didn’t know Portugal had their own version of The Daily Vomit 
If you want a laugh now and again,have a look at the Daily Express,they are furious that Brexit has been such a failure,it,s really funny.
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Good, it might dawn on some of their readers it was always a shit idea.
Of course they’ll blame “remainers”, or the EU, or Labour - anyone but themselves.
They are covering the key issues though… this company has faced an eggsistential threat to their EU exports.
They may have done a u-turn by now, but from what I recall when Reach bought the Northern & Shell titles from Richard Desmond they said they were intending to split The Express into two, the online content was going to continue along its loony path it was with one editorial team (which I imagine is how most people engage with it these days sadly) but the print edition was going to take a less hysterical more moderate tone going forward with a separate editorial team, which I found interesting, almost like they didn’t care what nonsense went on the internet as long as it kept the clicks and adrev coming, but they wanted to at least attempt to repair a bit of the damage of the Desmond years when it came to rhe actual news paper. I’ve not seen a print Express for 10 years so I’ve no idea whether that was all hot air or not, but it stuck in my mind as it seemed interesting at the time.
I keep seeing this 4% increase figure but that is not my experience at all.
For example in December last year our monthly dd for electric was 58 euros. In February it became €78. Our consumption has not gone up but it is now 99 euros per month.
How have your bills evolved?
Maths has never been my strong point but it doesn’t make sense to me.
We’re with EDF and have paid €42 per month. In April, they had to repay us about €120 surplus. EDF have repeatedly asked us to up the DD, just last week they asked for €91 per month. We’ve actually used less electricity in 2022 and it only went up 4% so to ask for more than double is ridiculous. It’s a money grab to make their bottom line look better and to protect them against default when prices do go up in January … that’s unless the government extend the cap beyond that. Did they just up your DD ? We were asked for permission and refused so it didn’t go up.
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Thanks for your reply. No they didn’t ask. It just went up automatically. Although in December after the payment of €58 euros we got a refund of 60 euros.
I will ring them!
I’m sure I’ve said it before but we pay our bills to EDF directly on presentation not in advance on a monthly basis. Far better the funds stay in our account than theirs.
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UK electricity and gas companies were practising this same wheeze for quite a few years. Then the right to challenge the amount of direct debit was brought in. So it’s easier to challenge the direct debit requested in the UK now.
My EDF consumption is 12 euros per month. So 144 euros this past year. And that’s with the addition of freezers this year. However my total amount was 344 euros. So I am paying 200 euros a year just to be connected, or 200 euros of taxes, or 200 euros of social contribution to families with 5-7 people in the household, as I am paying the same fixed charge and taxes as large families.
Guess which one I think is most correct, now I am beginning to understand France’s priorities a little.
However EDF wanted 32 euros per month direct debit from this month. I ran the numbers and realised they want me to pre-pay a 15% price increase.
So last week I called EDF, asked why am I paying TVA on a sum that already includes an element of taxes, so I am being charged tax on tax. Then proposed 344/12 ie around 28 euros, as a monthly amount, which is an increase of 3-4 euros from last year just to pay more taxes, and no increase in my consumption.
It’s annoying to be constantly told to reduce electricity use but 58% of what I pay this year and 67% of what I paid last year, is tax. I mentioned if they don’t want to do 28 per month, I’d be perfectly happy to just pay the actual sum manually each month , no mensualisation, and would actually prefer this but was certainly not going to overpay them.
At the mention of stopping the mensualisation all was agreed and I am now paying 28 euros instead of the 32 they tried for. I actually think I’ll use less electricity this year (planning to scrap a very inefficient old fridge). But who knows how much they will increase the taxes and the cost of consumption by?
I have been an EDF customer since 1989 but having moved a few months ago to a totally different region, I wait to compare my Engie bill to the previous EDF which had a higher abbonement charge, probably because where I lived was the end of the national grid and very prone to cut offs. I have an air heat pump installed which the plumber said would be a lot cheaper than the old electric chauffe-eau water heater and is a larger 270L tank with a system that corrects itself so you never really touch it. To sign up with Engie I had to sign to monthly payments, I never did that before and paid pre-Linky (before 2018) every six months, then with Linky every two months via paper bill and prélévément direct for the amount they invoiced. As far as Brexit is concerned, it does not really have much bearing on my daily life apart from splitting my UK family members away from us in Europe over their racist remarks and love for that blonde idiot who really was only a novelty act. I don’t visit the UK any more and even though I could get french citizenship via ascendency because of my french grandchildren, I still hold a UK passport and I suppose now the new one will be the old style navy blue colour. To be honest, the RN here frightens me more.
haha… its more black than navy blue but at least you can console yourself with the point that the cover (at least) is made in France 
Following on from Brexit because the UK is no longer an EU state I just wondered if CdeS WA holders will be subject to the European travel information and authorisation system (Etias), which applies to non-EU citizens from 60 countries that have visa-free travel with the EU, which is now scheduled to start operating from November 2023. Not expensive at €7 for three years but just something else to apply for!
why shouldn’t we… we continue our status as TCNs, the WARP only provides acknowledgement of residency status, nothing more. At travel gates, WARP holders still have no access to the EU gates and will remain subject AFAIK to TCN conditions on entering the EU.
So if I want to pop over to La Jonquera and do some cheap shopping, I will need one even though there is never any officials at the border unless they are looking for crims/smugglers etc?
Yes of course, why would you not, British people are like all the other non EU people.
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Extracted from the above: " If you have a valid residence permit from one of those Schengen countries, it is equivalent to a visa. "
AFAIK holders of a WARFP carte de sejour will be able to use the new e-gates normally only for use by EU/EEA/Swiss citizens.
I can’t find the reference for this now, but will post a link to it later.
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I’m not sure that a visa even confers those rights (use the new e-gates normally only for use by […]) on a TCN traveller into the EU