Watch out, new electricity meters will scre w the customers.

[woolybanana]

http://www.lefigaro.fr/conso/2013/09/24/05007-20130924ARTFIG00421-les-factures-d-electricite-vont-bondir-avec-le-nouveau-compteur-linky.php

There will be all sorts of extra charges to get into the system and uprate your electricity, if you go beyond the basic tariff. And as the metre reading is automatic it will be very difficult to check, I suspect.

As the EDF is largely government owned, we must assume that is yet another stealth tax from an idiot government.

( I am having great trouble posting, again, both on the PC and the ipad, so please forgive the failure to analyse in depth what the article says - perhaps Norman could oblige. It is in the Figaro, amongst other papers)

[NormanH]

Briefly the new meters will be more accurate and will no longer allow people to go over the limit of the power setting they have chosen without the switch tripping (which is possible to a certain extent with the present less precise meters) , so they will have to take a more expensive subscription to a higher power setting  which reflects their real needs.

The higher the power you choose the more expensive the monthly charge is

http://edfpro.edf.com/abonnement-et-contrat/le-compteur/modifier-la-puissance-49178.html

I believe that at the moment you can choose 3 6 9 or 12 Kwh with the tariffs rising at each stage

Puissance souscrite (kVA)	Abonnement annuel TTC (euros)
3	65,64
6	78,25
9	91,25
12	144,37

[woolybanana]

So, does it mean that if you trip on the odd occasion, you will be forced to go onto the higher rating and tariff? And to do this there will be an extra charge to do so, on top of the higher tariff?

[NormanH]

It sounds as if the first is likely

dix millions de foyers vont découvrir avec l'arrivée de Linky qu'ils

doivent souscrire un abonnement plus important et donc plus cher

You can see what you might need here (in French)

http://www.jechange.fr/energie/electricite/guides/abonnement-puissance-compteur-2452

I can't remember if you have to pay a one-off charge to change the rating...

[idun]

I upped ours pretty soon after we moved into our house. Prior to that we were with a 'regie' with quite different tarifs and actually a lot cheaper for us, although 'regie's' at that time could be more expensive than the EDF.

Ofcourse, when we moved to the house, we could have had a switching system that  went on and off at will. But I didn't want that, so we bit the bullet and increased the puissance. We were lucky enough to get EJP when it came out, so that reduced the amount we paid for the abonnement.

How would they know if the board only used the electricity puissance available, with a switching system? Or is it that clever???

[Gardian]

To the best of my knowledge, it doesn't work that way in the UK (a requirement to specify a power rating), but as we all know that shouldn't or doesn't mean that it works like that over here.

We're on 18Kva here and need it: all-electric heating, + the domestic appliances that you use particularly in Winter. The standing charge is higher of course - €200 ish + TVA pa.

Our Belgian (residence secondaire) neighbours are on 12Kva.  They have a pool heater (7kw or maybe 9kw) and then when the washing m/c, dishwasher, and tumble drier are all going full bore, the whole bloody lot trips out.  What happens then?  They call out EDF, who get the hump and tell them that its their problem.

So .............. surely this is about focussing people's minds on what they need and minimising daft callouts?  Or am I missing the point?   

[Théière]

[quote user="NormanH"]Briefly the new meters will be more accurate and will no longer allow people to go over the limit of the power setting they have chosen without the switch tripping (which is possible to a certain extent with the present less precise meters) , so they will have to take a more expensive subscription to a higher power setting  which reflects their real needs.
The higher the power you choose the more expensive the monthly charge is
http://edfpro.edf.com/abonnement-et-contrat/le-compteur/modifier-la-puissance-49178.html
I believe that at the moment you can choose 3 6 9 or 12 Kwh with the tariffs rising at each stage

Puissance souscrite (kVA)	Abonnement annuel TTC (euros)
3	65,64
6	78,25
9	91,25
12	144,37

[/quote]

The actual electricity prices remain constant throughout the puissance range as far as I can see but for some unfathomable reason they charge a lot more annual subscription for the larger potential puissance.  Obviously because it involves so much more work [blink]

http://particuliers.edf.com/energy-for-your-home/prices/electricity/tarif-bleu-56121.html

Just another place where the UK is a much fairer system.

On the subject of pools Gardian, I have focussed my attention on this area and have engineered a perfect solution, it provides huge savings over a conventional setup. (8mx4mx1.5m pool was running at 730w/h, now running at 67w/h during swim times and 35w/hour at the other times with the best water quality ever and less pool cleaning with less chemical usage too.)  Your neighbours are not using an air source heat pump for their pool?  That combination can mean a lower puissance which provides an even bigger saving.

[EuroTrash]

"Just another place where the UK is a much fairer system."

I beg to differ.

As a person with green tendencies and low energy needs, I wouldn't necessarily see it as fairer if I had to pay the same standing charge as heavy consumers. Presumably that would mean heavy consumers (often fat cats) paying less than they do now, and light consumers (often thin cats) paying more than they do now. I like paying less. I never thought I'd turn into a socialist but maybe that's what living in France does to you..

[powerdesal]

Please define ''fat cats''.

[woolybanana]

Seriously overweight felines who have more riches than I do!

[Gardian]

[quote user="powerdesal"]Please define ''fat cats''.[/quote]

Mmmm - yes.  We're not !!

The standing charge is different to the UK (in terms of the way its charged), but not a big thing.

For us, as reasonably heavy users of electricity (and nothing else, other than the wood we burn which is garnered from our own land ) it represents less than 10% of our bill. If we were on a lower power rating, the diff would be negligible in the overall scheme of things.

[EuroTrash]

"

Seriously overweight felines who have more riches than I do! "

Precisely!

But the stepped standing charge does mean that people who live on a budget, with a fridge, washing machine, cooker and not much else, can keep their overheads low.

Having pools and everything electric that consumes a larger proportion of the earth's finite carbon supplies is optional, and you don't opt for it unless it is within budget.

[Gardian]

[quote user="Théière"]

On the subject of pools Gardian, I have focussed my attention on this area and have engineered a perfect solution, it provides huge savings over a conventional setup. (8mx4mx1.5m pool was running at 730w/h, now running at 67w/h during swim times and 35w/hour at the other times with the best water quality ever and less pool cleaning with less chemical usage too.)  Your neighbours are not using an air source heat pump for their pool?  That combination can mean a lower puissance which provides an even bigger saving.

[/quote]

Thanks for the information, but frankly I'll doubt that he'll take much interest when he's next down here.

Its really only used when his Mother is down here in late-May and then she whacks it on big time. The problem is that despite being told umpteen times, she still puts all the other appliances on at the same time!  Then, bless her, we all know what happens and she's round here wondering how they're going to eat that night.

Dominic shrugs his shoulders when he hears about it and just pays the bill! His business is cash-rich enough that he's not bothered.

Just as an aside, his pool maintenance firm have (for the 3rd time this year) mucked up things  - the details are too boring. Suffice to say that the pool, after being winterised the other day, has been emptying in to the surroundings for the last 48hrs (and re-filling simultaneously). I rang them this afternoon and the gaffer uttered the 'M' word and said that someone would be round in the morning.  Clowns!  That's probably 500m3 of water disappeared.

Never a dull moment.