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Electricity : HP and HC or Base?


NormanH
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The question of whether or not to take the simple basic option for Electricity tariffs or to go for the HP/HC  one has been discussed before here, but I have just had an email from Directe Energie who supply mine pointing out that prices have changed since the 1st August and that a third of those on HP/HC should change over to the basic tariff.

Basically  unless you use at least 40% of your Electricity during the heures creuses you are better off on basic.

I believe this confirms Chaucer's calculations in a previous post [:)]

http://www.direct-energie-le-blog.com/societe/changement-de-tarifs-au-1er-aout-2016-les-heures-creuses-sont-elles-toujours-rentables/?utm_source=adobe_campaign&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_part_1016

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You beat me too it Norman, in fact I think it might be even higher than that now as it was 40% when I did my last calcule and the price of daytime units is now only 1.5cts cheaper compared to the standard tarif whereas it was 2cts cheaper before, the abonnement for 6kva HP/HC has also gone up.

 

It validâtes what I have always said and shows them for the bar5tards that they are as the tarif changes have been manipulated to make the HP/HC even more expensive whilst claiming that the cost of electricity has gone down, hats off to Direct Energie for telling the customers, EDF have had a real campaign going for years to scam people onto HP/HC coming out with phrases like "you would be stupid not to' (for someone with an electric ballon).

 

Anyone with electric heating should also realise that its only on 4 months of the year and whilst the night-time units may be cheaper by 1.5p/unit they will be paying 2.5cts more for the daytime units, if the heating is on 24/7 then they pay 5 cts extra to save 1.5cts as there are 16 hours of HP compared to 8 of HC, they will also be paying 1.5cts extra per daytime unit in spring, summer and autumn for little or no benefit.

 

I will do the calcule again with my annual consumption but even with storage heaters its probably now only a slight benefit.

 

I cant find out how much the abonnement has risen for 6kva HP/HC

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Chancer says "hats off to Direct Energie"..............!!!

NO, I don't think so.  I have written about this before but, a mere couple of months with DE, and I was glad to return to EDF.

It was DE that messed me about, employing all the stalling tactics they knew (including keeping me on the phone for half an hour at a time) and eventually LYING to me that I could not change to base until a year of my contract was up.  No can do, they said, until March 2017.

I was so enraged by their shenanigans that I contacted EDF (by phone, which shows how desperate I must have been!) and, within 2 or 3 days, EDF had come to change my meter and everything was as I wanted.

It was becoming really uneconomic for me as I had changed our meal times to be later in the day and I was never at home to do the ironing or hoovering or anything else during the 2 hours of daytime HC.

Thieves and barstewards, yes, I think all the companies are more than deserving of that name from time to time.

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I know that you had a bad experience and there will be others but compared to the millions of complaints about EDF on balance Direct Energie are the good guys relatively speaking.

Your experience does not negate my saluting them, they are making people aware of this rip off that EDF have been lying about for years and even managed to get the rest of the media to repeat their lies, there is so much rubbish written out there on the subject, the letter from D.E. to their customers was the first time ever I have seen anything so directly critical.

Néanmoins I think it is still beneficial for me to remain on HP/HC plus they accidentally set my disjoncteur d'abonné to 9kva which they would probably discover and correct if they return to reprogram, it would have been interesting to see if after encouraging customers to change their abonnement that they would then tell them that they couldn't until after a year.

I think you may have come up against a French mentality that says we cant/its impossible because that is what we think is written down (12 month contract) not "how can we achieve this/make it simple" which is how only a couple of enlightened companies like Direct Energie and Free.fr operate, operate in general because they may be succesfull in creating a new or changed corporate culture its harder for them to change lifelong ingrained conditioning of older employees.

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Although I asked before on this forum if anyone wanted their 20€ for recommending a client for Direct Energy I did not get any takers. Have just moved into a flat we have bought in Nantes. It had been empty for 2 years, so contacted DE for 12 kva, base tariff. This was the contract I filled in on line. They confirmed it then gave me a rdv for the technician to connect me 9kva HC/HP as 12kva was not possible!. Luckily he could not change the main fuse as the circuit was live and he was not qualified. An hour later a more qualified chap arrived. I told him I wanted 12kva, he looked at the disjoncteur which was 60a (12kva) and agreed it was stupid to change itfor a 9kva one. He then opened up the EDF meter, cut the pilot wires that change over the HP/HC and stuck a piece of scotch over the HC meter reading! He did not want to charge me for a new meter as EDFR are going to change them soon for the new reading a distance one. So I have followed NormanH's advice and eventually got what I wanted.

Anyone want to hear the Free saga that followed?
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I believe the technicians are from EDF, and it is only the commercial side that is DE.

I was going to take up your offer for the 20€ but I think mint jumped in at that point and I got the impression that you weren't going ahead..

My apologies.

When you tell us your Free saga we will be able to compare it with my Sosh one.

I still have Free in town wand have never had a problem, but Sosh...

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Excuse me, Norman, I didn't  "jump" in for the 20 euros!  I "interrupted" to recount my sorry tale as above so that lehaut would hear both sides, the good bits and the bad, before making up his mind.

I see now that he did go with DE and is happy with his choice.

So, once again, I seem to be the odd one out here................sigh......

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Ooops  I didn't mean that jumped in for the money , I meant that you jumped in with your point of view.[:D]

Sorry for my poor expression.

The only person tight-fisted enough to try to deprive me of 20€ is a certain bendy one whose absence from the Forum has been somewhat marked recently, as perhaps he is nesting..

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So I went to the Free shop in Nantes and got the low down on the deal. Fill in the details on line, got a date for the team to come and connect, to Fibre, went down to Nantes and waited. Men came with a reel of copper wire, my heart fell. Stop the installation, off to the Free shop. As yes sir, you ticked 48F, not 48 batiment F as your address in the options. 48F does not have Fibre, 48 batiment F does! Yes I know its the same address, but not to our programme which determines what you can have. You need to cancel the contract by letter with avis de reception (by this time I was getting cross). Please sir do not get cross with me, says the young lady.

Second appointment made on line, off again to Nantes and we wait. No one came. No says the help line we cannot contact the installers, completely impossible as we don't have a phone number! Leave flat, go back to Normany and make another appointment.

Get Email, there is a problem with your account, don't bother asking as we won't tell you. Get Free box by post, missing the Fibre optic connectors. Completely normal says help line, installers will bring them!

Off back to Nantes again on appointed date. Men arrive, clutching fibre to do FTTH, joy. Ah then find cannot thread through gain as its collapsed. Not allowed to install it visibly without permission from Syndic. Luckily son and I had already identified a previous visible installation by Orange, so installation continues. 4 hours later, box connects, techs leave immédiatement.

Fabulous speed (500mb down, 250mb up). Streams 4k youtube to new TV. However, cannot connect to my account and have no idea what my phone number is. Still after 6 weeks a result.
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