Energy Costs in Spain

The current situation

Energy costs in Spain have risen sharply over the last few years. Electricity bills are now one of the biggest expenses for households - and for renters, who can't install solar panels, switch out old appliances, or retrofit insulation, the options can feel limited.

But they're not. Most renters are overpaying in ways that are surprisingly easy to fix. Depending on your current plan and usage patterns, these changes can result in big savings.

Here's where the money actually goes, and what you can do about each one.

The biggest savings have nothing to do with your habits

Most energy advice starts with behaviour. Turn off the lights. Take shorter showers. Sure, fine. But here's what nobody mentions first: the single biggest variable in your energy bill is which plan you're on.

Spain has a deregulated energy market. That means you can choose your provider and your rate structure. Most renters never do. They inherit whatever the landlord sets up, which is often the default regulated rate (PVPC) or an old contract that hasn't been reviewed in years.

Switching to a plan that actually matches how you live - when you cook, when you work from home, when you run the washing machine - can make a significant difference without changing a single habit. The CNMC (Spain's markets regulator) provides a public comparator tool for exactly this reason.³

What to do:

1. Find your current provider and plan on a recent bill (top of the first page)

2. Check whether you're on the regulated PVPC rate or a free-market contract

Time-of-use pricing makes a real difference

Spain's electricity pricing shifts throughout the day under the PVPC tariff. There are three bands: punta (peak), llano (standard), and valle (off-peak). Off-peak rates can be roughly half the price of peak hours, though exact prices vary daily.⁴

Here's what that looks like in practice: doing laundry on a Sunday morning instead of a Tuesday afternoon costs about half as much. Running the dishwasher late in the evening rather than at dinnertime? Same story. Weekends and public holidays are off-peak all day.

You don't need to become obsessive about it. Just nudge the big appliances - washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, oven - into cheaper hours. That alone moves the needle more than turning off every light in your apartment.

What to do:

1. Learn the three bands

   • punta (peak) - 10:00-14:00 & 18:00-22:00

   • llano (standard) - 08:00-10:00, 14:00-18:00 & 22:00-00:00

   • valle (off-peak) - 00:00-08:00 & all weekends/holidays

2. Set your washing machine and dishwasher to run on weekends or during off-peak hours

3. Use your oven during off-peak or standard hours when possible

4. If your appliances have delay-start timers, use them - set and forget

Climate control is where the real money goes

Whether it's heating in winter or air conditioning in summer, climate control is the biggest energy expense in most Spanish rentals - and it's where you feel price increases the most.

Heating

Dropping your thermostat by just one degree saves around 7% on heating costs.⁵ Not noticeable on your body. Very noticeable on your bill. If your heating system has a timer, use it - there's no reason to heat an empty apartment from 9 to 6 while you're at work. And if your place has no insulation to speak of (which covers a lot of the rental stock in coastal Spain), a cheap draft excluder under the door does more than you'd think.

What to do:

1. Set heating to 19-20°C (each degree down saves ~7%)

2. Program timers to switch off when you leave and on before you return

3. Check doors and windows for drafts - seal obvious gaps with weather strips or draft excluders

4. Close shutters and blinds at night to reduce heat loss through windows

Cooling

Air conditioning is the mirror image of the same problem. (If you want the full picture on AC rights, installation rules, and who pays for what, see our guide to air conditioning in Spanish rentals.) The IDAE recommends setting AC to 25°C in summer - each degree below that can increase energy use by around 7%.⁶ A fan running alongside the AC lets you set it a couple of degrees higher without noticing. And just like heating, a timer matters: cooling an empty apartment all afternoon is expensive.

What to do:

1. Set AC to 25°C (each degree below that costs ~7% more)

2. Use a fan alongside AC - it lets you raise the thermostat 2-3°C without feeling warmer

3. Program timers so you're not cooling an empty home

4. Close shutters and blinds during the day to keep direct sun out - this alone can reduce indoor temperature by several degrees

Hot water: easy to overlook, expensive to ignore

Heating water accounts for a hefty chunk of household energy use, and in Spain, many rental flats run on electric water heaters - the least efficient kind.

You probably can't swap out the heater (your landlord would have thoughts about that). But you can turn down the temperature dial on the unit itself. Most are set to 60-70°C by default. Reducing it to 55°C is still more than enough for showers and dishes, and it cuts the energy needed to keep that tank hot all day.

One important note: don't go below 55°C. At lower temperatures, there's a risk of Legionella bacteria growing in stored water. Spanish regulations require hot water systems to maintain a minimum of 50°C at the point of use, but health authorities recommend at least 55°C in the tank as a safe margin.⁷ So 55°C is the sweet spot - safe and still a meaningful reduction from the typical factory setting.

If you've got a timer option on the heater, even better. Set it to heat water during off-peak hours and let the tank hold temperature through the day.

What to do:

1. Find your water heater and check the temperature dial (usually on the front or bottom)

2. Turn it down to 55°C - safe, comfortable, and cheaper to maintain

3. If there's a timer, set it to heat water in off-peak hours only (before 8am)

4. Take showers rather than baths - uses roughly a third of the water and energy

The real point

Energy costs in Spain aren't mysterious. They're just poorly explained. Your rate plan matters most, timing matters second, and climate control and hot water are where the real spend lives. A few targeted moves, none of them dramatic, - add up.

That's what good renting looks like. Not penny-pinching on every light switch, but knowing enough about how your home works that you're not overpaying every month.

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fluidic.io builds tools that help renters in Spain understand and manage their homes. If energy costs are one of those things you keep meaning to figure out, Rent AI can help you make sense of it.

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Sources

1. Boletín Oficial del Estado - temporary electricity VAT reductions introduced under Real Decreto-ley 12/2021 and extended through successive decrees, expired 31 December 2024

2. European Commission, Directorate-General for Energy - reporting on energy market impacts of Middle East disruptions, March 2026

3. CNMC - Comparador de ofertas de energía (comparador.cnmc.gob.es)

4. Red Eléctrica de España - daily PVPC rates published on esios.ree.es

5. European Commission / International Energy Agency, "Playing My Part" energy savings initiative, April 2022

6. IDAE (Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de la Energía) - Guía Práctica de la Energía

7. Real Decreto 865/2003 on Legionella prevention; updated Spanish technical standards (2017) recommend ≥55°C in storage tanks