You could be paying up to 30% more for energy in Spain than your supplier’s other customers

Two households with the same energy company in Spain can end up with very different bills, with some customers paying up to 30 per cent more than others. Yet most haven’t switched in years, and almost a third of those staying put believe it wouldn’t make any difference.

Some customers pay up to 30 per cent more with the same company 

Households that signed up with an energy company years ago and never looked back could be paying well over the odds. Spain’s largest consumer organisation, OCU, said its regular analysis of real bills shows some customers pay up to 30 per cent more than others with the very same supplier.

The reason is rarely one big jump. A tariff that looked competitive on the day it was signed can slowly stop being so after a run of price updates, while the same company offers sharper deals to the customers it’s trying to win. 

That figure comes from OCU’s bill analyses rather than its new survey of 2,813 members and supporters, published on Wednesday October 7. However, the survey goes a long way to explaining why so many people end up in that position.

Eight in 10 customers didn’t switch supplier last year

According to the survey, 82 per cent of customers hadn’t changed electricity or gas supplier in the previous 12 months, and 58 per cent have been with the same company for three years or more. 

Among those who stay put, 30 per cent said they don’t switch because they think there’s no real difference between companies, the familiar ‘they’re all the same anyway’ shrug. OCU said its results show otherwise, with clear gaps in satisfaction, customer service, transparency and how often things go wrong.

Plenty of customers aren’t even sure what they’re paying for, either. Some 12 per cent of electricity customers didn’t know which type of tariff they had, rising to 17 per cent among households with both gas and electricity. 

One in three customers ran into problems with their supplier 

Some 30 per cent of those surveyed had an issue with their company, and the most common complaint was a lack of clear information about tariff changes and updates. That’s exactly the kind of quiet change that can leave a long-standing customer paying more without noticing.

Other complaints included discounts that were never applied, incorrect meter readings and late bills. Two in three people who had a problem were unhappy with how it was handled, with the worst-rated cases involving services switched on without being requested and delays getting a new supply up and running.

Som Energia scored 96 while Endesa managed 48

Som Energia, a renewable energy cooperative, topped the satisfaction table with 96 out of 100, followed by Octopus Energy on 86 and Imagina Energía on 82. Endesa trailed on 48, half of Som Energia’s mark, while Naturgy and Iberdrola Clientes only just scraped a pass.

Those scores measure how happy customers are rather than who’s cheapest, so they won’t tell anyone which deal is best for their home. Still, they land at an awkward moment, with wholesale electricity in Spain passing €200 per megawatt hour on Tuesday October 6 for the first time since 2022.

How to check whether your deal still stacks up 

OCU’s advice is to review contract conditions regularly and compare them with what’s on the market. The easiest starting point is the latest bill, which shows the tariff name, the price per kilowatt hour and the fixed charge for contracted power (the capacity a home pays for, whatever it actually uses).

Comparing the total yearly cost is more useful than the headline price per kilowatt hour. The CNMC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, Spain’s competition and energy regulator) runs a free online comparator, and switching supplier doesn’t cost anything. 

OCU is also running its tenth collective energy purchase, where people register for free and with no commitment, then decide whether to switch once the winning offers are known. More than 18,000 people have already signed up, although the date of the auction hasn’t been announced yet.

So before the heating goes on this winter, it’s worth digging out the last bill and checking it against what the same company, and its rivals, are offering new customers today.