Increase your contracted power (potencia) in Seville, Spain

Potencia contratada explained in plain English

Potencia contratada (contracted power) is the maximum number of kilowatts you can use at the same moment. It appears on every Spanish electricity bill and it is the fixed part of what you pay. If you go over it, the ICP, a power limiter that today is built into the smart meter, cuts the supply. The whole home goes dark, nothing has moved in your fuse board, and the power often comes back on its own after a few seconds or when you press the button on the meter.

Most foreign residents meet this in their first week: kettle, oven and air conditioning on together, and everything goes off. Power is contracted in steps (3.45, 4.6, 5.75, 6.9 or 9.2 kW, for example), and many older flats in Seville still have a low step that no longer suits modern life.

When you need to increase your electricity power in Spain

You need a power increase if this happens to you:

• The power goes off when several things are switched on at once, for example the oven, the hob and the air conditioning, and comes back by itself after a while or when you reset it.
• You have to keep switching appliances off to be able to run the washing machine or the dishwasher.
• You are going to install air conditioning in more bedrooms, an induction hob, an electric water heater or a tumble dryer.
• You are going to install an EV charger and want to charge without worrying about what else is on in the house.
• You are going to install an aerothermal heat pump, which in some homes also requires switching to three-phase.

If the power goes off and you do not know why, first we have to confirm that it is the ICP and not a fault. If something in your fuse board has tripped, start with our 24-hour emergency electrician page.

Contracted power and maximum admissible power

This is the key to almost every question. Contracted power is what appears in your contract with the supplier. Maximum admissible power is what your installation can take according to the size of its cables and the rating of its protection devices, and it is the figure recorded on your boletín.

• If you want to contract a power equal to or lower than the maximum admissible power on your current boletín, it is normally enough to ask your supplier.
• If you want more than your installation allows, if you have no boletín or if the installation is more than 20 years old, the distributor (e-distribución in Seville) will ask for a new certificate. To sign it, the installation has to be ready for the new power.

So before asking for the increase, it is worth knowing what your boletín says and the condition of the installation. That is the first thing we check. The certificate itself is explained on our electrical certificate (boletín) page.

Who does what: distributor, supplier and electrician

• Your supplier (comercializadora), such as Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy or Octopus, receives your request and changes your contract.
• The distributor (distribuidora), e-distribución in Seville, approves the increase, may ask for the boletín and charges one-off fees (derechos de alta, enganche and extensión).
• The registered installer company, us, prepares the installation and signs the boletín with the new maximum power.

What has to be upgraded to increase the power

1. Supply cable (derivación individual). This is the line from your meter to your fuse board. Its size limits the power. In old flats it is often too small and has to be replaced by running new cable from the meter room.
2. Main switch (IGA). It has to match the contracted power. If your main switch is rated at fewer amps, it is changed.
3. Fuse board. If the board is old, has no room or you are going to add circuits for air conditioning or the car, it usually makes sense to fit a new fuse board at the same time.
4. Indoor circuits. Increasing the power is pointless if the air conditioning circuit is still a thin cable shared with the living room sockets. We check that every large load has its own line.
5. Earthing and RCDs. Without them the boletín cannot be signed.

If the power you need is beyond what is reasonable on single-phase, or you have three-phase equipment, the solution is to switch from single-phase to three-phase.

What potencia do you need at home?

There is no single figure: it depends on what you switch on at the same time. As a starting point before measuring:

The regulation uses two references for designing homes: basic electrification, with a minimum of 5,750 W, and elevated electrification, from 9,200 W, when there is air conditioning, a tumble dryer or electric heating. In the 2.0TD tariff, for supplies up to 15 kW, you can contract a different power for peak (punta) and off-peak (valle) periods, which is very useful if you charge a car at night.

Before increasing, we can measure your real consumption with an analyser for a few days so you choose exactly the right power: every extra kilowatt is paid every month.

Electric car: more power or dynamic load balancing

A typical home charger works at 7.4 kW on single-phase. With 4.6 kW contracted you cannot charge at that power without the ICP cutting the supply. You have three options:

• Increase the power to 9.2 kW or more, if the installation allows it.
• Increase only the off-peak power, which is when you charge at night.
• Install a charger with dynamic load balancing, which reduces the charging power when the house uses more and raises it when it uses less.

For a house with its own garage see home EV charger installation. If your space is in a communal garage, the power and the distance to the meter change the solution, as we explain in EV charger in a communal garage.

How we work

1. You tell us what you want to switch on and we ask for a bill and a photo of the fuse board and of the boletín if you have one.
2. Technical visit. We check the supply cable in the meter room, the main switch, the fuse board, the earthing and the circuits of the large loads.
3. Fixed quote. If the boletín alone is enough, we tell you. If something has to be upgraded, each item has its price.
4. Upgrade and boletín. We do the work, measure and issue the certificate with the new maximum power, which we file with the Junta de Andalucía.
5. Request to the company. With the boletín, you ask your supplier for the increase and it processes it with the distributor. If you prefer, we help you with the paperwork.

Guide prices to increase the power in Seville

The connection and extension fees (derechos de alta, enganche and extensión) are set and charged by the distributor to extend the supply, and they do not depend on us. Other rates are on our prices page.

Examples in Seville by type of home

• Nervión, Los Remedios, El Porvenir and La Macarena. 1960s and 1970s blocks with installations designed for 3 kW. This is where we do the most power increases, and paperwork alone is almost never enough: the usual job is to change the main switch or the fuse board, check the earthing and sometimes replace the supply cable from the meter room. More on Nervión.
• Sevilla Este and Entrenúcleos. Homes from 2000 onwards with modern fuse boards and, in the most recent ones, elevated electrification. The increase is usually simple and is mostly requested by people installing an EV charger. More on Sevilla Este.
• Villas and townhouses in Mairena del Aljarafe, Tomares, Bormujos and Dos Hermanas. Pool, air conditioning throughout, aerothermal heat pumps, solar panels and an electric car. Here we study whether it pays to increase on single-phase, switch to three-phase or combine the increase with dynamic load balancing. More on Tomares, Bormujos and Mairena del Aljarafe.

Regulations we apply

• ITC-BT-15: individual supply cables, whose size must match the expected power.
• ITC-BT-17: general command and protection devices, including the main switch.
• ITC-BT-25: electrification levels and circuits in the home.
• ITC-BT-04: documentation, with the installation certificate and its technical report.
• Royal Decree 1955/2000: access and connection conditions applied by the distributor.
• CNMC Circular 3/2020: the methodology for network tolls, including the 2.0TD tariff with two power periods.

The boletín is signed by an installer company registered with the Junta de Andalucía. You can see the other jobs in this family under electrical installations.

What you can do before calling us

1. Look at your bill: you will see the contracted power for peak and off-peak periods.
2. Note which appliances were on the last few times the ICP cut the supply.
3. Find the boletín for the home and check the maximum power shown on it.
4. Take a photo of the fuse board, with the label on the main switch visible.
5. Think about what you will add in the coming years, such as an electric car or an aerothermal heat pump, so you only ask for the increase once.