Smart meter keeps cutting the power? ICP power limiter tripping in Seville, Spain

What it means when the smart meter cuts the power

The power control switch (ICP, Interruptor de Control de Potencia) makes sure you do not draw more than you have contracted with your supplier. If you switch on the oven, the hob, the air conditioning and the washing machine at once and the total exceeds that power, it cuts the supply to the whole home. It is not a fault in your installation: it is the limit of your contract.

In today’s digital smart meters the ICP is built into the meter itself, which belongs to the distributor (e-distribución in Seville). That is why it feels as if “the meter has tripped” while nothing in your fuse board has moved, or only the main switch.

Many British residents describe it as “the trip switch goes” or “the whole lot goes off”. Spain sells electricity with a fixed power ceiling in kW, the potencia contratada, and that ceiling is the fixed part of your bill every month, whether you reach it or not. It is the episode many newcomers live through in their first week: everything goes off, you unplug the kettle and the power comes back.

Is it the ICP or something else? RCD, MCB or power limiter

• The whole home goes dark just as you switch on a powerful appliance, with others already running. This is the classic ICP pattern.
• No circuit breaker (MCB) and no RCD has dropped in the fuse board.
• The power comes back when you switch something off and restore the supply.

If what drops is the breaker of a single circuit, it is an overload on that circuit: we explain it on MCB keeps tripping. If the RCD drops (the lever with the TEST button, a GFCI in US terms), there is an earth leakage: see RCD keeps tripping. And if the power does not come back even with everything switched off, see power cut at home.

Why you run short of power

• Installations designed for another era. Many flats from the 1960s and 1970s were designed for about 3 kW. Today the same flats have air conditioning in every bedroom, an induction hob and an electric water heater.
• Switching from a gas cooker to induction. An induction hob can demand significant power at moments of peak use.
• Aerothermal heat pumps (aerotermia), which add a continuous load that did not exist before.
• An electric car. Charging overnight while the air conditioning and the dishwasher are running can exceed your contracted power.
• Loads that coincide. Sometimes the power is enough, but everything switches on at the same time.

How we sort it out

1. We review your contract and your fuse board: contracted power, the rating of the main switch (IGA) and the cross-section of the riser cable coming from the meter.
2. We calculate your simultaneous loads, appliance by appliance, to know what power you really need.
3. We give you options: organising your usage, spreading loads, fitting a load manager or increasing the power.
4. If the power has to be increased, we check whether your installation can take it. If not, we adapt the riser, the main switch and the fuse board and issue the boletín for the distributor, as we explain on increase contracted power.

The rules that apply are ITC-BT-17 of the Spanish Low Voltage Electrotechnical Regulation, which covers the main control and protection devices, Royal Decree 1955/2000 and the distributor’s own technical rules.

Alternatives to increasing the power

Increasing your power adds a fixed cost to every bill, so before doing it other solutions are worth a look:

• Dynamic load balancing for an electric car. The charger lowers its power when the home is using more and raises it again when consumption falls, so the ICP never trips. See dynamic load balancing.
• Timing. Programming the water heater, dishwasher or washing machine for times that do not coincide with cooking or the air conditioning.
• Self-consumption and efficiency. Reviewing your tariff, your time bands and your peak and off-peak power, or looking at a solar installation. These options are on contracted power and tariff review and solar and energy efficiency.
• Three-phase supply in large villas with heavy loads, explained on single to three-phase.

A common case in Seville

In the flats of Los Remedios or Heliópolis it is very common for a family to swap the old butane cooker for an induction hob and, a few weeks later, start losing power while cooking dinner with the living room air conditioning on. The installation has a main switch and a riser cable that are decades old, and the contracted power was set for a home with no air conditioning. In these cases we measure, propose the right power and, if the installation cannot take it, adapt it before the change is requested. In new homes in Sevilla Este or the Aljarafe, which already have high electrification, the problem is usually solved simply by adjusting the contract.

Guide prices

Before any work you get the fixed price. If your power has just gone off and will not come back, call us: our 24-hour emergency electrician service helps at any hour. Other faults are on the emergency electrician page.