Electricity Option With Oil CH

[AnOther]

Hi,

Completing on a French house purchase on Jan 31st (Dept. 46 - Prayssac) and planning to move across as soon as possible after we have a confirmed buyer for our UK house so doing my homework on such mundane subjects as utilities etc.

The property we have bought has oil CH so I am trying to decide which electricity option I should go for and wonder if anyone here can give me some experience based advice.

Visitors excepted there's only the 2 of us and for the first couple of years at least I will be away working for 2 weeks out of 5 so our overall consumption should be fairly modest and having seen the rates on the EDF site Option Tempo seems tempting.

I might add that as of yet my French is pretty C.R.A.P. so having dificulty in understanding the nitty gritty on their site. 

Thanks in advance for any input.

Ernie

[Clair]

[quote user="ErnieY"]Hi, Completing on a French house purchase on Jan 31st (Dept.

46 - Prayssac) and planning to move across as soon as possible after we

have a confirmed buyer for our UK house so doing my homework on such

mundane subjects as utilities etc. The property we have bought has oil CH so I am trying to

decide which electricity option I should go for and wonder if anyone

here can give me some experience based advice.Visitors excepted there's

only the 2 of us and for the first couple of years at least I will be

away working for 2 weeks out of 5 so our overall consumption should be

fairly modest and having seen the rates on the EDF site Option Tempo

seems tempting.I might add that as of yet my French is pretty C.R.A.P. so having dificulty in understanding the nitty gritty on their site. Thanks in advance for any input. Ernie[/quote]

First thing to consider is what power you'll need and that will be dictated by how many and what appliances you have. Have a look at EFD's website to help you determine what you need. You can increase or decrease that power FOC once a year I believe.

Tempo is not available everywhere. We could not have it near St Céré (also 46).

We opted for heures creuses where rates are lower at predefined times of day/night.

The cheap rate times also vary according to the area. For instance, we have cheap rate between 2-5pm and 2-7am, but my sister who lives in another part of France gets cheap rate at 12-3pm only... In order to have maximum benefit of it, you should have a timer on heavy users like washing machine, dish washer, tumble dryer...

The down side with Tempo or heures creuses is that you pay less at some times of the day/year but a higher "meter rental" rate.

I believe Tempo has some downsides which have been discussed before, so try a search on it here and you should find a lot more info on it.

On the whole, a face to face at your local EDF office should be very productive.

[Lautrec]

Another option worth looking into. Halogen Heaters, which turn out 1800w heat for only 6-8pence a hour. I am just about to buy one of the Outllige lorry this Saturday for 39 Euros. I will post my observations after the weekend.

They sell in the UK a little cheaper!.

[Lautrec]

Another option worth looking into. Halogen Heaters, which turn out 1800w heat for only 6-8pence a hour. I am just about to buy one of the Outllige lorry in Ruffec this Saturday for 39 Euros. I will post my observations after the weekend.

They sell in the UK a little cheaper!.

[Nick Trollope]

[quote user="Lautrec"]Another option worth looking into. Halogen Heaters, which turn out 1800w heat for only 6-8pence a hour. I am just about to buy one of the Outllige lorry in Ruffec this Saturday for 39 Euros. I will post my observations after the weekend.
They sell in the UK a little cheaper!.
[/quote]

How does that work? 6-8pence (9-12c) will get you about 1000W of energy - or have we rediscovered perpetual motion!

 

[Lautrec]

Hi Nick,

I do know the details of this heater, but if you look them up on Google, all retailers claim this low cost of heating. It appears that there is no elements as such, but they contain 2 to 6 radiant tubes, which you can programme only 2 on, or 4 on, or 6 if you are feeling really reckless!

I will pick one up tomorrow on the Outllidge van if they are in stock. Then when have tested it, I will add further comments. Watch this space!

Lautrec who came in from the cold! (I hope!)

[Nicos]

Wondering how you got on with it Lautrec??

