You flick the switch and nothing happens. No hall light, no hum from the fridge, no Wi-Fi. When your whole home has no power in Spain, the first thing to work out is not how to fix it but whose problem it is: the grid's, which the distributor repairs, or your installation's, which needs an electrician.
You can usually tell in a couple of minutes without touching anything dangerous, by checking three things in order: the neighbours, your consumer unit and your meter. Here is what each answer means and who to call. If only part of the property has gone dark, that is a different situation, covered in power out in one part of the house.
Supplier, distributor, electrician: who does what in Spain
This is the part that confuses most people new to Spain. The company you pay, your comercializadora (supplier), sells you the energy and sends the bills. The distribuidora (distributor) owns the grid, the cables and the transformers, usually rents you the meter as well, and repairs faults on the network. Across most of Málaga province the distributor is e-distribución, part of the Endesa group, whoever your supplier happens to be. Your supplier does not repair the grid, so ringing them first usually just loses time.
As a rule of thumb, the meter is the boundary. Anything wrong on the grid or before your meter is the distributor's to deal with; from the meter inwards it is your installation, and that needs an authorised electrician. The supplier only comes into it if the problem is your contract.
Step 1: do the neighbours have power?
It is the quickest way to narrow things down. Look at the stairwell and entrance hall lights, the windows opposite and the street lights, or ask in the community WhatsApp group.
- Nobody in the street or the building has power: it is a grid outage. There is nothing to fix in your home: report it to the distributor, or check they already know, and wait.
- Some neighbours have power and others do not: apartment buildings are usually fed by three phases, with each home on one of them. If a phase is lost, roughly a third of the building goes dark. That is also one for the distributor.
- The neighbours have power and you do not: the fault is in your home or just before your meter. Go on to step 2.
To see whether an outage is already logged, e-distribución's website has a map of current and planned outages, and its private customer area shows whether your own supply is affected. If it is not listed, call its fault line: 900 878 212. Your distributor's fault number is printed on your electricity bill, and it is not the same as your supplier's customer service line. While you wait, what to do in a power cut covers protecting your appliances and the contents of the fridge.
Step 2: check your consumer unit
If the neighbours have power, take a torch to your cuadro eléctrico (consumer unit) and look for the switch sitting in a different position from the others. What you find tells you the next step.
1. The main switch is down
It is the largest switch, usually the first on the left, and Spanish electricians call it the IGA. Reset it once: if it holds, it was a one-off. If it trips again straight away, stop. Switch off all the magnetotérmicos (MCBs, the small switch for each circuit), raise the main switch, then turn the circuits back on one at a time. Whichever one trips it has the fault: leave it off and call an electrician.
2. The RCD has tripped
This is the most common case, and there is nearly always a specific culprit: an appliance or a circuit leaking current to earth. You can spot the diferencial (RCD) by its test button marked "T". Reset it once and, if it trips again, find the faulty circuit as we explain in why your RCD keeps tripping.
3. The ICP has tripped
Older installations may still have an ICP in the board: the interruptor de control de potencia, a power limiter, sometimes behind a seal. It trips when you switch on more than your potencia contratada (contracted power) allows, such as the oven, the air conditioning and the water heater together. Switch something off and reset it. If it happens often, your contracted power may be too low for how you live, which we cover in contracted power in Spain explained.
4. Everything is up and there is still no power
Then power is not reaching your consumer unit, and the answer is at the meter.
Step 3: check the meter
In an apartment, the meter is usually in the meter room or cupboard by the entrance, labelled with your floor and door. In a house, look in a recess in the front wall or on the boundary wall. You do not need to open anything: the display tells you enough.
The display is blank
If the meter display is completely blank, no power is reaching the meter. The fault is upstream: on the grid, in the building's supply or in the sealed fuses that protect your meter. It is not your installation, and nobody but the distributor should touch it: call them.
The display is on but the house is dark
Power is reaching the meter but not leaving it towards your home. The red light confirms it: on most models it flashes when power is being used and stays steady, or goes off, when it is not. So a steady red light in a dark house does not mean the meter is broken. That leaves two possibilities:
- The meter has cut off because you exceeded your contracted power. Spanish smart meters have the ICP built in and switch off when you go over your contracted power. Switch off the big appliances first. Depending on the model, the display shows a message and the meter resets itself or with a button. With e-distribución you can also register in its private customer area, check whether the ICP shows as disconnected and press "Reconectar ICP" from your phone.
- The meter is supplying power but it does not reach your consumer unit. If the ICP is connected and your board is still dead with everything switched on, the fault is in the derivación individual, the cable from the meter to your home, or in the main switch itself. That is your installation: call an electrician.
