Do you have a holiday home in France, Spain or Italy and wonder why the meter cabinet there looks different than at home? That's correct: the layout of circuits, protection against electric shocks and the number of phases differ by country. For you as a landlord, this mainly means that the installation must be assessed by a local, recognized electrician before you connect anything to it, including a power module for your guests.
The short answer: the technology behind the front door (circuits, residual current devices, phases) varies by country, but the principle by which you let your guests pay for their own electricity consumption does not. What is locally required in terms of wiring and protection is determined by local legislation and the recognized inspection authority in place; the electrician on site is your first point of contact for this.
Why a French or Spanish meter cabinet looks different
A meter cabinet is the cabinet with switches that distributes the electricity in your home across circuits: separate circuits for, for example, the kitchen, the bathroom and the lighting. This way, if something goes wrong with kitchen appliances, the rest of the house remains powered. In an average Dutch holiday home, you see a separate residual current device per circuit or per pair of circuits: a safety switch that cuts off the power within a fraction of a second as soon as there is leakage current to earth, for example due to a faulty appliance or a guest dropping a cable in the water.
In France, this protection is often structured differently: one central differential switch (the French equivalent of the residual current device) protects a group of circuits at once, with a different sensitivity than you are used to in the Netherlands. In Spain and Italy, different layouts occur. The number of phases also varies: a phase is, simply put, one of the "currents" through which electricity enters a house. Most Dutch homes have three phases available, while an average French or Spanish holiday home often has to make do with one phase. This determines how much power is available at the same time, for example for an air conditioner, a sauna or a charging station.
What this means for your power module
The module that lets your guests settle their own consumption, measures and switches independently of the country in which it is installed: it counts the electricity flowing through a circuit and ensures that the refrigerator circuit always remains on, even with an empty balance. What does differ by country is the installation around it: how the circuits are divided, which residual current device is in front of it and whether one or multiple phases are available. This determines how the electrician integrates the module, not whether it is possible.
For this reason, each module first contains the explanation in plain language and only below that, expandable, the exact specifications for the installer: the type of residual current device, the maximum current per circuit and the connection values. This way, a French or Spanish electrician can immediately see whether the situation on site fits, without you having to figure out what is customary locally. If you want that overview per situation, you will find it in the knowledge base with explanations per situation.
Who determines what is locally required
Whether an installation meets the requirements that apply in that country, and who is allowed to assess it, is something determined by national legislation and the local supervisor or recognized inspection authority. Staywatt is a metering and billing system and does not make any statement on this itself; for the situation of your specific property, the local, recognized electrician or a legal advisor on site is the appropriate party to confirm this.
What you can ask the electrician about yourself: how many phases the property has, how the groups are distributed, what type of residual current device is installed per group or per main group, and whether there is still space in the distribution board for an additional module. These questions are the same in every country, even though the answer may differ.
For the electrician: what to pay attention to
The module communicates via Bluetooth and operates independently of the number of phases, as long as the measured group forms its own, measurable circuit. It is important to check what type of residual current device is installed before the group to be measured, what the rated current of that group is, and whether the refrigerator group is designed as a separate, unswitched circuit. These details vary per installation and are therefore always determined locally, not assumed in advance.
Your situation differs per country where you rent
If you own properties in multiple countries, it is convenient not to have to work out what is locally different for each property again. With a few questions you immediately get an indication of what is relevant for your situation, and on the page with tariffs per object you will see that the subscription is concluded per distribution board or charging point, regardless of the country in which it is located.
Curious to see what it looks like in your own distribution board, in the Netherlands or abroad? Take the free quick-scan or browse through the frequently asked questions about installation and operation to know where you stand in half an hour.