By Deirdre Tynan • Published: 10 Jun 2021 • 14:03
Don't forget to plug out the charger when it is not in use. Image: Pixabay
New electricity bill is designed to change the way Spaniards and expats use energy, but when is it best to charge your mobile phone?
The new electricity bill has three tariffs, and charging your mobile phone during the flat hours is by far the best money saving option. That means charging it overnight while you sleep.
Experts also warn that leaving devices on standby is still sucking electricity and bills can be reduced by up to 10 per cent if consumers plug things out when they are not in use, and that includes your mobile phone charger.
Researchers found that while charging a mobile phone costs a miniscule amount at roughly 40 cents a year, about two thirds of that goes on paying for a plugged-in charger that is not actually charging your phone, reported OKDAIRIO.
Computers, likewise, use very little energy. If plugged in during that day, including peak and lfat hours, it uses roughly 2.2 kWh, about 30 cents. But if you do not plug it out after it has been turned off, it will continue to use electricity pushing the daily cost closer to 55 cents.
Spain’s new electricity tariffs were introduced on June 1 with a three-tiered system providing cheaper periods for consumers late at night and in the early hours of the morning.
Peak prices, for example between 9pm and 10pm, are 116 percent more expensive than during off peak hours before 8am.
Three times sections are set for the new electricity tariffs: peak, flat and valley.
The peak period, in which the cost of tolls and charges will be higher, will be between 10am and 2pm and 6pm and 10pm; the flat section, with an intermediate cost, will be between 8am and 10am, 2pm and 6pm and between 10 pm and midnight; and the valley rate, the cheapest of the three, will be between midnight and 8am and at all hours over the weekends and holidays.
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Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.
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