When it is not a fault: your contract
Sometimes nothing has broken at all. Before calling an electrician, rule these out:
- You have just moved in. If the previous owner or tenant cancelled their contract, the distributor cuts the supply. You need a contract in your own name with a supplier of your choice, and if the property has been without power for a long time you may be asked for an up-to-date boletín eléctrico (electrical certificate).
- A holiday home has been sitting empty. If a direct debit failed after you changed banks, the formal demand for payment may have gone to an address you do not check. Look through your supplier's emails and letters before anything else.
- You have unpaid bills. A cut-off for non-payment does not come out of the blue: a formal written demand for payment has to come first. If you have had one, call your supplier.
- You have switched supplier. Switching supplier does not cut the power. If the timing coincides, call the new one and ask them to check.
When it stops being a nuisance and becomes urgent
Losing power is a nuisance but rarely dangerous. It is urgent in these cases:
If you smell burning or see smoke at the consumer unit, a socket or the meter room. If it is coming from the consumer unit and you can reach it safely, switch off the main switch. If it is coming from the meter room, keep away and call 112, Spain's emergency number. There is more in what to do about a burning smell.
If there is a cable down in the street or a grid cabinet standing open or damaged: keep well away and report it to 112 and the distributor.
If water has got into the consumer unit or near it. Do not touch anything wet; we explain why in electrical safety after flooding.
If someone at home depends on electrical medical equipment. Tell the distributor when you call, and have a back-up plan ready until the power returns.
For the full guide to what needs a call now and what can wait until morning, see what counts as an electrical emergency.
If you live in the Málaga area
Across most of the province the distributor is e-distribución, so the fault number is the same whoever your supplier is. Save it in your phone now, while you have power and battery: 900 878 212.
Grid outages here usually arrive with the autumn storms and DANAs (the cut-off lows that bring torrential rain), when water or lightning hits the network; storm protection for your electrics explains how to prepare. Older buildings in the historic centre also still have meter rooms with plenty of years on them, where one tired fuse can leave half a stairwell in the dark.
If you live in a country house or on an urbanisation in the Axarquía or the Guadalhorce valley, the meter is often on the front wall or the boundary wall, sometimes well away from the door. Find it in daylight: a dark night is not the time to start looking.
So next time it takes two minutes
Keep a torch by the consumer unit. Your phone torch will do, but you will need the phone to make calls.
Label the consumer unit. Knowing what each switch does saves half the diagnosis. We show you how to read it in what each switch in the consumer unit does.
Find your meter and note which one it is. In a room of twenty identical meters, knowing yours in advance saves time exactly when you need it.
If it trips often, it is not bad luck. A main switch or RCD that trips now and again is warning you about something: a leak that is getting worse, an overloaded circuit or an appliance on its way out. It deserves a check before it leaves you in the dark on a Sunday night.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I have no power when my neighbours do?
Because the fault is on your side: in your installation or just before your meter. If something has tripped in the consumer unit, reset it once. If everything is up, look at the meter: a blank display is a job for the distributor; a lit display means either the meter has cut off for exceeding your contracted power or the fault lies between the meter and your consumer unit, which needs an electrician.
What does a steady red light on a Spanish smart meter mean?
On most smart meters the red light tracks consumption: it flashes while the home is using power and stays steady, or goes off, depending on the model, when nothing is flowing to the property. In a dark house a steady red light usually just confirms that no power is leaving the meter towards your home, not that the meter is broken. On some models it also accompanies a cut-off for exceeding your contracted power, so check whether the display shows a message.
Who do I call when the power goes off: my electricity company or the distributor?
If the street or the building is dark, or your meter display is blank, call the distributor, the company that runs the grid. Across most of Málaga province that is e-distribución, whose fault line is 900 878 212, and your own distributor's number is printed on your bill. The company you pay, the comercializadora, only needs a call if the problem is your contract. If the fault is inside your home, you need an authorised electrician.
Can my electricity be cut off without warning?
Not for unpaid bills: before suspending the supply, your electricity company has to send you a formal written demand for payment and allow time to pay. What can happen without warning is a fault on the grid. Planned outages for works are announced in advance locally and on the distributor's website.
Can I touch the meter or the fuses myself?
No. The meter and the fuses that protect it are sealed, and only the distributor may work on them: breaking a seal can lead to penalties, quite apart from the danger. What you can do is reset the main switch, the RCD or the ICP in your own consumer unit, once. If they trip again, the next step is an electrician, not another attempt.
Still without power?
VLR Instalaciones has been fixing electrical faults across Málaga province for more than 20 years, as an installation company authorised by the Junta de Andalucía, and we speak English. If the fault is in your installation, we find where it is and tell you what is needed and what it costs before we start. We run a 24-hour emergency electrician service: if you are not sure whether it is the distributor's problem or yours, give us a call and we will work it out with you.