Certificate de Conformite ?

[Jacqui Too]

We are have our house completely rewired by a registered electrician, and the question of the Certificate de Conformite came up and whether we need one or not.

Our electrician says that we can have one if we want and it will cost about €250 but that we do not need one as the house already has a supply and is not a new build which would need one, now my quandary is that when I asked our agent (who sold us the house and has been extremely helpful organizing other artisans) he said it was worth getting one.

Advice needed please [:)]

[LesFlamands]

Your electrician is correct although the certificate only costs 106 euros he's probably charging for his time to arrange it as well. For peace of mind then get it done but the artisans 10 year insurance is much more important.

[woolybananasbrother]

As of January 2009 you will need an inspection of the electrics anyway when selling so the certificate now might save a bit of hassle later.

Many many people are going to get some serious shocks (!) when they see those reports. In fact I dont reckon any house that more than 10 years old will be up to scratch.

[Jacqui Too]

One reason we also might need one is that we have a very old meter and when we had the supply reconnected I asked the EDF man if we could have a new one (one that could be read from the outside) he said only if the new system had a certificate. so now we have to decide if it is important enough to pay an extra €250! Hopefully we will not want to sell , but you never know!

[Chancer]

Sounds about right for France.

Introduce something that will save the company time and money and then expect the consumer to pay for it[:)]

Sound familiar? Think of banks, debit cards, internet banking, or just add your own!

Re the consuel certificate, it might be worth at least saying at this point that you want one to keep the electrician on his toes, it is valid for 2 years in case you are thinking of selling however I dont think that during that time it replaces the new electrical survey as it is not an energy efficiency survey.

You could also consider getting the Consuel inspection yourself to save time and to verify that what the electrician has done meets the current normes but you will need a wiring schematic diagram as well as everything being in order to pass. Also seeing the reluctance of any artisan to accept what they have done is wrong, the inevitable lengthy negotiations with reluctant insurers and costly legal procedures I would opt for keeping him on his toes and insisting that the work passes Consuel the final payment will be made. Beware this may well up the Devi considerably though as he may well not have specified the rewire to current requirements - smaller tableau no gaine technique de logement etc.

As for 250 euro you have to ask whether your time to open the door and let the meter reader in to earn his pay is worth that, it is not as if they will read the meter any more frequently than at present so you will still get estimated bills, might just be worth considering though if it is a second home.

[LesFlamands]

Changing the meter is normally free of charge if fitted in the same place. the 'sonde exterieure' is about 80 euros but, yes, you will still get estimated bills.

You don't need a schematic for the Consuel but the tableau does need to be labelled. GTL is also not essential but a tableau de communication is (which is often not allowed for when estimating for a rewire)

[Jacqui Too]

Thank you everyone [:)]

I think that having the certificate to make sure we get a proper job done is a good idea as we have never used this artisan before. As for needing the meter to be read from the outside, this is a holiday home and the chance that we would be there to 'open the door' are very slim. I have no worries about estimated bills because I inform the EDF on-line every 2 months of my reading, we read it every time we leave and switch it of at the mains, so I get actual usage bills.

The old meter must have been something of a status symbol back in the old days as ours is smack bang in a prominent position in the sitting room! [:-))]

Thanks again for the info.

[Chancer]

Les Flamands

It is interesting re the schema, I was told by my "advising" electrician to do one, I recall reading that it was required and I certainly read in the book how to do it. However it was only looked at with partial interest during  the inspection and used to expalin certain things to me as my French wasnt good then, he certainly didnt copy it and I dont recall submitting it.

Also I now realise that my then "advising" electrician had literacy problems as when I asked him to help with my letter asking for the Consuel dossier I realised even with my then poor French that I couldnt send it off like that, I think that he would find it very hard to produce a schema and I have never seen one attached to a tableau.

Are you certain that it is not required as opposed to just another thing that the inspectors sensible are not too fussed about?

If so then that it is good news for my remaining installations.