ULI & LISAMallorca Property Glossary All chapters uli-lisa.com →
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★ Overview1 · From Offer to Deed — The Buying Process & Contracts on Mallorca2 · Notary, Land Registry & Cadastre — the three registers your purchase rests on3 · Money Transfers, Banking & Legal Due Diligence When Buying on Mallorca4 · What the Tax Office Takes When You Buy5 · The Annual Running Costs of a Mallorca Property6 · What to Expect When You Resell — Taxes on Disposal7 · Wealth Tax & Solidarity Tax on Mallorca8 · Inheritance & Gifting on Mallorca: the Balearic Foral Law9 · Building Legality, the cédula & Retroactive Legalisation10 · Building on Mallorca: Land, Permits & New-Build Protection11 · ETV — Tourist Rental on Mallorca12 · Where People Buy on Mallorca — Thinking Municipality by Municipality13 · Tenanted Properties, Tenancy Law & the Okupas Risk14 · Your Passport Shapes the Deal: Military Permit, Visas & the Tax Chain15 · Financing & Mortgages in Mallorca16 · Estate Agents & Property Values When Buying17 · Property Types & Forms of Ownership — what the listing and the land register really tell you18 · Buying Through a Company or in Your Own Name? Legal Structures Explained19 · From Purchase to Centre of Life: NIE/TIE, Residency & Health Cover20 · Mobility & Authorities: Car, ITV, Driving Licence, Appointments21 · Buyer Pitfalls on Mallorca — and How to Avoid Them22 · The Authorities Map & Spanish Abbreviations at a Glance23 · Register of Court Rulings: the case law behind the chapters24 · Where Our Information Comes From — and How Reliable It Is25 · Building & Renovating in Mallorca — What Buyers Need to Know About Costs, Trades and the Law26 · Utilities on Mallorca: Electricity, Water, Gas & Solar27 · Agroturismo, Turismo Rural & Tourist Accommodation in the Countryside28 · Insurance Cover for Your Mallorca Property29 · What the Listing Really Says — Property-Ad & Viewing Vocabulary (ES/CAT → EN)30 · Living Here, Not Just Buying Here: Children, Pets and the Rhythm of Island Life31 · Selling Smart: What the ganancia patrimonial (Capital Gains Tax) Really Costs You32 · Boat Moorings on Mallorca (Amarre): What You Actually Buy — and What You Don't33 · Releasing Equity From Your Mallorca Home in Later Life34 · Separation & Divorce — Who Keeps the Mallorca Property35 · The Owners' Association in Mallorca: A Practical Guide to the Comunidad de Propietarios36 · The ULI & LISA Roadmap: From Search Profile to Handover of the Keys
Glossary › Chapter 26

26 · Utilities on Mallorca: Electricity, Water, Gas & Solar

*What really matters when connecting electricity, water and gas — and why the devil is in the detail with a finca or rústico (rural land): no cédula (habitation certificate), no utility connection, island-wide water scarcity, plus the opportunities of solar incentives.*

Legend: ✅ official/well-documented · 🟡 depends on municipality/provider · 🔴 uncertain. Amounts are guide figures (vary by municipality and tariff).

Electricity (Electricidad)#

On Mallorca there are two worlds that buyers often confuse: the grid and the supply. Responsibility for the line, the meter and the physical connection (distribuidora, the grid/network operator) lies with e-distribución, part of the Endesa group; your tariff, by contrast, you buy from a freely chosen comercializadora (retail supplier). The old Balearic GESA no longer exists as a separate company — it was absorbed into Endesa, though it still appears in some legacy contracts. 🟡

When ownership changes, the rule is: if you take over an existing connection, that runs as a cambio de titular (change of account holder) — with Endesa this is free and done in roughly 15–20 working days. If there is no connection at all yet, you need an alta (new connection), and that requires a valid boletín eléctrico/CIE (electrical certificate) (cost ~€70–300, valid 20 years).

What drives your ongoing costs is the potencia contratada (contracted power) in kW: it sets the fixed portion of your bill and can be adjusted at most once a year — except as part of a cambio de titular.

On the tariff side, PVPC and mercado libre (free market) compete. The PVPC is the regulated tariff (for connections ≤ 10 kW) and has worked with 15-minute pricing since 1 October 2025. In 2025 it was mostly cheaper than the free market. ✅

No connection without a cédula (cut-off date 1 March 1987) ✅#

This is perhaps the single most important check for anyone buying a finca: for buildings erected after 1 March 1987 without a permit — and therefore fuera de ordenación (outside planning regulations) — utility companies may not lay a definitive connection without a valid cédula de habitabilidad (habitation certificate), and this applies equally to electricity, water, gas and telecoms. In plain terms: on a finca without a cédula you will, in practice, not get a legal electricity connection. Anyone who fails to clarify this before buying risks ending up with a de facto uninhabitable property — which is why this point belongs right at the top of your due-diligence list (→ Ch. 09).

