Electricity charges

[Jaydeez]

As electricity seems to be a hot topic I have a question re standing charges..  We are not resident yet unfortunately, and only get to go to our house in the Charente perhaps 5 or 6 times a year.  We get our electricity bill each spring and autumn, and the actual charge for electricity is quite low as we do not use a great deal..However we have to pay nearly 200 euros each time as a total of the 6 monthly standing charge.  Is this in context with what other people pay in France ?  We have now gone over to paying monthly (60 euros a month which considering our time there seems extortionate.)  I have written to EDF twice now without answer so it looks like a personal visit.  Any info would be most appreciated..

 

John 

[Alexis]

200€ divided by 6 approx 30 € a month so £20.  That seems dear.  I will check mine....7,50€ for 6W and just under 20€ for 12W here.

Regions may differ though, I don't know.

[Teamedup]

Have you checked the tarifs for the standing charges on the EDF web site. Your bill should tell you what kw'age you are using.

The higher the KW's coming into the house, the higher the tarif, whether you are there or not. If you reduce this, then you might have lots of inconvenience when you are there as the electricity will go off it you are boiling the kettle say and put the iron on. We used to have it going off all the time used to drive me crazy. Sometimes people get their electricity sort of sorted out, so that if you overload in some way, it will automatically turn other things off..... that too is annoying.

[Jaydeez]

Yes it is 12kw  which is ok for us now (had CH put in to cut down on electric heaters)..They used to trip the fuse box at the flick of a light switch..It just seems high probably because we are not there to appreciate it..

[Teamedup]

I've just looked on the edf website as I was checking to see if it was EJP tomorrow or not and it said as a basic 12KW you will pay 172 euros per year TTC. Quite a lot isn't it.

[moos]

My first thought is that a 12kw supply seems rather high,and therefore expensive. Are you sure you need all that? Our supply was 3kw when we first got the house (in the Gers) and we upped it to 6kw to see how that would be; and rather surprisingly its been fine; no trip-outs. We have a 13 amp electric oven, washing machine, small hot water immersion, hi-fi, occasional electric panel heaters (to supplement the woodburner), an arc-welder,and various power tools. We just don't use the washing machine when the oven is on, which isn't hard to remember. An electric kettle seems unecessarily extravagant if there's a gas hob to boil a kettle on. 6kw is quite a bit cheaper so worth trying. 

Good luck

[Val_2]

You should thank your lucky stars you don't have the two monthly bills which always come to about 150€ each time for us with a big one at the end of the year when they read the meter and catch up.This is just a normal family of four, not running the electric heating except for a few mins in exceptional circumstances,but all those other things like TV,freezers,kettle,washer,drier etc. However,we are still better off because we use gas for cooking and once the bottle is bought it is paid for.

[Quillan]

I have a Excel spread sheet which I updated for one year (1st Jan to 31st Dec 2004) to monitor my useage and try and predict what my outgoings would be.

I have a 60A supply which is the same as in the UK and I have electric heating so obviously my costs are higher than most especially if you are a holiday home owner. I have run a comparison against the different EDF tarrifs (which are the same throughout France, there are no regional differences unless as in the case of Quillan you have a private scheme and it is a lot more expencive) and I also compaired it against NPower prices. The calculation works out as follows per year.

French Standard €3907

French Economy 7 €2879 (standing charge is very high)

French Tempo €2050

English Standard €2099

English Economy 7 €1292

I reversed the the days and nights for the Economy 7 systems as you would have storage heaters. If you want a copy of the spread sheet then email me. The price sources are www.edf.fr and www.npower.co.uk

The one thing it does show is the big difference between UK and French prices. This is mainly to do with the high standing charges in France. The NPower figures were based on an average of the seven regions in the UK (big difference between regions in the UK I see) and I used todays exchange rate of 1,44€ to the pound. You can only have Tempo if your heating is electric.

[Jaydeez]

Many thanks..to all, very useful info..doesn't reduce the costs but at least I know I am not paying for something I shouldn't..I know electricity prices are more expensive..hence the move to Oil CH.  I might ask to go down to 6KW for a while to see how it works out..I can always go back up.  I think its a case of put up and shut up, so I will...Till I find something else to think about of course..au revoir from dull, wet, Stourbridge..

John

[Fmn]

Hi

We have only 6kw and have never had a trip out yet; but no freezer - just think how that would mount up in the south here in the summer.  But was interested in the thought that boiling a kettle on the gas hob would be cheaper than an electric kettle.  Do you really think so?  Or is it just that it's nicer to buy the gas in advance than face an electric bill later?

Fran

[Teamedup]

When I used to boil the kettle on the gas hob we used to use a gas bottle every six weeks. When I changed over we change every 3 months. My electricity bill didn't go up that much either. I am in the fortunate position though of paying a low amount for lots of kws coming into the house, a contract that is no longer available.

[Miki]

[quote]When I used to boil the kettle on the gas hob we used to use a gas bottle every six weeks. When I changed over we change every 3 months. My electricity bill didn't go up that much either. I am in the ...[/quote]

That sounds like EJP to me TU.

If it is, we have never got over losing it when we sold our last place, it is no wonder that it is no longer available and Tempo is nowhere near as cheap as EJP, lucky so and so !

 

 

[Teamedup]

Yes, I am on EJP and the new contracts finished years ago. In my opinion they get a lot out of us anyway, I'm just glad that they can't get more.

[Gyn_Paul]

Quillan,

"....You can only have Tempo if your heating is electric...."

