This is what we do here: track the regulatory shifts and cost changes that don't make headlines but do affect your week. Today's issue is a pre-emptive strike before the new year.

On Wednesday at midnight, a handful of Spanish regulations take effect. You have 48 hours to get ahead of them.

From January 1, the reflective warning triangles in your boot are legally useless.

Spain's Dirección General de Tráfico — DGT, the traffic authority — now requires a V16 emergency beacon instead. It's a yellow flashing light you stick on your roof during a breakdown. The point: you stay inside your car instead of walking onto a motorway to set up triangles.

Between 2018 and 2022, more than 100 pedestrians died in Spain after leaving their vehicles and being hit. The DGT decided triangles were part of the problem.

The catch: not any V16 will do. The 2026 requirement specifies a "connected" beacon with built-in GPS and a SIM card that automatically alerts the DGT to your location. Those €15 beacons on Amazon likely don't qualify.

Compliant models run €30 to €80. Norauto on Avenida Velázquez in Málaga stocks several DGT-approved options. The fine for not having one: €80. The fine for not wearing a reflective vest when you exit your vehicle: €200 plus four points off your licence.

If you drive, sort this before Wednesday.

The regulated tariff — PVPC — Precio Voluntario para el Pequeño Consumidor — changes how your rate is calculated.

Previously, your bill tracked almost entirely with the daily wholesale market. Wild swings in spot prices led to wild swings in your bill.

Starting January 1, the formula shifts to 45% based on daily market prices and 55% on forward contracts. In theory, less volatility. In practice, you're now partially locked into futures pricing, whether wholesale rates drop or not.

If you're on a fixed-rate contract with Iberdrola or Endesa, this doesn't affect you. If you're on the regulated PVPC tariff — common among newer residents who haven't switched — your bill calculation just changed.

The 21% VAT on electricity stays put. That returned in January 2025 after years of temporary reductions and isn't going anywhere.

If you rent, your landlord's annual price increase no longer follows the IPC — Índice de Precios al Consumo, Spain's consumer price index.

A new reference index takes effect for 2026 rent adjustments, designed to smooth out the inflation spikes that pushed some renewals up 10% in a single year.

The details are still being finalized, but the intent is clear: annual rent increases will track a separate metric with less volatility than headline inflation.

If your contract renewal falls in early 2026, ask your landlord — or your gestor — administrative agent — which index applies. The answer matters more than usual this year.

Professional drivers lose seatbelt exemptions. Taxi drivers, delivery drivers, and driving instructors must wear seatbelts at all times starting January 1. The old exemptions end at midnight on New Year's Eve.

Electric scooters need insurance. If you own a patinete eléctrico — electric scooter — civil liability coverage is now mandatory. Helmets are required wherever local rules demand them (most of the Costa). Lights are no longer optional.

ITV enforcement gets stricter. The DGT is expanding camera-based detection for vehicles with lapsed ITV — technical vehicle inspections. Penalties for missed inspections and severe defects are increasing. If you've been putting off that appointment, January is not the month to gamble.

A compliant V16 beacon for your glove box, a heads-up on how your electricity rate gets calculated, and a question to ask before your next rent renewal. None of it is dramatic. All of it is the sort of operational detail that separates a smooth year from a frustrating one.

The DGT estimates the beacon rule alone will save dozens of lives. For €50 and five minutes at Norauto, that's a reasonable trade.

See you on the paseo — A. and the always compliant Waypoint Sur team

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