Many neighborhood communities across Spain these days face a common dilemma: how to prevent the gas bill for central heating from becoming a true nightmare, a tsunami that sweeps across their fragile budgets, without cooling. “The consumption we have planned for this quarter (October, November and December) Usually it is around 50,000 euros but at the current price it goes up to 200,000 euros », estimates Pablo Figuerillo, Property Manager and Regional Manager for Madrid at Inmho. The company operates more than 6000 neighborhood communities across Spain. With these wickers the decision becomes dramatic. The options they face are as follows: Saving Money reduce the number of heating hours and temperature, Switch to the new regulated rate (TUR-4) For community gas boilers approved by the government on October 18 or to close boilers this year.
Both real estate departments and In my humble opinion s Providencas As of the General Council of the Associations of Property Managers in Spain (CGCAFE), they confirm that they have discovered cases of communities choosing not to provide central heating services, although most of them choose saving measures to lower the bill.
How to save on heating
About the possibility of reducing the bill by tightening the belt. Real estate managers have indicated different options: “A slight reduction in heating running time s Lowering the water temperature in the radiators, the so-called “force curve”. Instead of sending it to 75 degrees, you can do it at 70. This is a huge saving, because the neighbor who touches the radiator burns in the same way “, General Council of Colleges of Real Estate Managers in Spain (CGCAFE) Pablo Abascal who also advised to start boilers at a lower temperature. Plus, choose to start once during the day even if it’s late.
Abascal (CGCAFE) warns that “we will not continue to pay for the comfort we used to have” and points to new European funds (“Next Generation”) that fund aid to improve energy efficiency in our homes. From this organization they recommend ordering this Energy Rehabilitation Grants of their buildings as a long and mid-range solution. «Change the windows, provide the building with a more effective sheath, especially if the building is more than 30 years old, as well as the external insulation of the facade. They give us money to invest in buildings under unique conditions”, adds the chief property managers in Spain, who also mentioned the possibility of installing switches on radiators that open and close automatically at certain temperatures.
Switching to the new regulated rate, is not so easy…
The third option is to change to the new rate of communal gas boilers known as “TUR Regulated Rate -4”approved by the government on October 18. From the General Council that brings together property managers in Spain, they estimate savings of 40% for neighborhood communities that take advantage of this new rate. If you choose to take advantage of it, this decision must be submitted to a simple majority of the owners meeting.
Before making the move, there are three conditions that neighborhood communities must meet to take advantage of this new rate. The first consists of Stay up to date with the payment with the marketer. The second condition is Install cost allocations or individual meters For heating before September 30, 2023. In the event that this work cannot be carried out, in the current year, the readiness to perform this installation before the above-mentioned date must be approved by a certified sworn statement at an official meeting of neighbors. Communities that cannot install this type of counter, for technical reasons, can benefit from this regulated rate after a justified technical report.
Finally, neighboring communities must have a Energy Efficiency Certificate. “I have not yet been able to pass any rate,” acknowledges ABC Figueruelo (Inmho) who does not hesitate to define the process as “Tetris” and accuses gas marketers of “trying to set up obstacles so that communities do not pass a regulated rate.” In this context, the head of this group added In Madrid, which operates more than 6,000 communities across Spain, “the cost of this price reduction is borne by the government, although the government pays it later.”
In the same line, Jorge Castillo (Prodivinkas) pronounces himself. “It is not easy to change the price. So far I haven’t been able to do that because most of the associations I have contracts are better, but the government solution is very rare because it requires you to invest.”
