Spanish utility switching helper

Electricity tariff types to compare

• Compare PVPC (the regulated tariff, priced against the wholesale market hour by hour) against fixed-price free-market offers. Ask each supplier which one they are quoting and get the exact €/kWh rate in writing — "competitive" is not a rate.
• Ask about time-of-use bands (punta / llano / valle). Most tariffs price early-evening hours highest; if you can shift laundry, dishwasher or charging into off-peak hours, a time-of-use plan usually beats a flat one.
• EV charging: ask specifically about a dedicated night-charging or smart-EV rate — do not assume a standard tariff already accounts for it.
• Pool pump and filtration run for months at a time, usually on a timer — that steady load makes the time-of-use bands worth comparing properly rather than judging tariffs on price-per-kWh alone.

Contract gotchas to check before you sign

• Check for a permanencia (minimum-term lock-in) clause and the exact early-exit penalty before signing. A lower headline rate sometimes trades for a 12-month-plus lock-in.
• Read what is bundled in as "maintenance" or "boiler cover" add-ons — these are separate optional products, not part of the energy rate, and are sometimes opt-out by default rather than opt-in.
• Confirm the standing charge (potencia contratada / contracted power) separately from the per-kWh rate. Lowering contracted power cuts the daily fixed charge but risks tripping the breaker if set too low for the property.
• Mains gas is uncommon in Jávea outside a few developments — most properties run on bottled/bulk LPG or are all-electric. Confirm which actually serves the property before shopping for "gas" deals; either way it is a separate contract from electricity.

Paperwork you'll need

• NIE (or NIF) — most suppliers require it to open a contract in your name.
• CUPS number (Código Universal de Punto de Suministro) — the ~20-character code unique to the property's supply point. Find it on a previous bill, or ask the current owner or agent. Every switch needs it.
• A Spanish IBAN for direct debit (domiciliación bancaria) — almost all suppliers bill this way, not by card.

Notes for your setup

• Apartments: confirm whether your electricity is individually metered or shares a communal meter (lift, communal lighting, shared pool). Communal costs are usually billed through the comunidad de propietarios, separately from your own switch.
• Villas: there is no comunidad to average costs with, so your contracted power and standing charges are entirely your own — getting the tariff and contracted power right matters more.
• Holiday home: ask directly whether the supplier offers a no-minimum-consumption tariff, since the property may sit empty for weeks at a time — not all suppliers do this, so it is worth asking rather than assuming.
• Year-round home: time-of-use and solar-linked tariffs pay off faster the more of the year you are actually drawing power, so the extra few minutes comparing bands is worth it.
• Solar feed-in: ask each supplier's current compensación de excedentes (surplus feed-in) rate and whether it is paid as a bill credit or cash. Rates and terms vary supplier to supplier and change over time — this page does not quote figures, so get the current offer in writing.

Water & internet in Jávea

• Water is metered per property by the local water company and is not a competitive market — there is nothing to "switch" — but do check the meter reading and standing charges match what you were told at completion.
• Internet/fibre, unlike electricity, does have genuine multi-supplier competition in Jávea, and permanencia lock-ins apply here too — check the contract length before switching for a promotional price.