Back in February when I thought I was literally flushing money down the toilet I made a few changes in order to save water, but the water bill kept coming in very high and also saying that nobody lived here and that those 0 inhabitants were using more than 300 litres of water a day (!!!).

So I spoke to my next door neighbour about his water bill and it turned out they were paying half the amount I was – and they have a baby! So I finally went down to the Emasesa office to ask what the heck was going on and they told me that I had to “empadronar” (not sure what this is in English, basically you register how many people are living in your house at a government office) and bring that certificate to the office in order to change the rate. Because apparently the rate you pay is less when more people live in your house.

And so I did all this and the next water bill, which arrived yesterday, was a little more than half the amount of the previous one.

Great, you say? Well, yes. But, why didn’t Emasesa tell me about the empadronamiento certificate when I first went to their office in February to change the name on the water bill – a “service” for which they charged a whopping 78.50€? I mean, wtf. They obviously saw that my place was listed as having no inhabitants and knew about the crazy rate I’d be paying. And if I hadn’t spoken to my neighbour I’d never have known that my water bill was off because every other place I’ve lived in Spain had the water included in the rent.

In other news, my old friends at Movistar are now suing me because I didn’t pay their final – INCORRECT – bills in which they charged me for service when I didn’t have any and, after several phone calls from me (I’ll never get that time back), wouldn’t send me corrected ones. Bastards.

And now I am off to enjoy a birthday lunch with Pilar and forget all this crap for awhile.