One of the most recurrent questions by new owners and tenants of apartments and houses. The power of light necessary to contract depends entirely on our needs, as well as the amount of electrical appliances and devices that we have connected to the current . We refer to elements such as heating (if it is electric), air conditioning, refrigerator, washing machine, dishwasher ... In short, the set of electrical appliances that inhabit a house. Each of these elements has a consumption that is measured in kilowatts (kW). This same measure is used when hiring a light rate to see how much light power we need, and it will be the one that we will use to calculate the recommended electrical power.
If we want to save on the electricity bill, in this other article on how to pay less electricity based on our electricity consumption we explain how to change the type of rate.
First of all, how many kW does a house consume per day and what is the average consumption?
Before proceeding to look for a rate or plan for electricity power, we need to calculate the electricity consumption of a house during a day .
In addition to the number of electrical appliances and appliances connected to the mains (the energy expenditure for lighting is often negligible, around 0.015 kW per bulb), the electricity consumption of a house depends on the type of appliance and its efficiency .
Currently there are different types of efficiency, and they are specified according to the following labeling:
Efficient appliances
- A +++
- A ++
- A +
Appliances with moderate consumption
- TO
- B
Electrical appliances with high electrical consumption
- C
- D
Based on this type of labeling, the average consumption of each appliance can vary from a few watts to several kilowatts . However, we can make an average estimate of consumption according to the type of appliance.
We leave you below with the most common consumptions of each household appliance:
- Traditional electric heating : from 1 to 2.5 kW
- Low consumption electric heating : 0.4 to 0.8 kW
- Air conditioning : 0.9 to 2 kW
- Vitroceramic : from 0.9 to 2 kW
- Furnace : from 1.2 to 2.2 kW
- Washing machine : 1.5 to 2.2 kW
- Dishwasher : from 1.5 to 2.2 kW
- Refrigerator : 0.25 to 0.35 kW
- Microwave : 0.9 to 1.5 kW
- Television : 0.15 to 0.4 kW
Again these consumptions depend on the type of labeling, energy efficiency and power in watts (W).
So what power of light do I need and what is the recommended electrical power?
To calculate the light power that a house needs without resorting to an online electric power calculator, the unknown in the equation is found by adding the consumption of all the appliances that will be connected at the same time and in operation .
So, if we usually have the television, electric heating, refrigerator, washing machine and air conditioning connected at the same time, the sum of these and the total consumption will be as follows:
- Television (0.25 kW) + Traditional electric heating (1.5 kW) + Refrigerator (0.3 kW) + Washing machine (2 kW) + Air conditioning (1.5 kW) = 5.55 kW
The resulting power required will be 5.5 kW. This will be the maximum power that we will have to hire if we want our leads to not jump. The closest in this case is the 5.75 kW rate .
List of electrical power in watts in Spain
The electricity rates in Spain depend on the amount of kW that we contract. Unfortunately, companies establish plans that vary from kW to kW, making it impossible to adapt the rates to our needs.
The table currently used by all electricity companies is the following:
- 2.3 kW tariff : low electricity consumption with few appliances
- 3.45 kW tariff : low electricity consumption with few appliances and medium lighting
- 4.6 kW rate : average electricity consumption with few electrical appliances connected at the same time, except for a few such as the oven and heating
- 5.75 kW tariff : high electricity consumption with several electrical appliances connected at the same time
- 6.9 kW rate : high electricity consumption with several appliances connected at the same time, including heating and oven
At this point, it is time to assess which company is best for us based on our needs. We must take into account other parameters such as the type of supply (single-phase or three-phase), but this would give for another article.