I'm intregued to know where you found the info about Tempo from. I've just been on the EDF site and the lowest kvA it's available for is 9kvA. That's - what - 40A ? Can't see a mention of any other restriction... am I just not looking in the right place (thinking of going over to Tempo in the next house) ?

paul

[Briank]

We have just changed from triphase to monophase, from 12 kva to 9kva and onto Tempo so we are hoping to save some money. We don't have electric heating and no mention was made of this when we changed everything. We are with Soregies not EDF. Also all this work was free!! I can't imagine this being the case in UK. It's just a pity that Tempo wasn't mentioned when we first arrived.

Brian & Jan  (86)

[bertie]

I went to EDF in Carcassonne last week and was told I couldn't go on Tempo because we had electric heating, so now I am confused.

[BJSLIV]

I couldn't go on Tempo because we had electric heating

Are you sure they didn't mean that they advised against Tempo because you only had electric heating?

Tempo is meant for people with electric heating, but you really need some other form of heating, hearth or even gas bottles, otherwise you could bankrupt youselves or freeze to death  on the high price days, when it would cost £3 to run a one bar fire for 10 hours. If you can't reduce your consumption on the red days to little or nothing you will negate virtually all the savings. Unless you are never there on the Red Days.....

[Teamedup]

All the people I know with Tempo have alternative heating, I had really thought that it was aimed at them, due to those high tariffs on certain days.

BJSLIV is right about bankrupting people, well probably not quite, but the bills would be hefty.

[bertie]

I told them that I also had a wood burning fire. This heats up all of downstairs after a few hours and also our bedroom as the chimney is in there. It is a holiday home, we are only there 8 - 9 weeks a year so would hopefully miss the red days. When we are there in the winter we rarely use the heating due to our high electricity bills. I will try EDF again.

[Angie]

[quote]I have a Excel spread sheet which I updated for one year (1st Jan to 31st Dec 2004) to monitor my useage and try and predict what my outgoings would be. I have a 60A supply which is the same as in th...[/quote]

I have read your email with some concern.  We are in the process of having a house built near Quillan and we will be all electric.  We thought electric panel heating would be the safer option (bearing in mind we would be away for about six months of the year) and would not have to worry about boilers going wrong etc.  I am, however, horrified at the costs involved - is the annual cost really as high as this?  Your calculations would suggest about £2,000 per annum. on average. We are all electric in the UK and our annual bills for heating, water, cooking etc. are in the region of £400 per year.  I was always under the impression that French electricity was cheaper!!

Regards

Bevvy

 

[Gyn_Paul]

Which half of the year are you not going to be there ?

[BJSLIV]

I always used to think that Tempo would be a winner for a typical holiday home, away in the winter avoiding the red days and then saving money in the summer. However on  inspection its a closer run thing than you would expect. Edf's examples seem to suggest about £800-1000 a year  to heat a modern house, and our experience suggests £30-40 a week in winter and not a lot in summer, which again averages at about £1000 a year. But most of the consumption is for heating, and as you don't use much of that in the summer, then you don't save very much either , and what you do save is offset by the higher standing charge that you have to pay, unless you are already on 12A supply.

And where you can come a real cropper with Tempo is if you arrive to a cold house in the middle of the red days and need to boost the heat quickly. No I think the real winner with Tempo is someone with alternative heating who can manage their life around the red days by a bit of load shedding. Otherwise stick to the Heures Creuse.

 

[SaligoBay]

<<And where you can come a real cropper with Tempo is if you arrive to a cold house in the middle of the red days and need to boost the heat quickly. No I think the real winner with Tempo is someone with alternative heating who can manage their life around the red days by a bit of load shedding. Otherwise stick to the Heures Creuse.>>

So true.   If you're all electric, don't even THINK about Tempo!

After the shock with our first 2-month bill, electricity usage is now ruling our lives.  Son is on school holidays just now, simple request to make Anzac biscuits has to be turned down, because the electric oven is obviously just way too expensive.  

And with sub-zero temps outside at night, you can imagine how cold a house is with no heating, and no double glazing.    I exaggerate not, I can feel my hands getting chilled as I type here, because I have to take them out from inside my 2 layers of sleeves!

Roll on the summer! 

 

[zeb]

[quote]I have read your email with some concern. We are in the process of having a house built near Quillan and we will be all electric. We thought electric panel heating would be the safer option (bearing...[/quote]

bevvy - if you are having a house built, have oil fired (underfloor?) heating installed. Electric heating is sooooo expensive - just imagine your heating bills if you are there over the winter. See SB's post - it's freezing at the moment and has been for weeks.

We have oil c/h, a huge woodburner, gas bottle range cooker, all mod cons (electric) and live here permanently (2 adults who feel the cold).

Our electricty bill is 34 euros per month (6kw) incl. electric kettle = 408 euros

Oil 1500 litres = 827 euros (inc. TVA) average over year.

Gas bottles 6 x 19 euros = 114 euros

Wood = 200 euros (we expect quantity of wood to double next year with installation of 2nd woodburner)

Total annual cost for 120 sq mtrs = 1549 euros inclive of TVA

maybe you could do a comparison and see if it would work for you. Installation costs of c/h 8000euros

 

[Angie]

[quote]bevvy - if you are having a house built, have oil fired (underfloor?) heating installed. Electric heating is sooooo expensive - just imagine your heating bills if you are there over the winter. See SB...[/quote]

Thanks so much Zeb.  Sounds as though you could well have saved us a packet in heating costs. As someone who feels the cold terribly I think we have to rethink our heating plans immediately - your suggestion about oil fired underfloor heating sounds a real possibility and we will discuss this with our builder.  Thanks again