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EDP Contract

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drewmckee
  12/8/2018 22:05 EST

Good morning. I was hoping someone might have insight into two questions about our EDP (power company) contract. We have a small (2bed/2bath) place in Lagos area and I wanted to make sure I was on the best EDP plan.

Potência Contratada: When I look at our EDP account online, the Potência Contratada is set to “6,90 kVA”. I can change it to a range of “3,45 kVA” to “41.40 kVA”. What is the normal setting?

Opção horária: Again, looking at my EDP account online, the Opção horária is set to “Simples”. I can change it to “Bi-horária” or “tri-horária”. I have one of the new digital meters that does report three power usage numbers “Vazio”, “Ponta” and “Cheias”. What is the difference in the plans and should I have my account set to “tri-horária” instead of “Simples”?

Thanks

tomonoak
  12/9/2018 05:34 EST

When I moved into my 100 sq meter 3BR apartment last year, the previous owner had a potência of 10.35 kVA, and I just continued that.

Note that one kVA (kilovolt-ampere) will be equivalent to or a bit more than one kW (kilowatt), depending on the appliances you are running at any given moment. This is a measure of instantaneous power draw (NOT energy, which is kilowatt-hours!), and the potência you sign up for should always be more than you could possibly draw at any instant with all the appliances, lights, etc. that you're likely to be running at one time. So you could list all of your electrical stuff, look up how much power each one draws, and add them up appropriately, maybe adding another 25% to allow for the VA number being bigger than the watt number.

As for the Opção horária, I went with the Simples. The EDP bill displays the total energy used in each of the three daily periods, so I did a calculation one month to compare the cost difference of the bi- and tri- plans to what I had actually paid, and came up with a small number - under a couple of euros. I suppose I could get really organized and run appliances only in the vazio period, but for me it's not worth it for such a small return.

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drewmckee
  12/9/2018 06:48 EST

Excellent info, Thanks!

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