Alternative electricity supplier

[Patmobile]

I've just signed up to have electricity supplied to 3 of our gites by Gaz de France instead of EDF.  If I've done my sums right, I'll save over €500 in the first year on the abonnement alone, as well as a substantial reduction on the rate per kWh.

The price is fixed for one year after which, for the following year, they will be fixed again at a rate adjusted by the same percentage as any change in the corresponding EDF rate over the previous contract period.

I hope this is the start of a new competitive market that will see electricity prices plummet over the next couple of years.

Can't wait to see the bill.

Patrick

 

[Miki]

Patrick,

We had a look in to this and I have to say the original look through and quotes, suggested up to 10% saving. If so, then I don't see in that case, how your abonnement alone would be €500 of savings.

We have a 24 kw supply at a cost of  €53.35 H.T per month abonnemment, so that comes to €640.20 H.T per year, it is obviously not going to work out at your rate of saving for us ! According to their site, on HC & HP tarif, we would pay an abonnement of €478.28 H.T for the year, so a saving there.

Our annual total, inc abonnements for 12 months inc our last bill (October) was just over €2700 and that includes around 6 weeks non use. So we thought up to €270 savings possibly all things being approx equal. We will have to look in to it further, as you appear to be getting a lot more savings than we worked out  !

Any chance of some more info on how you are going to save €500 per year just on your abonnement and what the rates mean when they state HP being 7.78 and HC being 4.58,  please. I can't fathom what those rates apply to, it can't be per KW surely !!. As we pay now 0.0458 for HC and 0.0778 for HP. So it looks like it means per 100 units ? Which means exactly the same KW charge but less abonnement to pay.

I may be missing something obvious, I probably am !!

[BJSLIV]

I think patmobile  has a number of individual supplies some of which are 3 phase! (for a gite?). The Gdf opening offer gave you 3 months a year without any line rental so there would be some saving there, though probably less than could be achieved by ditching the three phase. The unit cost is the same, unless they have changed recently. They make it seem cheaper because Gdf don't include the local taxes and VAT on their website , whereas Edf do!

[Benjamin]

I know I nod off occasionally but aren't EDF and GDF one and the same?

Benjamin

[Judyc]

I, too, thought they were one and the same, but you can bet your life that when there is a power failure, it will be 'the other one' who is responsible!!

[Sabina]

I think HP means heures plein - leccy used during day at high rate, and HC means heures creuse - leccy used  at cheap rate during night time.

If switching supplier is anything like switching in UK then I'll give it a miss - the grief was not worth the 'saving'.

Sabina

[Cassis]

What is 3 Phase, please?

[Miki]

[quote user="Sabina"]

I think HP means heures plein - leccy used during day at high rate, and HC means heures creuse - leccy used  at cheap rate during night time.

If switching supplier is anything like switching in UK then I'll give it a miss - the grief was not worth the 'saving'.

Sabina

[/quote]

Sabina,

Sorry it probably sounded like I didn't know what HP and HC meant, in France the hours can vary greatly, some folks even luckily having a couple of hours during the day as well for cheap leccy but I did know about them.

I know what you mean though by switching, it is quite a new innovation here and my hunch is that as ever, you will get sod all for nothing. Jeepers in the early days of loyalty cards at superarkets, one was expected to pay to join.......and many did !!

Casssis,

We are on 3 phase, funny enough two of our places have been so, inc chez nous now. I can only explain it that it is 3 live phases and a neutral or is it the other way round ! (any sparkies, please feel free to correct me, I am only trying my best to explain to Cassis here !) You have one live and one neutral for every phase, we have 24KW, so divide that by 3 and you have 8 kw per phase. It all has to be balanced around the house or establishment, so that any phase has the amount of power to ensure that phase will not trip all the time. For instance, putting 12 kw of electric on one phase, 8 on another and 6 on the other is unbalancing the system...and now I hope some electrician will tell it how it is far better ! !!

[Cassis]

So if you had the contemporaneous loads you describe and the system was unbalanced, your cut-out would trip?

[Miki]

Exactly couldn't have put it better, contemporaneous loads was the phase I was looking for.

[Dick Smith]

Hey - you both said contemporaneous at the same time!

[Miki]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]Hey - you both said contemporaneous at the same time!

[/quote]

No Dick,

I think you will that the sausage said it before me, making it less than contemporaneous, wouldn't you agree ? More importantly perhaps, is that he now knows that each phase is contemporaneous and will sleep well in that knowledge.

[Patmobile]

[quote user="BJSLIV"]I think patmobile  has a number of individual supplies some of which are 3 phase! (for a gite?). The Gdf opening offer gave you 3 months a year without any line rental so there would be some saving there, though probably less than could be achieved by ditching the three phase. The unit cost is the same, unless they have changed recently. They make it seem cheaper because Gdf don't include the local taxes and VAT on their website , whereas Edf do![/quote]

I may have got this slightly wrong! But not by very much. 

Yes, it's a 3 phase 36kW supply with an abonnement currently of 1336,34 each year inc taxes.  To my surprise Gdf have offered an abonnement of which even with taxes on top would come to, I calculate, 1071€ (a saving of better than 10%).  Add to this saving the 2 months abonnement "offerts" in the first year, and the total saving on the standing charge should come to around 440€.

The price they offer per kWh, 7.78 HP, and 4.58 HC, (hors taxes) appear to offer a saving of roughly 10% on the equivalent published Edf rates, once you have added in the taxes.  I haven't yet tried to calculate how much this would save me, but with heating, lighting and hot water for 3 cottages, the laundry, and external automatic courtyard lighting all coming off the same supply, I think it will be significant.

There is another cottage, supplied separately that I'm hoping to get on a similar deal.

I'll post again once my first bill comes in, when I'll be able to tell if my calculations are correct.

Patrick

 

  

[Josephine79]

"I know I nod off occasionally but aren't EDF and GDF one and the same?"

Haven't you noticed that since about April everything has come in separate envelopes, with snazzy new logos (that I bet we, the customer, have paid for).

Now EDF are offering to supply gas and GDF are offering to supply electricity. At present it is only for "businesses", but I guess Gites count. In the New Year everyone will be able to switch their domestic supply to whomsoever they choose.