My modern villa is the same, I pay a fixed electric payment of €20/month and all electric. for 102m2 Currently in about €120 credit with Engie as have not used heating/clim since beg June as three year old Mitsubishi system packed up and you only get 2 years guarantee now. Just had brand new system fitted this week by a competent plumber who did all the fittings at the beginning but not the reversible clim system and its a French made system he will only use as his deçenelle insurance is precious to him. My old granite stone house used to cost a fortune to heat even with lots of insulation and a wood burner and convector heaters as back up, glad I don’t have to finance that now!
When you say the Mitsu ‘system’ packed up, what do you mean? I had three Mitsu reversible units in Spain [2 bed/1 salon]. The unit in the salon packed up and was replaced by a Hitachi. The Mitsus were good. The Hitachi was even better.
Only the room unit needed replacing, not the compressor units or any pipework. Good advice from the original fitter who pointed out the vulnerablity of one big compressor running three room units.
I was surprised at how well the units performed in ‘heater mode’, helped by the ability to reverse the blades on the ceiling fans which, to my surprise, did improve the heating. I was sceptical but tested and it worked.
I think the consumer mag ‘60 Million’ has run an article on just this. I know the criteria for rentals is going to be toughened up considerably, soon. Thus the uproar …
Now that I’ve halved the volume of the balon and sorted the timing, my conso looks like this
The estimate for Dec '25 is €130 - coming down from €135!
The iniquitous ‘jours rouges’ alone cost €105 in Jan '25 and €110 in Dec '24. I’m out of that tariff now 
Same here. I don’t have the piffling little electric heater on in my bedroom, don’t use the 2nd bedroom or the salon. That was down to 7C the other day, normally +/- 10C a.t.mo.
There must be figures for the payback time against the cost of supply and fit of solar. I think an actuary would say to me, “At your age, old chap, don’t bother. Spend it on whatever heats your house.”
Did you ever use the Valencia AC in heater mode?, I always remember you melting!
Actually, I hope you don’t mind if I ask, just curiosity so no need etc, would you go back if you could (coz you probably can), or is it you prefer France, just now not so far north west?
Valencia can get very cold. On a visit in a Jan, before I moved there, I’d been monitoring the temp for over a week - balmy 22C-24C. I packed as for late April/May in a good UK spring. It was beautifully warm as I got off the plane.
Next day … 3C! I took a shot of a McDonald’s sign showing that! It remained just above freezing for the whole week and with a cutting wind. I was wearing everything I’d packed.
Yes, I used heater mode all thru’ Dec/Jan … bit of Feb. Outdoors, in the sunshine, it was wonderful. In the shade, very chilly. I used to smile at the Valencianos - esp the Valencianas - all bundled up in coats and scarves in May, me in a polo shirt.
Come July/Aug/Sept, los zapatos en los otros pies.
I would - 'me blood take’ in ES in a way that it doesn’t in FR.
Brexit rules it out. I’d be in the position of any 3rd country national moving to EU. I don’t have the resources to cut it.
However, One of the 4 Big Deals which were in play for my move to FR still applies - I can have a conversation in French. My Spanish is nowhere near that level. . Conversation was not poss.
I got along reasonably well on a basic day to day level but occasionally got badly caught out in situations where I was completely at a loss. I have never had that happen in FR.
So away from weather just like SW UK it is - deus voluit.
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Very insightful reply, thanks! I forget about the minimum income limits, so sorry about that - I now remember it stymied our other prof photographer on the site for his choice of Greece. Brexit is truly shit.
I read somewhere that Spain was ‘easier’ to get into than France / elsewhere. Of course, if one has enough money, everything is easy in life and choice. Brexit is for the poor - who it is reported, reliably voted for it … I’ve just searched for an emoji - there isn’t one that represents my feelings as I type at the moment.
The rich also voted for Brexit, mind, coz they made loads of money off it, and they already had German nationality, or US or all the passports they needed.
Anyway, I feel for you captain 
Thanks for that. No need, really. As a grizzled old raver, there used to be a comic strip featuring a pre-Gandalf character whose catch phrase was’ "Just passin’ thru’ " and indeed, at 76 y.o. I classify myself as ‘In The Zone’. Pals younger have gone. A pal was 94 on Dec 9. Que sera, sera.
I never had the estate agents’ ‘Dream of FR’. It’s somewhere to be.
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Although Mr Natural had other catchphrases …
and …
The author, Robert Crumb, lives in France north of Montpelier.
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très instable 
Edit: Not sure how well that translates. In English it’s ‘very flakey’. Probably ruined the joke now 
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What I like about the cover is that meanwhile M. Natural’s attention is far more focussed on the lady in front
The outside unit was a pile of merd according to my plumber and the cheapest in their range but I had no say nor knew anything about aircon at the time I bought the new build, the compressor was leaking, the installer had left a lot of bits loose and inside, the unit on the wall kept flashing meaning a problem every time since the beg of the year. It was a case of either re-gassing and tinkering or pay out for a reputable new system which he installs all the time and of course has to make sure there are no problems so I bit the bullet and after a day’s work, it was up and running and being a bigger box indoors, is so much better and actually far easier to understand how it works as the manual explains it without pages of combinations that were very confusing. The make is Heiwa and built in Aix-en-Provence so not so far away. The heat spread on this system in the main living area also reaches further than it’s weaker predecessor.
It probably varies depending on several factors. We’ve had ours 5 1/2 years and it’s not quite paid itself off yet. We were helped by the fact that we got I think it was 20% of the cost paid back by EDF over 4 years on some energy efficiency scheme. I tracked our consumption on an Excel spreadsheet, calculating what we would have paid without the solar, adding in what we’re paid for selling surplus and the rebate to figure it out.
Ah yes! That would be Honeybunch Kaminski, usually depicted down on hands and knees emitting involuntary noises …
Fat Freddie, Fat Freddie’s Cat, Fat Freddie Scat …
I am in good company, I have the R Crumb album thingy and several annuals of the furry freak bro’s.