robert8n

This is how I see it, and although I hold to no ideology it is close to the way Libertarians see it. Your house, your home (I do not see my home as as 'asset' or investment as many people do these days), is bought and paid for, (assuming mortgage paid if you had a mortgage) during the process of which you have already paid numerous taxes anyway. Now it's yours, or it should be. And it should be out of the tax equation - a home should be sacrosanct and never under threat of confiscation from the state in a purportedly developed/advanced society, and I don't care if it's a castle or a hovel - it's yours! Leave it alone! Then comes the question how do we pay for the services that we get from the state/society (many people seem to forget that you're supposed to actually get something for the taxes you pay). I do believe in tax, unlike my Libertarian friends, but the tax should depend on ones income, whether that be from from salary or pension, stock dividends, or from other properties etc. If the income rises - you pay more, you can afford it, if it falls you pay less, it seems an infinitely fair system in my view. But nobody should ever be threatened with eviction and or homelessness if they have paid for their home. Note: Unlike Idun, I distinguish between tax - paid to government, which can be legislated to be income based, and bills paid to private corporations which are subject to market forces and should be either paid, or you reduce your consumption to a level you can pay.

LOL: and the British economy is a shining example of success then. Try not to betray your prejudices so blatantly. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the point is not not to pay, the point is to pay according to your present income/wealth. And no, personally I do not find it an extraordinary idea that you should not have to pay taxes on a property you have bought and paid for. Services yes, property no. Historically this is a relatively recent invention. Most of you Brits posting on here do whatever your government tells you, you bend over and take it, without question. As can be seen from the present situation in France, they do not. One of the reasons France is a better place to live than the UK in my opinion.

@ wooly. Can't have what both ways? - the hypothetical situation and hypothetical response to it that you've created?? LOL Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm done breeding and I don't take, and seek not to give to the state.

Yes, I've seen those DIY turbine jobs and they seem to work just fine. I had intended to do that that until I started looking here and found I could get what I wanted, ready made, of strong materials with guarantees, for a reasonable price.

Yes, I have several oil lamps. In fact, as I said earlier I lived for one summer (yes I know, easier than winter) entirely without electricity and it was probably the best summer I've spent at chez moi. The only real problems were the fridge, which can be replaced with a propane version; and the inability to use some power tools, which I could now use the generator for. The lack of TV and internet had us raiding the home library, and we played games together at night as a family which was just great. I agree with Etoile that this can be made to appear so technical and expensive that you just want to give up and go back to EDF, cap in hand. But I will not. My starting point will be like that summer - assume I have zero electricity, and take it from there. Anything I can generate and afford to buy the equipment for will be one step towards my goal.

idun: To address your stated opinion as opposed to government policy. "If they didn't why wouldn't we all buy something we couldn't afford and not pay the bills and just live because we believe it is 'ours'." LOL Well maybe we "beleive it is 'ours'" because 'we' bought and paid for it 100%, not on credit. It belongs to us, not the state. I don't think this has anything whatsoever to do with French vs foreigners, or people 'choosing' not to live within their means, or not paying bills in general, as you keep implying. It is specific to tax, and the amount of tax paid, based on ability to pay at an unforeseen time of hardship. The consequences of your belief in a blanket application of pay up, move or face forced eviction regardless of circumstance or credit history, can be seen in the US where formally (employed) hard-working middle-class people now live in their cars, tent cities or shelters. This pitiless model of capitalism is alien to France and I hope remains so. As others have said, Taxe d'habitation evidently can be reduced on appeal.

Hehe, no I'm not dependent on batteries yet. But it's true, part of doing this is being prepared to live less conveniently than before, indeed one may suddenly be thrown from the 2000's the 1700's at a click. Of course I have Googled - the profusion is the problem, haven't found a good one yet. So, when feeding it into the central home unit, from the battery inverter, I would just disconnect the EDF cable supply and connect the home supply cable right? Thus, when the power is there, the lights and sockets will function normally.

Thanks. I'll be setting up the turbine next year and the panels probably the year after. I won't be selling back to EDF. As I said, my aim is to have zero contact, and zero contracts with these large entities. Really, I specifically want to know about wiring the source, whether it be from the batteries or the generator to the central unit in the house. I wonder if anyone has done this, or knows of a good website.

"You don't think that assets should be taken into account, then?" Clearly, I refer to income AND wealth, my distinction is between a home and a property/asset.

"Honestly, if a person cannot afford to pay the bills on the property they own, shouldn't they sell it and live somewhere they can afford." And if they don't want to move, and cannot pay the taxes, send in the state thugs to evict them and confiscate their property, right? I disagree. All taxation levels should be related to income/wealth. People who have worked hard all their lives, been responsible, saved and paid for their homes, should not be threatened with eviction when they fall on hard times and cannot pay taxes.

Many thanks for that, then I wonder if the house's status matters, ie (assuming income is low) reduction for primary residence, no reduction for secondary.

I'm done with contracts and bills, I've had so many bad experiences with every utility provider during my 11 years of being a house owner in France that I decided it would be less stressful and closer to my ideal of my French retreat if I can somehow quit all of them. Well that day is approaching. I ended the SAUR contract a few years ago, instead of FT I use a PAYG phone for calls and email, or surf the net at McDonalds, get gas in a bottle from the garage, and heat the place with wood from the land. Next up is electricity. Although I've lived without it, I do want electricity. For now I have a petrol generator that was a gift, but I'm planning to put up a turbine and some solar panels. I can get both at a reasonable price as I work in China. My question is just about wiring. As the existing wiring goes to the junction box, which is fed by the EDF supply cable. What would one normally do to supply the box with the home produced power? The EDF cable is no longer live as they put a 'breaker' on it when cutting off the supply, so theoretically I could just take that out of the box and replace it with the cable from my home supply.

Are the levels completely unrelated to income? I mean, if you are unemployed or low income, you may simply be unable to pay.

LOL I'll go for Oui,Oui then.

Could someone please tell me what etat sanitaire refers to? I have to fill in an attestation d'accuiel and after indicating the number of rooms, there is "etat sanitaire:" with no indication of what one is supposed to write. TIA