Electricity, water and internet in a new home in Spain: connecting the supplies, step by step

This guide covers how the electricity, water and internet are put in your name when you buy a new home on the Costa del Sol, as the rules stand in October 2026. It follows the order in which things happen. First what the developer has to have in place, then the electricity contract and the power you choose, the regulated price against the free market, each town’s water company, and fibre and mobile. What the bills then cost each month is priced in the cost of living on the Costa del Sol, so this guide sticks to the setting up.

What the developer has in place, and what you do

On a new development the connections are the developer’s job. The network company, e-distribución, explains this in its guide to new supplies. The promoter of a new block applies for the connection to the network, and each owner then signs a supply contract with an electricity company of their own choosing.

Before any utility company signs a permanent contract, Andalucía’s land law requires it to see the occupation paperwork: the licence of occupation, or the declaración responsable that has largely replaced it, with its documents. Article 142 of Ley 7/2021 applies that rule to electricity, water, gas and telecoms alike. During the build the site runs on temporary supplies tied to the building licence, and those end with the works. The occupation licence and the AFO explains the paperwork, and on an off-plan purchase the developer must have it before the deed, as buying off plan sets out.

So on a key-ready home, finished and authorised for occupation, the connections are built and the home is ready to be supplied. What remains for you is to sign each supply in your own name, which is what switches it on, and the paperwork for that comes from the developer.

Electricity

The installation certificate

When the wiring is finished, the electrical installer issues a certificate of installation stating that it complies with the low-voltage regulations. It is still widely called the boletín. The certificate is lodged with the Junta de Andalucía to register the installation, and under article 18 of the regulations the network company cannot connect the home unless it receives a copy stamped by the regional government.

The certificate also records the most power the installation can take, which is the rating of its main circuit breaker. The regulations set a floor for new homes: at least 5,750 W for each home, and 9,200 W for what they call elevated electrification. That applies to a home with electric heating or air conditioning, more appliances than the basic level, more than 160 m² of floor area, or a car charger at a house. Ask for a copy of the certificate with the keys, because the supply contract needs it and so does any later change.

Two companies: the network and the supplier

Electricity in Spain involves two companies, and e-distribución’s own page on where it serves sets out the difference.

• The network company, the distribuidora, brings the electricity to the home, reads the meter and repairs faults on the network. It depends on where the home is, and you cannot choose it. On this coast it is e-distribución, which serves Andalucía among the eight regions it covers. Its fault line for Andalucía is 900 850 840.
• The supplier, the comercializadora, is the company you sign with. It sells you the electricity, bills you and pays the network company for using the network. You can choose any supplier, and change whenever you like. The charge for the network is regulated and included in the bill.

Once a new connection is built, the network company gives the supply point its CUPS, the code that identifies it, and with that code you can contract with any supplier. Ask the developer for the CUPS of your home.

Signing the supply contract

The supplier tells you exactly what it needs. As a guide, e-distribución lists the electrical installation certificate, your details, including your tax number and the bank account for the direct debit, the licence of first occupation for a new building and the property’s cadastral reference. For a foreign buyer the tax number is the NIE, which the NIE guide explains how to get, and a Spanish bank account is the simplest home for the direct debits.

The first contract on a new supply point carries one-off charges for joining the network, set by regulation: an access payment for each kilowatt you contract, and fees for connecting and checking the installation.

On a resale home the supply point already exists. You change the name on the contract, keeping the same CUPS, and the seller’s last bill shows the code and the contracted power. One exception affects a home that has stood without a contract for a long time. Where a supply has been cancelled for more than three years, e-distribución treats it as a new connection to be applied for.

Choosing the contracted power

A Spanish bill charges for the power you contract, in kilowatts, whether you use it or not, and for each kilowatt-hour you use. Homes are on the household network tariff, the 2.0TD, for up to 15 kW. Under the CNMC’s network tariff rules it has two periods for power and three for energy:

For power, peak and standard hours count together as one period and off-peak as the other.

You can contract any power up to the maximum in the certificate. The figure to aim for is what runs at the same time on a busy evening: the air conditioning or the heat pump, the induction hob and the oven, and a car charger if there is one. Most 2026 specifications use an aerothermal heat pump for the hot water, as what a new build includes sets out, and it runs on electricity.

