France is getting a bit pricey?

[Clair]

[quote user="Panda"]Jo if you think your electricity or gas bill will be much less in France not to mention water you may have a surprise coming, for me tax d'hab plus tax fonciere came to around 1200 euro so agin not that different to council tax.[/quote]

Our 2008 Td'H and TF total is still lower than our 2003 council tax bill.

[Jo]

Tax F&H, for us is 600 euros,  Use bottled gas for cooking, which so far has lasted much longer than I expected,  Wood for heating a bit of an unknown quantity at the moment as haven't spent the whole winter there yet,  but bought 900 euros worth of wood last year hoping to move over in Autumn (*sigh*)[:(] That has filled the wood store and one barn and I only slightly dented it when I was over[:)] Water, again need to be here full time, but have a well with a good pump and piping to supply utility, garden etc,  Apart from the actual costs, it just seems you are more in control of expenses in France ( does that sound stupid or do you know what I mean?[:$]) ..and of course...NO mortgage[:-))]

[Quillan]

[quote user="Panda"]quote user Jo my monthly gas and electric dd payments in UK have just come up for renewal, Gas has increased from £40 per month to £130 per month, Electric from £35 per month to £65 per month. Not even going there with the increase in Council tax ...... Personally, can't wait to make the visits to France permanent! Expensive groceries or not! Jo if you think your electricity or gas bill will be much less in France not to mention water you may have a surprise coming, for me tax d'hab plus tax fonciere came to around 1200 euro so agin not that different to council tax.[/quote]

And lets not forget that you pay a lot in France just to have Electricity delivered without using any. I currently pay about 190 Euros a month for electricity, about 380 a year on wood and about 200 a year on paraffin. I did some figures once on the forum that show heating and lighting your home in France is far more expensive than the UK. Of course its not a problem if you only holiday but when you live here full time you really have to think about what you use etc. I do pay a lot less equivalent of Council Tax which helps balance things out a bit.

[Baz]

[quote user="Jo"]It's not all about food either, my monthly gas and electric dd payments in UK have just come up for renewal, Gas has increased from £40 per month to £130 per month, Electric from £35 per month to £65 per month. Not even going there with the increase in Council tax [/quote]

You may be unfair quoting gas rising from £40 to £130 per month, although there have been increases in the UK prices but not 230%. You mention monthly DD payments, they are based on the average expected annual cost less any credit arising from previous year payments. In other words your £40 payment may have been lowered to this level by overpayment's from a previous year. I mention this as this has just happened to my electricity payments and I could understand why I had a sharp increase for the next 12 months even with electricity payments coming down in the last few months. It transpired that I had built up a credit in excess £250 in 2007-8 so they reduced my monthly payments for 2008-9 and this appeared to make my 2009-10 look like a huge increase.

Baz

[Clair]

[quote user="Quillan"]And lets not forget that you pay a lot in France just to have Electricity delivered without using any.[/quote]

I'm not sure I understand this comment... [8-)]

I used to pay a standing charge for electricity when living in the UK.

The current standing charge on my EDF bills is €9 a month / €109 a year for a 6kVA HP/HC supply.

[Alex H]

[quote user="Quillan"]

I currently pay about 190 Euros a month for electricity,

[/quote]

Electric heating somewhere in there?

[Jo]

Unfortunately, I'm not building up a credit paying £130 per month, merely paying off what they reckon I have/am used/using[:(]

[Quillan]

I should have said standing charge I suppose, anyway you have to pay that to be connected before you actually use any electricity. I don't think standing charges have been applicable for a few years now in the UK. Having owned houses in London, Kent and Sussex ten years ago we did not pay standing charges.

We do have electric heating but being on Tempo we don't use it on white or red days, only blue ones. Fortunately we can close off half our house and live in the other part which on those days we heat with wood and/or paraffin heaters. Admittedly the paraffin heaters are the fan assisted versions so they do burn some electricity but nowhere near the same amount as the electric heaters. For cooking we have a gas bottle that costs about 24 Euros for three or more months. We don't have natural gas. The figure for monthly payments I gave also take in to account that we changed from electric radiators to these new inverter reversible air conditioning units last year in the main part of our house which is saving about 30% on our bills. We used to pay about 260 a month before that. We have a 60 amp supply but if we use all the heating its not enough and will trip out if you turn the kettle on so we have a special three stage unit which 'knocks' things off as the power increases. Fortunately winters are short but then they are very cold down here. Last year we had red days when it was nice and sunny so not being able to use the electrical heating ws not a big problem.

We used t pay about £40 per month for Electricity and about the same for gas back in London but that was years ago.

[NormanH]

My very basic annual  charges for a small flat in a slum quarter  are:

the two taxes.1200 euros

Electricity 900 euros

Water 600 euros

and I still have a Mortgage. There seems to be an assumption 'of course' says Jo ) that living on France is mortgage-free.........

That of course is without the Mutuelle ( 80 euros a month)

[Babbles]

Yesterday I was flabbergasted at the increase in a 10 ltr tine of Corona paint, in April 58E now 72E and it wasn't on promo in April. OH said are we now in Holiday maker prices and will they go back down in September? Or are they doing that high pricing thing so they then can show a reduction later like all the UK sofa shops that advertise on TV do? Either way I was pretty p'eed off as I had to get some to finish one of the suites ceilings grrrrrrr.

[Benjamin]

I've just ordered some cranberry tablets. 400mg and 90 to the box.

Off Biovea's French web site 19€95; off the UK site £9.95. Same product, same everything. Guess where I ordered from?

We have a commercial garden centre near to us. Last year loose pine bark chips were 6€10 for 100 litres collected. This year they're 7€00. 15% increase?

