July 1st marks another significant day in the history of Spain and in particular Spanish industry, as the national electricity supplier has become deregulated from today.

As a result of this, consumers are now free to choose their own supplier, potentially saving money of energy bills.

As part of the scheme, information leaflets were already sent out with the most recent electricity bills, providing a list of all suppliers that a consumer can switch to, but also offered a list of what the government agency believes would be the most appropriate for you as an individual.

Similar to practices in the UK, it is expected that electricity supply could break out into a price war in the future, which is great news for the consumer and the potential savings that can be made.

One recent estimate suggested that an immediate reduction of up to 10% of your electricity bill could be saved, if you choose the correct supplier. Of course, this may require a little bit of “shopping around”, but the end results would be worth it.

It is also possible to stay with your existing supplier, but it is also worth noting that if you do choose to change, there is a commitment by all companies concerned that this changeover will be done with no disruption to your supply. You should also rest assured that the existing infrastructure will still be used, so there will be no rewiring operations as such, it is simply a change of provider.

For your assistance, we have provided a basic translation below of the letter sent out by Iberdrola recently:

As a result of new legislation, from 1 July 2009 the electricity supply will be done by independant electricity marketing companies.
From this time, our company (Iberdrola), as master distributor for the networks in your area, will continue operating facilities, reading meters and providing their 24hr breakdown service.

This means that you should switch supplier. This change, will neither cut off your supply nor have an additional cost to you, we present you with 3 alternatives:

1. You can hire a marketing company at a price freely agreed. To make available existing offerings, we provide a full list of marketing companies available on the reverse of this letter.

2. Alternatively, you can contract the supply of any of the following companies (which the government has designated as officical traders). Any of these companies will be obliged to provide electricity at a price fixed by the Government.

3. Finally, if no change is made by July 1st, delivery will be automatically assumed by the existing company MARKETING IBERDROLA, SA, which will send invoices and charges for managing the power supply as set in RD 485/2009. In this case, we will transfer your data to the company to continue the service.

If in the process of changing supplier problems arise, you can call the customer service phone number 901 20 20 20.

While waiting to provide the best service, receive a cordial greeting.