premier José María Aznar was recently given a job at Endesa, the elecricicity company. He is not on the Board of Directors but has been taken on as a consultant on Latin America, to which the company and its President, Borja Parado, look for expansion. Aznar will have to manage his time carefully, as he is also President of the Fundación para el Análisis y los Estudios Sociales (FAES), a Professor at Georgetown University, as well as a consultant to the Atlantic Council. Aznar has been a consultant to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation since 2006, at a salary last year of €171,300.>

PeAk aNd TrOuGhs in power supply

We are in the 21st century. Endesa demands we pay the same as everywhere else. Yet at the first sign of rain, out go the lights, snap back on,                       stop.                          Start. Why are the councils of small villages or towns such as those we live in not banding together to demand proper infrastructure that doesn't date back to the 1950s? Is it because they owe the companies a lot of money? Endesa, which bought out Sevillana and was in turn bought out by the Italian company Enel, whose largest shareholder is reportedly Silvio Berlusconi (a quick Google search neither confirms nor denies this), operates throughout the world and continues to deliver great results year after year, surely has the obligation to provide a service that does no damage. (Note: This rant is offered as an excuse for not being able, or willing, to blog since Sunday for fear of damage to computers, etc.)

Electricity bills to go up by 4.8% on October 1

SPAIN (Agencies) The Ministry of Industry announced yesterday that electricity bills will be going up by a shocking 4.8% on October 1. The reason behind it -which amounts to a 30% rise in three years- is that 'it costs the supplier more', according to one of the energy companies, Endesa. Consumers organizations throughout the country have called the rise variously as 'unnecessary', 'unjustified', 'barbarous', 'indecent' and the like. One of them, FACUA, says that the government "bends to the interests of the comapnies and not the consumer." So far this year our bills have gone up by about 10%. (Please leave your comments below.)

Electricity and VAT on the rise...

SPAIN
The government regulatory authorities, i.e. the Industry Ministry, are planning a rise of an average 4% in electricity bills for later this year. This coincides with a rise of 2% (from 16% to 18%) in the Impuesto de Valor Añadido (IVA, the equivalent to VAT) set for July 1. At the bottom end of the scale of electricity rises are small and medium companies (pymes, including the self-employed, about 5% rise) with households at the top (approximately 10%). While the rises are in the planning and pre-approval stages, consumer organizations are already saying that the price of electricity has risen by 26.1% in 30 months, which is six times the rise of the cost of living index (IPC in its Spanish acronym).>

About changes in your electricity supply

Phil Markham, of Jimena Real Estate, sent this item he found online. There seems to be much confusion on the subject, which is not surprising as the electricity companies are none too clear. This item comes from a law office, details about which are at the bottom of the article. (JimenaPulse is not responsible for information contained therein.) Do I need to do anything? Contrary to an article that appeared in a local British paper your electricity bills will not increase by 20% if you fail to re-register with your existing electricity provider or sign a contract with a new one of your choice. Consumers who have contracted 10kw of power (factories, shops, businesses) have already been notified that they are obligated to move over to the free market and choose their preferred supplier as, in the future,>

Readers ask about an Endesa letter re your ICP

Several people have stopped Prospero in the street to ask about a letter they received from their electricity company, like the one here, our old friend Endesa. Why nobody has asked us online, we cannot fathom;  it's the kind of thing we are here for (what would you do without us?). Back to the letter. Our sponsors TheTranslationPeople have kindly translated it into comprehensible English, available free below. If you have any questions, ever, please do not hesitate to contact us - we will do our best to help.>