[NickP]

I can't believe it, my other half has just told me our Taxes Fonciéres is going up by 1€ a month in 2010, Outrageous we shall have to sell up; pack our bags and go back to the UK, but first I must write to the Daily Mail and complain about the rotten French and their disgustingly high taxes and prices. Yesterday the local supermarket even had the cheek to charge us 19.95€ for a case of Rasteau, allegedly if you go into Tesco's or Salisbury's they give you the wine and £10 cash back.

[NormanH]

The average  cost of "impôts locaux " in my town is 1 929 €. (14,7 % increase this year)

Obviously this is peanuts for nobs like you...

[Benjamin]

The bill for our rubbish collection went up by 8% last year and 10% this year. I wonder where they think people get the money to pay for these type of increases.

[Scooby]

Meat prices are ridiculous - nearly 4 euro for two beef burgers and 39 euro for a leg of lamb.  In fact, we have stopped buying meat when we are in France.  We don't eat out any more either.  At over £3 for a small glass of beer and £14 for the plat du jour it's just not affordable. £14 is conservative - we are struggling now to find a decent meal at £14 - many are over £20 and aren't particularly good quality either; not when you compare it with what is available for much less in the UK.

[Scooby]

[quote user="Babbles"]Yesterday I was flabbergasted at the increase in a 10 ltr tine of Corona paint, in April 58E now 72E and it wasn't on promo in April. [/quote]

The paint and varnish prices are crazy - we paid nearly 60 euros for a small (0.5 litre) tin of varnish - from B&Q £44 for 2.5 litres.  We paid 25 Euros for a 2.5 litre tin of crown emulsion in France - on promo.  In B&Q we paid £20 for 10 litres.

[Just Chris]

The frozen legs of New Zealand lamb in our local supermarket are superb, and only around 9 euros. The pork is also gorgeous and cheap, especially when on offer. We find chickens very expensive here, compared with the UK, and the size of sparrows!

[powerdesal]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Can I mention cars as I've been researching them lately?

New Hyundai Santa Fe (but pre-registered and delivery mileage only) £15000.  Same car today in the Hyundai Garage in Cognac €30000.

If I do go for one, there's no guessing which country I'll be buying the car from. 

[/quote]

I don't imagine they will do a LHD for that Sweet, certainly KIA would not sell a LHD from UK at the UK sort of prices. (Hyundai & KIA are same company)

[Quillan]

I don't think its getting more (other than with normal inflation) it's always been expensive but then we have debated this before I seem to remember.

I don't buy French Lamb some of which is very expensive. I would suggest that the lamb at 39 Euro's is that stuff that comes from the west coast who's name escapes me but is suppose to be some of the best in France and hence you pay a premium for. Personally I invested in several large freezers and when they have the specials I buy in bulk like ten legs of New Zealand lamb, chops and shanks. For Pork, which as said can be exceptional in quality I wait till its on special then buy anywhere between 50 and 100 pork chops and 10 or more of the big rolls which I cut to size.

Whilst I initially was angry at the amount of junk mail I get I now read it all very carefully for the special offers. I have a card for every supermarket, this week at Intermarche they are doing Pedigree Chum with 1.50 off for a pack of 6 tin's if you have their card. Well as its my dogs favorite food so I will buy as much as I can carry. Another example is 'Petrol', the initial deliveries in most of the supermarkets round here were priced on special at between 14 and 15 Euros a container, I bought 20 containers as I can't see it getting cheaper and it will last me about two years. The chap next to me as I was loading another 5 on to my cart said I was taking advantage, too bloody right I was and why not, the French do. It's just a different way of shopping.

[cooperlola]

I'm with Q. When stuff cheap, if it doesn't "go off" then I do stock pile.  Something I can do more easily here as I have more outbuildings to stuff things in!

One thing about cars though, is that they depreciate so much less here.  You pay more,but get more as  trade in.  The money I got from my insurance company for my three year old write-off paid for a newer car with fewer ks on the clock and a year's warranty from the dealership.  That would never have happened in the UK where the payments from insurance companies barely buy a jalopy most of the time, let alone replace in any way what you lose.

A friend of mine (French) has just paid 1,000€ for a fifteen year old Passat with 200,000ks on the clock.  Imagine getting £900 for anything like that in the UK.

[woolybanana]

An elderly Passat is a good buy though; They were superb cars.

[woolybanana]

Quillan, I take it you have a generator in case of power cuts?

[Quillan]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Quillan, I take it you have a generator in case of power cuts?[/quote]

No, but we have bought freezers which have quite big 'freezer packs' installed in them as standard. I have not seen these before I came here, they must be an European thing. With no power the freezers will keep their temperature for 24 hours and will stay below freezing for 48 hours (as recommended by the manufacturer) but I would think probably 72 hours if you don't open the door. Plenty of time to get a genny from the hire shop (or buy one if its really needed). I believe this system is only available for upright freezers but don't quote me on that. To be honest, in all the time we have been here, the maximum we have ever lost power for has been half a day when they buried the cables underground and we had plenty of notice.

[mint]

Q, I haven't checked this but OH tells me that there is something in the petrole literature that says that you shouldn't keep it through the summer for use next winter?

 

[Quillan]

I read that too but I don't seem to have had a problem in the past. A guy from the local fire station says its to do with pressure building up in the plastic can due to the heat of summer. He also said if you live in a place where you get fires then it's not so safe to store it in your garage. My brother-in-law who used to be the Station Office in a London suburb said he would be more worried about all the gas cylinders you see in supermarkets and under peoples sinks for their hobs than he would about paraffin stored in a garage.