Photovoltaics / Autoconsumo (self-consumption)#

  • Legal framework RD 244/2019: self-consumption is permitted with or without surplus export. For systems ≤ 100 kW the compensación simplificada (simplified compensation) applies — exported surplus is credited monetarily against the electricity you draw from the grid, but there is no actual cash payout. Systems up to 15 kW require no access or connection permit at all. ✅
  • On rústico (rural land): if you install a PV system for self-consumption on a legal finca, this counts as a uso admitido (permitted use) (Art. 48 Ley 10/2019). A DIG (declaration of general interest) is not required for this — as a rule, a comunicación previa (prior notification) plus registration with the CAIB energy authority is sufficient, where that registration is a precondition for compensation and incentives. ✅
  • Incentives (combinable) 🟡: several can be stacked here — an IRPF (personal income tax) deduction of 20/40/60 %, an IBI bonification (in Palma 50 % for 6 years, in other municipalities up to 100 %), the ICIO (construction tax) reduction (Palma up to 95 %), as well as Balearic subvenciones (grants) from the Govern/IDI, which also cover batteries and aerotermia (air-source heat pumps). The actual amounts depend on the municipality — so check the relevant ordenanza (local ordinance) before you plan.

Water (Agua)#

  • The municipality is in charge: in Palma the supplier is EMAYA; the cambio de titular is usually free and done in ~3–4 working days. Guide price: ~€2.52/m³ plus a fixed charge 🟡.
  • Water scarcity as a permanent issue: the island is structurally short of water, and in dry years restrictions are imposed. Many remote fincas are not connected to the mains at all and rely on an aljibe/cisterna (cistern) plus water tankers (cuba/camión de agua). This water logistics is not a minor footnote but a real, recurring cost factor — budget for it from day one as a buyer. ✅
  • Wells (pozo/sondeo): a private well requires a permit from the CAIB (Recursos Hídrics) (water resources authority). Up to 7,000 m³/year (max. 1 l/s) an autorización (authorisation) suffices; above that you need a concesión (concession); a meter is mandatory (RD 49/2023, Plan Hidrológico). Illegal wells carry penalties. ✅
  • Wastewater: where there is no sewer connection, your own system is mandatory (fosa séptica/depuradora — septic tank/treatment plant). Without an approved system there is no cédula and no first occupancy; illegal vertidos (discharges) are punishable with €600–€600,000. ✅
  • Canon de saneamiento (Ley 9/1991): this Balearic wastewater levy (a fixed portion plus consumption) is collected via the water bill and paid over to the ATIB. 🔴 Check the exact 2025 tariffs at the BOIB/ATIB.

Gas#

There is no island-wide natural-gas grid on Mallorca. Heating and cooking are instead mostly done with butano/propano (butane/propane) from a bottle or tank (chiefly from Repsol/Cepsa) — so you need to factor in storage and delivery logistics. The trend, however, is clearly moving away from this, towards aerotermia (air-source heat pumps) combined with PV.

Energy Performance Certificate (CEE)#

RD 390/2021 makes the energy certificate mandatory for sale and rental (scale A–G; valid 10 years, but only 5 for class G). Since August 2025 it has also been required for the mortgage tasación (valuation) ✅. The EU EPBD Directive 2024/1275 brings minimum standards from 2030/2033 🟡. (→ Ch. 02)

❓ FAQ#

Will I get electricity and water on any finca? No. If the building was erected after 1 March 1987 without a permit (fuera de ordenación), the utility companies may not lay a definitive connection without a valid cédula.

Do I need a DIG for solar on the finca? No — PV for self-consumption on a legal finca is uso admitido (Art. 48 Ley 10/2019); as a rule, a comunicación previa plus CAIB registration is enough.

Can I just drill a well? No — you need an autorización (up to 7,000 m³/year) or a concesión from the CAIB, and a meter is mandatory.

Sources (selection)#

  • RD 244/2019 (autoconsumo) · Ley 10/2019 Art. 48 (rústico) · RD 49/2023 (Plan Hidrológico) ·

Ley 9/1991 (canon saneamiento) · RD 390/2021 (CEE) · EMAYA/ATIB/CAIB Recursos Hídrics

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