La Voz de Lanzarote reported this week that Unelco, the local electricity company carried out its threat to switch off the electric supply to the El Jardín complex in Playa Blanca. The complex used to be an aparthotel and it appears that there is still only one main supply for the properties, the community pays the electricity bill and each property owner pays a proportion of the cost with their community charge. It seems that there has been some issues with this scheme, whilst some owners have paid their contribution of €36 per month, as many as 80 other owners have decided not to pay their contribution which in turn resulted in the disconnection. Normally when a property is disconnected, the outstanding bill is paid at the local post office, the receipt shown to Unelco and the supply is reconnected, not that simple in this case as the money will be required from the individual owners to cover the charges which could take some time to resolve. The switch off has affected about 100 families living in the complex, who are without light, refridgeration, water – as the water pumps don’t supply without electricity etc it will also be a problem for any absent owners with freezers etc.
Hopefully El Jardín will be reconnected soon and this will be a dramatic end to those owners who decided to use the electricity but not pay their community. Generally this situation wouldn’t happen with the more recent complexes that have been sold off from aparthotels to private ownership, as the cost of segregating the water and electric metres is normally included in the sale so everyone has their individual supplies.
Endesa electric company
