In all cases the new company takes care of the administrative paperwork and all the client has to do is provide their personal data, say how much they consume each year and how much energy they want from now on.

Although it is easy to change companies, don't rush into it. As Spain carries out the last stage of its utility market deregulation, consumers should not get carried away by their first impressions or spats they have with their current provider. Experts say you should not change companies just because of price. Safety, added services and accuracy in billing should also be taken into due account.

In general, competition will cause companies to lower their prices but also to offer more such as emergency services to attend to plumbing, masonry, locks and glass, among others.

As consumers wait to see what utility companies will come up with the in the next few months, there are signs that companies will hold joint campaigns marketing electricity and natural gas at the same time.

Electricity rates for domestic consumption rose 1.5% on January 1, although in recent years prices have dropped more than 30% in real terms. Perhaps for the latter reason, and the properties of electricity as a house brand, it seems likely that very few consumers are preparing to change companies in the next few months. A study by IBM Business Consulting published in the magazine of the Association of Users of Financial Services (Ausbanc) only a million Spanish electricity users - 3.7 % - are thinking about changing companies.

The deregulation of the Spanish energy market is a legislative measure that is being implemented four and a half years before the deadline imposed by the European Union, which is July 2007. The same IBM report said that nearly one in three users will not change companies, while 14.6 % are willing to do it at some point in the future and 44.2% are prepared to consider the advantages of switching.

Consumer groups complain that it is very hard to switch electric companies because of a lack of information on the companies that can be hired. The Spanish consumer federation CEACCU says that right after the New Year began there was no practical information available to citizens, nor was there an information campaign aimed at the public.

But the government reminds consumers that the Economy Ministry and the National Energy Commission� have set up an information hotline about deregulation (901 10 2003). At the same time the commission has created a link called Elegibilidad 2003 on its web site to answer this demand for information.