Understand your electricity invoice

YOUR ELECTRICITY BILL
We know how confusing it can be but understanding the make-up of your invoice is important if you want to know where your money is going or would like to switch suppliers.

1. Your supplier’s information
Your bill information will be displayed, generally including:
Your supplier information: Name, Company Logo, Address and Tax ID.

2. Invoice Details (Datos factura)

  • Invoice number: An identification number of the issued bill.
  • Reference number: A code for internal use of the supply company.
  • Invoice issue date: The date of the bill being issued.
  • Billing period: The interval date in which the invoice has calculated the charge.
  • Payment due date: The date period in which you can expect the charge to be taken or should be paid.

3. Postal address details
The name and address details of where the invoice may be sent if paper billing and correspondence is required. These may differ to the actual supply address of the property and the actual contract holder for the energy supply company.

4. Invoice summary and payment details (Resumen de la factura y datos de pago)
This section generally displays an overview and summary of the total of your bill including: the consumption, power capacity charge, meter rental and applied government taxes. It may also include your payment method and some of the direct debit details.

5. Your Energy Consumption Summary (Informacion del consumo eléctrico)
This may display your current and previous meter readings (estimated or real) along with the consumption during the billing period. You may also find a graphics report showing the consumption history for the past 12 months.

6. Additional information
There could be information provided about your consumption habits, upcoming promotions, saving tips and other relevant information that some suppliers pass on to their clients.

7. Contract details (Datos del contrato)
This section contains the main details and specifics of the contract holder and supply. This includes:
– Contract holder or Titular del contrato. The name of the person registered as the contract holder.
– Contract holder ID or NIF. (NIF, NIE or Passport number). The ID registered with the contract holder.
– Supply address or Direccion de suministro. The registered address for the supply. This may differ from the postal address of the property, but this is the address registered with the distributor.
– Contracted product, rate plan or producto contratado. The name of the rate plan.
– Contracted power or potencia contratada. Your contracted power capacity in KW.
– Universal Supply Point Code (USPC) or Código Universal del Punto de Suministro (CUPS). This is a unique code that identifies your supply point address. It is headed by the sequence “ES” followed by 20 characters, numbers and letters. You will need to provide this should you have any inquiries regarding your bill, contract or importantly, switch providers.
– Meter number or número de Contador. This is used by the distributor.
– Supply company or su comercializadora. The name of your energy supply company.
– Distributor or su distribuidora. This is the name of the distribution company responsible for the maintenance of the lines, meter and supply in your area.
– Access contract reference or referencia del contrato de acceso is an internal contract number with the distributor.
– Access toll or peajes (tarifas) de acceso, is displayed as a number that relates to your contracted power eg, 2.0A, 2.1DHA, 3.0A.
– End of supply contract or fin del contrato de suministro is the end date of your contract. This is also the start date for the auto renewal of your contract with your energy supply company.

8. Invoice breadown
This section will display the breakdown of the invoice and includes:
– Contracted power or potencia calculation. Cost per KW per day and total price. If you have a rate with time discrimination or a power capacity of more than 15Kw you will see the breakdown of consumption and cost in each time period. It may also display the access toll rate which is an included cost that goes to the distributor for the use of the power grid.
– Energy consumption or energía consumida. The cost in €/Kwh and amount of electricity consumed in Kwh with total price. If you have a rate with time discrimination or power capacity above 15Kw you will see the breakdown of consumption and cost in each time period. It may also display the access toll rate which is an included cost that goes to the distributor for the use of the power grid. 
– Electricity tax or impuesto de electricidad. A tax only applied to the power capacity and electricity consumption as established by the government.
– Meter rental or alquilar de medida y control. The cost per day of the meter rental and total price.
– Discounts or other service charges may be shown such as any optional insurances or meter modifications (costs in relation to changing your meter settings)
– VAT or IVA/ IGIC. The tax as established by the government.
– Total invoice amount or total importe facture. The total invoice amount to be paid.

9. Invoice cost make up or destino del importe de la factura
Usually in a graphic, this section will display where and how the costs of your invoice come and go. This includes:

– The cost and generation of the electricity delivered to your home.
– The regulated costs, the incentives for renewables, cogeneration and waste. The amount allocated to the installations that generate power from renewable sources or cogeneration.
– Cost for the transport and distribution networks. The costs of the building and maintenance of the facilities that transport and distribute the electricity.
-All applicable taxes, IVA/ IGIC and the electricity tax that are paid to the government.

Please note that design features will vary for each energy supplier, however by law the same information will be shown. As an example, and for visual purposes only we have used an invoice template from Endesa. Some suppliers temporarily remove certain details for security purposes.

More Questions?

If you have any questions about our service or about the energy market in Spain, read our guides.

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