EDF rip off!!- got a month?

[thehydes]

Hi All

We are in the Charente Maritime and believe we are in a rip off situation- got a month? then I will begin.

In May we asked for our incomoing supply to be upped from 6KW to 9KW, possible 12KW on advice from the engineer changing the supply board, about our new undersink water heater as it tripped the main fuse.

He turned up on time,(took 6 weeks), looked at the 24amp unit and put us up to 12KW. Waved goodbye to said engineer.Lovely hot water we thought, walked to the new kitchen, turned on the unit and guess what? yep, it blew the fuse.

Thinking ' must be the unit, wiring, or other mysteries that come from nowhere' call the electrician.

Over next two weeks, yes it's today-no electrician, okay tomorrow- no electrician (sound familiar?)

Further chats to colleges/friends still nothing.Okay, call in the big guns, write a letter.

'We have three phase and want to go to single phase- more amps that way' Contact customer service to confirm 'Yes no problem, all free, no payment'

Two friends in the Charente 14 kilometers away have there's changed, only waited a week, free!!Still nothing from EDF now end of July- yes really p**sed off.

Then out of the blue a letter in the post with an EDF postage mark. Wine is poured, pig roasted in garden, even spoke to mother in law back home.

Open letter with tears in our eyes for a date, 'Please pay €793 for the work' This cannot be right, it's free. Contact customer services AGAIN, 'What is going on?'

'It's free' they insist, 'but this letter' I reply. ' it is free'.

' I can get the whole house rewired for €800, it is a 20 minute job at most' I reply corking the wine and ripping the telephone book up.  'it's free - trust me' a voice keeps telling me

Numerous letters and calls later, even from the Marie, they still want the money before any work is done. Please help as I only had that one bottle of wine!!

Richard

 

[Ron Avery]

You have been misinformed, changing from 3 phase to single phase maybe free, upping your supply level from 6kw to 12 kw is not the same thing. 

If you can get a house rewired for 800€ I would check the work of that electrician very carefully.

[BJSLIV]

Presumably the demand for payment gives some description of the work

I fear that your request requires some re-cabling to carry the  increased load.

If it only needs a simple recalibration of the equipment that would be free. Additional cabling that's down to you.

Count yourself lucky that you are located somewhere where they can increase the supply!

 

[shimble]

have to agree 800 euro for a rewire dream on you wouldnt even get half the materials for that

[Gluestick]

Upgrading our supply - in terms of capacity -  and fitting a new computerised Heueres Creuse/Heures Plein Compteure cost circa € 70,00

A re-wire for € 800?

Er, no.

 

[Chas]

[quote user="thehydes"]

'We have three phase and want to go to single phase- more amps that way' Contact customer service to confirm 'Yes no problem, all free, no payment'

Two friends in the Charente 14 kilometers away have there's changed, only waited a week, free!!Still nothing from EDF now end of July- yes really p**sed off.

[/quote]

We had three phase and 6Kw when we moved in and it tripped out on a fairly regular basis. Apparently the main problem wasn't the level of the incoming supply but the fact that the demand from each of the three phases was not balanced. Most of the high wattage kit came off one phase and it was this which was causing the trip out. It was 7 years ago but we did change to single phase and upped to 9kw for free and at the same time they (EDF) put in a new external meter.

[Nick Trollope]

Can't really comment on EDFs charges, as they base each job on the cost of doing the job. Last 3-1 phase change I had done was 230€, previous one about 90€. As has been suggested, you may need to look at the devis they have given you to discover what the charge is for.

As you have surmised, the instant water heater is your problem. Do you know what its power rating is? Is it newly installed? A 12KW supply gives you 4KW per phase, being the maximum you can use at any one time, for any single appliance. Most instant water heaters use alot more than this.

I'd go back to the original installer of the heater, if possible and get them to change it for something more appropriate, like a small chauffe-eau (about 1800W).

 

[Cat]

Sorry if I've got this wrong, but...

The question that doesn't seem to have been answered is, has an electrician checked the water heater yet?  If your supply has already been upgraded, and it is only the heater that is tripping out, you should be asking an electrician (not EDF) to check that this is not the cause of your problem, surely?