EDF - Creating an account for new service, am I doing this right?

[LaFleur]

Hello, I thought this was going to be a simple task but I am here asking for help. Am I doing this correctly?

We bought an apartment and I am trying to turn on the electricity. We are not living there yet but I need to connect it before we arrive.

Our agent provided me with a copy of the previous owner’s electric bill so I would have the “PDL” on the Linky meter. I went on to the EDF website to set it up.

If I choose to create an account, it wants my account number or telephone so I take this to mean I have to be an existing customer. Instead, I chose the “souscrire” option, then I chose “Tarif réglementé de vente” (vs Offres de marché) and entered info about the apartment. Below is the result. Is this what I want? Is it just estimating our bill? If I select this option is it going to give me the opportunity to enter the PDL and turn on the power?

If anyone is willing to advise, I’d appreciate it!

[Porridge]

Would you be able to ring them? We found that the easiest option, tough that was with our departmental supplier Sorégies (who are great).

[LaFleur]

My French is definitely not good enough for that yet!

[Porridge]

https://particulier.edf.fr/en/home/contact/contact-edf.html

English spoken

[JaneJones]

You somehow missed a step.
Try choosing the “offres du marché” option and then this screen should pop up, and you can select subscribe .

[chrisell]

In terms of what buttons to press I have no idea.

But Tariff Bleu is the sensible starting point. It’s the basic “flat” price 7 days a week 24 hours tariff. You can change it to another tariff whenever in the future - so it’s the simple choice for getting power on.

But as above there is an English helpline - it’s pot luck if your on hold for 10 seconds or 20 minutes as far as I can tell. But once through it gets fixed quickly in my experience

[LaFleur]

If anyone is still listening….and you’re not tired of me yet, I’m stuck again

So I did get through on the English helpline (amazing this is available, thank you for the suggestion) but they can only offer the “green” tariff plan, which sounds like “Option Heures Creuses” as they mention peak & off-peak rates. I was hoping to sign up for the tempo or even just the base rate, but they can’t offer that to me on the phone?!

Does anyone know how to get the tempo option?

[George1]

One possibility. Friends who recently called the EDF English helpline persisted when initially fobbed off with the explanation that it couldn’t help them with accessing Tempo. They asked ‘for advice ‘ on what was the best way to get Tempo..The helpline staff then offered to liaise with their colleagues in the Tempo team to get them up and running. All they needed was the 14(?) digit Linky number and confirmation they had at least 6kVA of power to the property. No guarantee of success, but it might be worth re-framing the question to the helpline along the ‘can you help advise me’ approach in case this also works for you?

[tc123]

It’s always a bit complicated setting up an edf account for some reason. You dont have to use EDF, there are many other suppliers available and some are cheaper. With your PDL you should be able to do everything online without the stress of having to hold a phone conversation. This state run comparison site helps you find the suppliers https://comparateur-offres.energie-info.fr/

[KarenLot]

The other reason this might work is that in my varied and stressful interactions with French Customer (Un)Service, the customer agent’s view of their role seems to be that it is only to give information and not actually do anything to resolve anything that does not fit into their 'rules’.

So asking for advice should plug into whatever help they have written down for them, that they can give.

Not really any wonder that I would say 90% of the customer service agents I’ve dealt with in F could be directly replaced with AI. And not even sophisticated AI. Which is sad.

I wouldn’t say the same about interactions I’ve had with Customer Service in any other country. Most of the time, except where customer service lines have been outsourced to most Indian providers, and heaven help you if to the Philippines (UK Amex, Paypal), the human has powers and the willingness to add value a machine can’t. So it’s a pity the F cultural view of what Customer Service is for, is so limited.

[Nunthewiser]

True. I set up EDF online and then 2 years later switched to Labellenergie online. Never talked to anyone in any language.

[Emily41]

that is actually a really useful approach. Sometimes it is not about what you ask, but how you ask it. Framing it as a request for advice instead of a direct request seems to make a difference. Good to know that providing the Linky number and confirming the power capacity can help move things forward. Definitely worth trying this method.

[Porridge]

Absolutely.

People here really want to help - it’s normal - but they want to avoid any cause for criticism. They also like to find ways of getting round the rules.

[vero]

@Porridge ISWYDT

[LaFleur]

SUCCESS! In case anyone comes here looking for the same information, here’s what finally worked for me.

EDF definitely seems to be doing something weird with their customer service line, but I was able to get the result I wanted.

As I mentioned, I couldn’t subscribe to a contract online without a French phone number (which I can’t get while still abroad). I did have our PDL and the kva.

The first 2 times I called the English speaking help line, they wouldn’t offer the Tarif Bleu, only Tarif Vert (which may have been fine but I just wanted to start with Bleu).

The third time I called the English line a few days later, once again, I selected option 2 for government regulated pricing. I had a client number from calling the first time (which helped me at least set up an online account even if I couldn’t subscribe). I told the agent that I would like to subscribe to Tarif Bleu and he asked me if I had been able to contact the department to discuss govt regulated pricing contracts - which was surprising since that was the automated option I selected. I calmly explained that is who I thought I was calling and that I chose option 2….low and behold, he took a few moments to review and was then able to talk to me about Tarif Bleu.

Initially, I wanted to try the Tempo contract, but he said we’d have to keep the contract for a full year (true? IDK) and as we only have electric heat, I decided not to chance it.

The agent explained peak/off-peak, which is different from other countries I’ve lived in as some of the off-peak hours are during the day, not all overnight. In our area, off-peak is 1:50-6:50am and 1:50-4:50pm so I decided that might work for us.

All to say, keep calling the customer service line, sometimes you will get someone who is more willing or able to help. (The second one I got spoke English so fast, I couldn’t catch more than 10% of it, he might as well have been speaking French )

Thanks for the tips.