[Pickles]

[quote user="nicktrollope"]

[quote user="Lautrec"]Another option worth looking into. Halogen Heaters, which turn out 1800w heat for only 6-8pence a hour. I am just about to buy one of the Outllige lorry in Ruffec this Saturday for 39 Euros. I will post my observations after the weekend.

They sell in the UK a little cheaper!.

[/quote]

How does that work? 6-8pence (9-12c) will get you about 1000W of energy - or have we rediscovered perpetual motion!

[/quote]

It's sloppy, inaccurate use of language on behalf of the promoters. As Nick (and I hope Lautrec) knows, a 1.8 Kw halogen heater uses 1.8 Kwh of electricity per hour (if it is turned on full), and this 1.8Kwh will cost you exactly the same as 1.8 Kwh used by any other device, be it heater or cooker or immersion heater.

So, you're only going to get the energy out that you put in (because it isn't a heat pump). The thing about space heaters such as halogen heaters is that they produce radiant heat (eg Infra-red), and so when the heater is directed towards you, you feel warm - even if the air temperature is cold. Hence their effect is to make you feel warm directly rather than transferring the heat by heating all the air in the room, which is what convection heaters do. Hence they are extensively used in big spaces - eg churches - where the cost of heating all the air would be ruinous. Smaller versions are often used in sheds etc where the level of insulation tends to be poor and the level of draughts high. So the whole point of it is that it doesn't heat the air much.

The corollary of all this is that if you are not standing in the beam from the heater, then it doesn't warm you at all (OK, yes, if you want to be pedantic, the heater will heat any surface on which it impinges, which will then heat the air by convection etc, but it's a slow process, and if there is a draught, there goes your heated air). And if you are standing with your back to the heater, then your back gets warm whilst your front stays cool.

So, a halogen heater can make you feel comfortable (and you ARE comfortable) in an air temperature that would otherwise be uncomfortably cold. It can save you money when used as a heating source compared with convector heaters but only because you are not comparing like with like - a convector heater heats all the air in the room (which takes a lot of energy), so you can be anywhere in the room and feel warm (because the air is warm), whereas a radiant space heater heats YOU and not the air. 

And I've just realised that we are now a long way from the original topic. Sorry!

Regards

Pickles

[LesLauriers]

Clair said

The down side with Tempo or heures creuses is that you pay less at some times of the day/year but a higher "meter rental" rate.

Standing charge for 18kva - Option Base 277.92€, Option Heures Creuse 442.21€, Option Tempo 223.53€ which is a lower "meter rental" in this example.

For us the cost of electricity using this site http://www.epsic.ch/pagesperso/schneiderd/Instal/tarif.htm would be:

Option Base 1946€, Option Heures Creuse 2053€ and Option Tempo 1146€ it all depends upon your usage, power requirement  and heating systems but this site is good for working out the best scheme for you. If Tempo is no longer available to new consumers then your options are limited.

[Clair]

I have a 6kW supply and paid €7.50 a month for abonnement when using the heures creuses tariff.

I changed to basic rate and now pay €4.40 a month.

[AnOther]

Just an update;

We completed sucessfully in January as planned and signed up for 6kVA option de base and we'll see how it goes.

Slightly confused by the EDF calculator though because where it says "coonsomation annuelle de jour" it says it is measuring in kWH but and I don't think many people are using 10000 per day. Thats equivalent to 1000 1kW electric fires running for 10 hours a day...!

Off topic but what the hell..........got an offer on our UK property just today so fingers crossed......[:D]

[Quillan]

[quote user="Lautrec"]Another option worth looking into. Halogen Heaters, which turn out 1800w heat for only 6-8pence a hour. I am just about to buy one of the Outllige lorry this Saturday for 39 Euros. I will post my observations after the weekend.
They sell in the UK a little cheaper!.
[/quote]

I bought four based on these figures last year, total waste of time and money. Put them on Ebay for 10 Euros each and nobody bought, put them up for 1 Euro start price for all four and still no bids, says it all really.