Choose with some care, because e-distribución notes that the contracted power can only be changed once a year. Too little and the supply can cut out, too much and you pay for power you never use. To raise it on a home of up to 15 kW, you ask your supplier, which arranges the work with the network company and bills you for it with your electricity. The extra kilowatts count as a new access and pay that charge, though there is no new checking fee for a rise up to the maximum in the installer’s last certificate. A rise above that maximum needs a new certificate, and so does any rise where more than twenty years have passed since the network company last checked the installation, which is worth knowing on an older resale.

The regulated price or the free market

There are two kinds of price on offer.

• The PVPC, the precio voluntario para el pequeño consumidor, is the regulated price. It is open to households and micro-businesses with up to 10 kW contracted, and only the reference suppliers, the larger companies designated for it, can sell it. Its energy price changes every hour with the wholesale market, although the formula now ties 55% of the energy cost to futures prices, which smooths it. The same reference suppliers must also offer a fixed yearly price to anyone eligible for the PVPC.
• The free market is every supplier’s own offers, at a fixed price or tied to the market, on terms each supplier sets.

The CNMC, the energy regulator, runs a comparator of energy offers for setting them side by side. The cost of living guide prices two published tariffs for two households, which shows how far the choice of supplier moves the bill.

Water

Each town on the coast has its own water company, and the contract is with that company. Acosol, the public company of the western Costa del Sol’s association of towns, the Mancomunidad, supplies water in bulk to its towns and also holds the household contracts in some of them.

For Vélez-Málaga, Torre del Mar and Torrox I could not confirm the water company from an official page in October 2026, so they are left out. The developer of any new home there will name the company that supplies the development.

The documents are much the same everywhere. Hidralia’s list, Acosol’s and EMASA’s all ask for:

• Proof of identity. A DNI, NIE or company tax number, and in Málaga a passport too.
• Proof that the home is yours. The deed, or the registry extract, and Hidralia also asks for a document showing the cadastral reference, such as an IBI receipt.
• The plumbing installer’s certificate. In Fuengirola, Gestagua’s list asks for the leak and pressure tests with it.
• The occupation paperwork for a new home. Hidralia asks for the licence of first occupation, and EMASA for the licence or proof that the declaración responsable was filed with the city’s planning office.
• A bank account for the direct debit, and in some towns a deposit and the connection fees paid in advance.

In Málaga, EMASA first issues a technical report on the connection. It then prices the water according to the number of people registered at the address, so registering on the padrón matters to the bill if you live there. In Benahavís and Torremolinos the bill comes every quarter and carries sewerage and treatment as well as the water, with the Junta de Andalucía’s levy for water infrastructure, which the company collects on the Junta’s behalf.

Internet and mobile

In an apartment building, or a complex of joined buildings divided into homes under the horizontal-property regime, the building must have a shared telecoms installation. It has to run fibre-optic cable to every home, alongside the other cabling. That is set by Real Decreto 346/2011, which treats the installation as a shared part of the building. The fibre is in place from the building’s entry point to your door, and an operator connects you at the building’s panel and installs its own equipment in the home. A detached house outside that regime depends on the networks that reach the street, so ask which operators serve the address before you rely on fibre.

For a mobile, a Spanish prepaid SIM needs an identity document, because operators must keep a register of each buyer’s name, nationality and document number. A passport serves.

Before completion: what to ask the developer for

• The electrical installation certificate and the CUPS of the home.
• The plumbing installer’s certificate.
• The occupation paperwork: the licence, or the declaración responsable with its documents.
• The cadastral reference.
• The meter readings on the day you take the keys, which belong with the checks before you take the keys.

Have your NIE and a Spanish bank account ready before that day, so nothing waits on them.

How I handle it

On a new build I collect the paperwork from the developer before the deed: the installation certificate, the CUPS, the plumbing certificate and the occupation papers. I check the maximum power on the certificate against how the home is heated and cooled. Before completion I go through the contracted power and the choice of supplier with you, so the electricity, the water and the fibre can go into your name as soon as you have the keys.

On a resale I get the seller’s last bills, so the change of name uses the right codes and you know the contracted power you are taking over. To talk through a home you are considering, book a call. Buying with me sets out how I work.

General guidance. The rules described are those of the low-voltage electrical regulations, the network connection and tariff rules, Andalucía’s Ley 7/2021 and the water companies’ own published requirements, checked on 24 October 2026. Each company sets its own forms, so check its current list before you apply.

Common questions