Arrived at the maison pour les vacances today at 10pm....to find no electricity....the only other house in the hamlet looked as if its power was on...
Tomorrow is Sunday.....so I doubt I'll get any sense from EDF.... I have workmen arriving on Monday...they will need electricity.... I'm wondering whether to go and buy a small generator or not....
No doubt I'll get things sorted with EDF within a few weeks whether it is a fault or a cut off....but I'm wondering whether it is cut off or technical problem...I suspect a broken line might be cured quicker than a reconnection....
...does anyone have any experience of this ?
Basically all French bills are normally paid by Direct Debit from our French account. However my mum got diagnosed with cancer 4 months ago and we had her funeral this week.... I've been ignoring domestic admin for a few months, including my French bank manager's plea for more cash...so doubtless some factures have gone unpaid...
Last letter I can see from EDF (upon arrival at house) was a final demand for 60 euros...they wouldn't cut me off for that surely ? They have also been pestering me for a meter reading for about 2 years, but I've kind of ignored them....
Years ago when I was a student (and didn't open any post) I arrived one day to find that by court order someone had entered my flat in London and switched me to a "key meter"....
I can't see any signs of entry to the house. Arguably there is a new "plug thing" on the line coming into the outside of the house. The meter is dead, so no indication from it...
Can anyone shed any light on whether this is a "cut off or "fault" situation.?..the answer to that may dictate whether I run out and buy a generator for the artisans for Monday.......
All help much appreciated. Also does anyone have the English speaking number for EDF ?
I've found a fantastic gite / camping / barn arrangement 20 minutes down the road and I'm the only guest so I have the run of the place...it has all facilities...and only 20 euros a night...the owner described it as a room for a workman...but it is better than I have been sleeping in when in France for the last year: ie a building site !
My intrepid father and son team turned up today and are making steady progress with the plastering...albeit they did have caving torches on their heads towards the evening...
I've bought a generator for a mere 80 euros which will keep power tools running and charging...
Chausson are delivering an ungodly amount of material tomorrow...
I'm off to shower and open the wine in the garden of this pleasant little gite...
I'll keep you all posted with how I get on with reconnection !
This is true and and indeed what confused me in the first place: the line comes directly from the pylon to my house, then inside and into the EDF breaker and meter....so since they hadn't been in the house how had they cut off the supply without either electrocuting themselves or turning off the entire line of pylons ?
Answer seems to be that they have physically cut the line and placed a sort of giant inline fuse thing in the line (Google a picture of inline fuse and you'll understand). It needs a fuse or rod placed in that breaker unit to reconnect....they must have turned the line off for a short moment whilst they did so...there are only two houses on that "grid"....
Not here they don't. My supply is connected to the overhead cables on the other side of the road & comes directly the EDF cut out & meter inside the house.
I am sure you have been cut off, I received an estimated bill of over 250€ A few months ago.I rang them and said no one was in the house for last 2 months could I pay less, they said no, if I didn’t pay that bill I would be cut off. They did however promptly send me a refund by cheque when I input the meter reading at the next bill date.
As others have already commented, EDF almost always have physical access to a beige/off-white coloured box which houses a cut-off circuit and which is generally located on the roadside or on a publicly accessible path.
If your bank account is not sufficiently topped up to allow for payments by cheque, then payment will be refused by the bank, as in any other country, unless you have agreed an overdraft facility. Additionally, as is often the case with non-resident French accounts, the bank will flag you up as "interdit bancaire", which is a registration with the Banque de France, and which will follow you for up to 5 years in France, even if you then subsequently provide sufficient funds to have the "interdit" lifted - credit rating agencies (and even EDF/GDF, and other large firms) use this register (and others) to assess your solvability, so it is not trivial. Your own bank may also withdraw or reduce your spending capacity on any debit cards you might have, and even refuse to re-issue you with a new card, until such time as you can convince it that you have the means to keep the account in good operating order. Attempting to open an account with a different bank, will bring up the red flag with the new bank, so don't be surprised if you get turned down there either, or if it decides to impose limitations on your spending.
You don't say whether you are in this situation (and I hope not for your sake, because it is a PITA), but it is worthwhile knowing about it.
If they have cut you off, they will have left a piece of paper saying 'Avis de Passage' and telling you that is what they have done. The supply is 'cut' from a little box outside your house.
When we arrived to the same scenario a few years ago, we went to the 'local' edf showroom and were set up with a new account straight away but had to wait about ten days for the supply to be reconnected.
I sympathise with you. Some of us struggle with the trials of daily life and when you are far away it is easy to let the weeks, then months, slip by without dealing with those things you know you should tackle. Organised, pragmatic people simply don't understand!
Chin up. At least daylight is long at the moment so candles probably aren't necessary. Hopefully you have gas for cooking and heating water to wash. Think of it as camping!
EDF do not need property access to cut people off. Many second home owners here arrive to find their homes cutoff and the English help line is very efficient if the owner can't speak French.
all my isolators are in my property, other than EDF coming and disconnecting the cable from the grid I can only be cut off after they gain access to the property.
Once I had a similar experience with a French bank, many years ago. I didn't realise that they got extra heavy if you issued a cheque with insufficient funds. Unfortunately direct debits had taken more than I thought and a cheque for 170 Francs failed to clear. Their threat of prison worked a treat and I managed to avoid being sent off to Devil's Island!
We made a trip to our house in the Dordogne May this year and arrived to find our electricity was not working. We flicked various switches but could not get it to trip. Our neighbours were away so could not get them to contact anyone for us as we have no means of contacting the local authority as we only have an Australian mobile. Anyhow we camped in our house for the night and the next day I texted our real estate agent who we bought the house from. Like you our bills are direct debited however, we always keep enough money in the bank for it to come out so there is no reason it should have been cut from non payment. Our real estate agent phoned EDF and they advised they had not cut us and to try flicking the switches. We did exactly what we had done when we got there and within 10 minutes the power was back on. Despite EDF saying they did not cut it I think it is a bit of a coincidence. It is the first time it has happened in the 2 years we have had the house fingers crossed it will be the last. Not 100% sure of your situation but if they had been trying to debit your account and it kept coming up with no funds then it might be the reason why. Hope you have got it sorted now.