The primary use to which gas is put in Spain
is cooking, heating water and producing background heat in
the cooler months. Many will be familiar with the mobile Calorgas
type fires, which have the cylinder tucked inside or behind
them. A small or average size apartment will be heated easily
for in excess of a week by a single cylinder, in some cases
even longer. A large villa could easily use three cylinders
in a week for a single room, say a large lounge.
Only recently have the Spanish started to insulate
their houses. In winter, whatever heat you produce is soon
lost to the outside, particularly through the ceiling and
roof.
Whilst heat is lost the same
way in summer, making conditions very pleasant,
in winter it adds to the cost of maintaining
a comfortable temperature. It probably is reasonable to allow
somewhere between £6.00--£10.00 per week for heating a medium
sized villa by gas, during the months of December, January
and February. Cooking and heating water is not included in
this figure. Smaller buildings, apartments etc, - far less.
When it comes to heating water, gas is infinitely
preferable to electricity and works out at about half the
cost. Instant water heaters, costing about £100
- 130 can be purchased and we'll talk about installation
later on. These heaters will give two people, ample hot water
during the winter months and last somewhere between 14
- 17 days. If children are involved in the computation
and regularly are bathed in deep water then your gas won't
last as long.
In summer, gas tends to last far longer for
several reasons: The primary reason being the simple fact
that water in the mains becomes hotter because of ambient
temperatures and therefore requires less energy to raise it
to the desired temperature. Another is the amount of time
people tend to spend in swimming pools. Showering off after
a dip in the pool does not really require a bath half an hour
later. Further, many start and end the day with a "quick dip
in the pool. Children especially! (Don't leave them on their
own).
The cost of gas for a year, and of course,
this can only be an average for all types of property , will
be somewhere in the region of £130 - 225.
To obtain a gas supply used to be a character
building exercise, with many prepared to burn copious quantities
of electricity sooner than face the ordeal of obtaining a
gas contract. Today, things are different. The government
removed the monopoly from the main and only supplier of gas
with incredible results. No longer was it necessary to know
your grandmothers inside leg measurement and be able to recite
your passport number backwards, instead, a simple application
for a supply was granted with the minimum of inconvenience.
Each gas bottle that you require will cost
4,000 pesetas. This comes fully charged and in effect means
that you have paid a deposit of 3,000 pesetas for each bottle.
When you have no further use for your gas bottles simply return
them, when you will be refunded 500 pesetas not 3000. Nobody
knows why there is a 2500 peseta difference and in any event,
finding out would be painful and take far too long. Accept
that this is the way they do business in Spain. The
Spanish Property ABC
