03 June 2019

How do Spanish households use electricity?

Our way of consuming electricity describes our lifestyle. As Spaniards, how do we consume electricity? Analysing big data, Endesa has identified six types of homes.

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To live is to consume energy. Calories that are burned, cells that are oxidised...and also, the kilowatts we spend on our daily routine. For the alarm clock to ring, water to come out hot, to make a coffee, turn on the television... Electricity is one of the engines of our life.

How are we similar? How are we different? After a deep analysis of several data sources, Endesa has identified 6 large consumption patterns in Spain. Your energy tells us stories that are quite valuable. Find out about them!

Six ways to use electricity

The conclusions of “Your Energy Counts” are not mere speculation. We’ve analysed the data collected by the meters from over 100,000 homes and we've crossed the studies and the databases of the NIE, IDAE and OCU.

This procedure has allowed us to sketch out a country in which there are 6 main ways of consuming energy:

Early risers: 3.6% of homes. They wake up very early at 6 am, but don’t go to sleep until midnight. They sleep very little (fewer than 7 hours per day) and tend to only work in the morning.
Homebodies: 60% of homes. There is almost always someone at home. They watch a lot of television. They wake up early (around 7:45 am) and have very steady habits. Unemployed and retired people constitute a large part of these homes (according to the NIE, either an unemployed person or a retiree lives in 77% of homes).
Afternoons out: 3.1% of homes. They’re a rare breed. They go out a lot during the week and enjoy their free time in the afternoons. They tend to wake up late, eat lunch at home and then leave and not return until supper.
Mornings out: 18.5% of homes. Mostly people who work morning shifts and return to eat lunch at home. They get up later than early risers (7:30), but like them, they prefer to spend the afternoon at home.
Never at home: 6% of homes. Those who work mostly during the day, are out from 8 am to 6 pm. Though this work schedule may be standard, in 75% of Spanish homes more than one person lives with a different type of lifestyle or schedule.
Night owls: 8.7% of homes. An unusual pace of life, staying up late (they don’t go to bed until 3 or 4 in the morning), they wake up late and eat at home before doing a wide variety of tasks.

How do we use electricity in Spain?

The “Your Energy Matters” big data project has not only allowed us to detect 6 lifestyles in Spain, but we can also figure out what each type of home is doing at all times.

For example, thus, we can know that there are 4 places in Spain in which they wake up earlier than in the rest of the country: Ciudad Real, Coruña, Huesca and Jaén, who are accustomed to waking up between 4:30 and 5:30 am.

We can also put you to the test and challenge you with a quiz that evaluates your knowledge about energy expenses in Spain and the consumption profiles:

How to understand the way you use electricity

Now that you know your country and the type of home in which you fit, why don’t we cut to the chase and go directly to your case? Is it possible to know exactly how much electricity you’re spending each hour of each day?

The answer is in the Private Area of endesacustomers. If you are an Endesa customer, you only need to register if you haven’t already done so. You’ll be able to see your updated consumption graphics, hour by hour, day by day, with the number of kWh that you've spent:

Example of consumption graph from the Private Endesa Customer Area

And how can you spend less?

Once you know perfectly what you're spending, naturally, the next question is: what can you do to save?

Essentially two things:

Consume less electricity: to achieve this, we recommend that you closely follow our energy savings tips.
Find the best rate: and the best rate will always be one that fits your profile like a glove. A good example is the Happy Tempo Rate which allows you to choose the hours in which you don’t pay for your electricity consumption. Yes, you read that correctly: you can choose 2 hours per day or 1 day per week, in which electricity is free. Logically, you’ll choose the hours when you’ve checked that your consumption is the greatest. But if you don't have time to do those calculations, or if you don’t have a steady consumption pattern, you can choose the Happy mode, which gives you the 50 hours of highest consumption from each month for free. You’ll automatically start to save.