Very Expensive Electric Bills

Hi - we pay around 180 euro a month for a 3 bed house too.

Hi Bob, hope you donā€™t mind me Asking a question on top of this older. I found this post through a google search and have now joined the group. How do you know your consumption. On my bill it says 3100 kWh Heures Plein and 1800 Heures Creuse - so approx 5000 kWh. I saw we are on Tarif Bleu 15kVA but Iā€™m not sure of the relationship between the two to know if Iā€™m on the right tariff. Spent many years on the wrong gas tariff and even when we asked for help they didnā€™t tell us we should change tariff, so now looking at electricity.

Do you have a big demandy for electricity? 15 kVA is a very high and expensive tariff to be on.

Jean McCluskey

How long have you been in your current propertyā€¦???

andā€¦as David saysā€¦ 15 KVA is highā€¦ so what sort of electrical equipment do you useā€¦??

Hi Jean,

no problem for asking the question, i hope i can give you a little helpful info.
Tariffs:
they are ranged from 6Kva to 36Kva ā€¦
6 being for those with little consumptionā€¦ mainly with gas central heating and low electricity demands
i am on 9, with a couple of electric rads, and normal consumer appliances. thereā€™s only 2 of us in the house and log burner for heating, so our consumption is low/medium
add a couple of kids and more intense power use of washing machines, dish washers, etcā€¦ 12 or 15 would be about rightā€¦
the standing charge rises with each tariffā€¦ but the price per unit remains the same across the blue sky tariffs.
a friend was on 36Kva, and paying 720ā‚¬ for standing charge, yet only 2 in the house, oil and log heatingā€¦ he finally had a re-assessment down to 9Kvaā€¦ saved a fortune.

The Meter;
if you have the cream coloured digital one, they have multi functionsā€¦
the total consumption to date for HP & HC
Instant read out of use is available tooā€¦ not sure how many presses to access it, as i havenā€™t played for a while. but the display will go to Zero, then after a few seconds will start counting up in single units.
i would set to Zero, hold the button and using the second hand on my watch, wait for an easy time referenceā€¦ then releaseā€¦ count the units in a minute and x 60 for an hours consumption.
donā€™t forget, fridges, clocks and other things will draw powerā€¦ so 60w per hour is not unusual [ good case for turning things off from standby?]

it is not illegal, or difficult to read the digital meterā€¦ maybe not immediately obvious what each press is telling youā€¦
but you can NOT damage or erase anything on the meterā€¦ only change the display for what has passed thru the meter in a given time since the count was started for a test.
the total going thru the meter is only viewable, but can not be changedā€¦ you can not erase or change anything in the meter.
long ago, i spent ages pressing all the buttons to see what they do. some are still unclearā€¦ some are obvious.

maybe look for the type of meter label, and look online for sequencing of presses and display results to expect?

Your bill:
on the rear, they break down the costsā€¦ nightmare to figure out!!..
but there should be a little graph to show consumption over a few years useā€¦ this will let you know if you have suddenly increased consumptionā€¦ maybe a new cookerā€¦
we have a new kitchen, and new induction hob to replace the bottled gasā€¦ since sept last year, but my electricity doesnā€™t appear to have increased, maybe even gone downā€¦ hard to determine after
such short period.
no 2 households will be the same, maybe not even similar in a block of flatsā€¦
the graph on the bill is your best indication of where your consumption is going on average.

this link will indicate the costs of units and subscription rates [EDF have it on their site, but i canā€™t find it at present] so i have used this from
https://www.french-property.com/guides/france/utilities/electricity/tariff/

you may have inherited a higher tariff when you bought the houseā€¦ on blue sky, coming down from 15 to 9 could be a saving of nearly 100ā‚¬/pa.
only EDF can alter the setting on the meter.
Another friend was on the really low base tariff of 6Kva and fixed price for each unitā€¦ no HP or HCā€¦
She then installed an 11Kw pottery kiln, EDF had to renew her meter, main power switch and the subscription to 15Kva to handle the extra consumption.

I hope it gives you some idea of how to check your consumption and if you could benefit from coming down a tariff or 2ā€¦
EDF do have an English help line, they would best advise if you decide to change tariff.

regards
Bob

Thanks Bob, Stella, David, for your comprehensive response. We donā€™t have a digital meter - just a blue analogue one with the two different readings.
We have gas central heating, although the house prior to our installing the gas heating was electricity, so was wondering if it was worth investigating. We are two, but itā€™s a big house. We have electric ovens which I believe are 3 phase (but probably only because we have it) Perhaps I should just write to EDF to ask perhaps to look at the last yearsā€¦I didnā€™t know they had an english helpline, although largely I can manage in French. Thanks again!

Hi Jeanā€¦ if your property used to have electric CH beforeā€¦ it could well be that you are on the 15 tariff for that very reason.

We have a reasonable sized house, 3 freezers, elect oven, washing machine, dishwasher, microwave etc etcā€¦ I use elect rads when not using the Oil CH or woodburner and we have computers, tv etc (though what they use I have no idea).

and we are on 9KVA which is ample for our needss

I reckon you could ask EDF to re-evaluate your premises. or, if cheaperā€¦ ask a local electrician to investigateā€¦

good luck

You do sound as if you are on a three phase (triphasĆ©) supply, which is one of the reasons you might be on a higher ā€œpuissance souscriteā€ than you need. People often simply up the power available to cover the problem of overload on one phase, which still takes out the whole supply. This often happens when a triphasĆ© appliance is erroneously replaced with a single phase one (water heaters are a common problem, as as are cookers).

Itā€™s amazing how many people manage with 6 or 9kVA once theyā€™ve converted from triphasĆ© to monophasĆ©. If you have three phase appliances but want to change to mono it is worth knowing that it is often possible to rewire cookers, ovens, hobs & water heaters from tri to mono.

With the info from Badgerā€¦ I certainly think it is worth getting an EDF or an electrician to investigateā€¦

I think thatā€™s what Iā€™ll do. Thank you!

You donā€™t have to pay the monthly sum they are asking. I have a friend with a holiday home and, at the outset, she was paying 44 euros per month. She never used anything like that amount of electricity as she only used the house for around 8 weeks per year. They then tried to put the amount up. I went along with her to the nearest EDF office and discovered that she was over 850 Euros in credit. I asked why they had put it up when she was so hugely in profit as was told it was because the price of electricity had gone up! We finally agreed a monthly payment of 15 Euros.

My advice is to not get involved with EDFā€™s monthly budget scheme, especially for second/holiday homes that have sporadic occupation.

A better solution is to opt for the bi-monthly billing option. This means that the meter gets read twice a year by the official meter readers but the other 4 times you can supply them with your own readings & therefore get bills that reflect your true ongoing consumption. The readings can be 'phoned in or, prefereably, via your online ā€œespace clientā€. You are reminded by email to send in the readings in advance of a cut off date. If you miss a reading then you will get an estimated bill for that 2 month period.

This even works for people who are absent & canā€™t read their meters. You simply have to remember to take a reading before you leave & guard it until you need it. You could also get a trusted friend to have a look & send you the figures.

Sometimes the online option queries very low figures, but that can be resolved by 'phoning in the reading.

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