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From: Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: Grand Apagon - Electricity (not) in Spain
Date: Thu, 1 May 2025 18:37:49 -0700
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On 5/1/2025 5:54 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> On 2025-05-02 00:16, Don Y wrote:
>> On 5/1/2025 2:28 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>> On 2025-04-30 11:57, Don Y wrote:
>>>> A *small* "whole home" generator is about 14KW.  OK if you are
>>>> careful with your sequencing loads.  A normal home service is 24KW.
>>>
>>> A typical home in Spain (a flat) is typically limited to 3.45 KW. Mine is 
>>> nominally limited to 2.3 Kw. Affluent or bigger homes could be 5.75KW.
>>
>> A smaller home may have a 60A service (~14KW).  The 100A service
>> (24KW) tends to be the norm (in older developments).  Newer homes
>> have 200A services (48KW).
>>
>> We tend to be bigger energy consumers than the rest of the world
>> (i.e., "pigs").
> 
> We can have as much as we want, as long as we pay. The monthly invoice has two 
> basic parts: a variable part, proportional to the watts we actually use, and a 
> fixed part, proportional to the maximum watts we contract to have. So if we say 
> we want a fuse of 25A on house input, we pay 25 times K, a constant in euros.
> 
> Thus it pays to have a small fuse. It is not a fuse, just a calibrated switch 
> with a lead seal. Recently, it is some firmware in the smart meter.

Our "enforced limit" is determined by the ampacity of the actual
wire feed to the house, further limited by the physical fusing.

What we *pay* is based on what we use -- plus a fixed charge that
applies to all similar residences.  My "fixed charge"  remains the
same even if we spend the summer elsewhere (i.e., effectively NO
power consumed).  Similarly, I can run the air conditioner with
the windows open (!) if I wanted to flaunt wealth.

The problem comes when your peak needs start to encroach on
the ampacity of the service that is feeding the residence.
Upgrading that feed is costly as it requires opening a trench,
inspections, disconnects and reconnects, etc.

> I don't know the reasoning for this system, but the distribution company can 
> thus calibrate the maximum power needed, different from the statistical max 
> power. If the entire city maxes on power and it goes down, we can sue. We 
> contracted and pay for the maximum on the entire network!

So, you pay for *capacity* in addition to usage.  Here, the assumption
is that there will always be "enough available" to suit your needs.

[This has historically been true -- save for an outage with the
natural gas supply a few years ago when demand exceeded the
abilities of the pipelines to deliver fuel]