Linky - electricity bill now seven times higher

Property & Home EDF and Utilities
141

Linky you are stating pretty much what fascinates me about your case.

Gotta be honest and I know others here smarter than me are perhaps sensibly not stating publicly. But so far I am getting the feeling that consumer rights are very poorly enforced in France. Particularly in the case of formerly nationalised (ie government-run history) industries. Of which EDF and other companies in that industry, seem a likely case. Where the industry is judge and jury and can misbehave or shrug their shoulders and put the onus on the consumer to move mountains to challenge them, they are not going to accept any fault till conclusively proven. And maybe not even then.

The French blood scandal comes to mind about how long that took to prove the challenge against the authorities. And that was a mass problem. So what chance has the individual got to challenge a formerly state-run industry that is still thinking that same way?

Either someone is using your electricity or you’ve got duff equipment - yours or EDF’s.

I’d try to find out what qualifications or agrementation a specialist has to have that would have to be accepted by EDF if that specialist states something is EDF’s fault. You say you’ve had your own installation checked. I think you’re going to have to pay again, but only the right sort of specialist EDF would be obliged to listen to. Very few months of the current overcharging would be equivalent to their costs.

If it was me I’d pay a subscription to Quechoisir.org and use 1 of the 4 legal advice calls they give you per year, to get legal advice and ask the above. I’d want to take advice about how to write something that will ensure EDF has to pay the costs of your specialist, at a minimum, if you are found right and the fault is with any part of the EDF provision.

You’d best write up a timeline of all actions and communications between you and EDF to quickly send to the assigned consumer legal person. This will also likely best be attached to whatever you send to EDF but take the advice on that.

Meanwhile I would absolutely be following Badger’s advice.

I personally can’t wait to see how this turns out whichever way it goes.

142

It’s simple - turn ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING off, then see if you’re still ‘consuming’. If you are then still ‘consuming’, and nobody is tapped into your system, then there is something wrong with the supply.

I’m sure that the electrician will do just that, turn everything off and see what happens + check for any 3rd party connections.

If you are still consuming, with everything turned off, and no 3rd party connections discovered, then EDF don’t have a choice but to investigate further. I would get your electrician to write a very short and concise summary to make clear the findings, to be able to help set out the position more clearly with EDF, rather than just verbally saying ‘something must be wrong’.

The amount of electricity you are apparently consuming/day is crazy. I would say that even for a ‘lived in’ fully operating house this is high! :scream: :scream: :scream: :scream:

143

Personally, I’d get hold of contact details of someone at EDF with influence, setting out the facts after the electrician visit. When I recently wrote to the Orange France CEO with a registered letter about my internet issues, I got a pretty quick response and action. Sad that you need to take such measures, but when the minions don’t deal with an issue, reachjng for the heart normally delivers!

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144

Many house insurance policies include a legal advice service.

145

Doubtful, yes, because there are actually hundreds of thousands, if not millions of the things in service which are correctly recording the consumption of electricity - which means, although there might be faulty ones, the odds against you having one are considerable.

But no-one is saying it is impossible for the meter to be at fault.

We’ve all agreed that the timing of your “increased consumption” needs explaining. But, again, there are quite a few reports of old electro-mechanical meters being off in the consumer’s favour so that is a more likely explanation than the new, entirely digital device being wonky.

We’ve also told you repeatedly that what you need to do is visit your property (I know, I know, our next visit has been blasted out of the water by Covid and we could not get to visit our house at all for a year from Jul 2020 - Jul 2021) with someone in tow who a) is on your side and b) is electrically knowledgable.

You then need to go over the wiring, check there is nothing suspicious and measure your actual power consumption.

But we can’t see that you have done those things, just stated repeatedly that you usage can’t be that high and the meter “must” be at fault. You’ve also been quite sarcastic at some points when people are only trying to help.

Did you check that your bill matches the meter number?

Also, I suspect KarenLot is right about EDF’s attitude to customer service - but placing yourself at loggerheads with them is only likely to raise your blood pressure and not lower your bill.

They normally connect an accurate, calibrated meter in parallel with yours and check the two show the same reading.

Yet you have frequently said you don’t really trust HIM either.

146

You really know how to antagonize people. You have tried to be “helpful” while also attacking me personally which I do not appreciate so why don’t you just stick to the discussion rather than constantly making nasty comments regarding my complaining and so-called unwillingness to follow the advice given. You know that I am not there at the moment to do anything, I plan to visit soon and follow a plan based on the feedback posted here.

147

Just constant attacking. You obviously do not like me or this thread.

148

I/we fully understand that. However, as you are monitoring consmuption remotely is there really no way that you get someone to go & throw off the main disjoncteur de branchement then reinstate it 24 hours later? That simple step would 99.9% prove whether the Linky is at fault or not.

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149

I’m not the only one.

I hope that you get things sorted, I’m just not sure you’re going the best way about it though.

And, as @Badger says we do appreciate it is a hard problem to deal with when you can’t get to the property.

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150

Why does it need to be 24hrs? I have asked my electrician to switch off the electricity for 45 minutes so I can check that specific 30-minute interval on the “EDF er moi” app.

151

For certainty, but a few hours would probably do. I wouldn’t go for 45 minutes as that will only cover one 30 minute period of your monitoring at most.

Maybe get the electrician to pop over in the morning, turn things off and then pop back in the evening to turn them back on.

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152

I am with badger, 24 hrs to cover the full cycle including any auto on offs via the triggers.

153

I hope you will not jump down my throat but what strikes me is that you are rather putting all your eggs in one basket in your belief that your Linky is faulty.
If it turns out to be a faulty appliance that is somehow leaking current, the longer it goes undetected the more costly it will be and none of the cost will be recoverable.

I agree it seems very coincidental that the problem began when the meter was replaced but coincidences do happen. It reminds me of an occasion when I was young and impulsive, I took my car to a garage to have a fault repaired and the following day it developed another fault. For a long time I was absolutely convinced it must be something that the garage did wrong that caused the second fault and I made rather a fool of myself accusing them until I calmed down, listened to what people were telling me, and accepted that the two faults were not in fact related and it must be coincidence, or possibly the second fault had been waiting to happen and somehow the repair of the first fault disturbed the status quo it but not in any way that was the garage’s fault. Mr Badger will know, but might it be possible that an appliance was developing a fault prior to the meter change and the changing of the meter, disconnecting and reconnecting the supply, preciptated its appearance?

2 Likes
154

Agree 24 hours would be the clearest and cover any timers but we’re mainly looking for recorded consumption to drop to zero, indicating that the Linky is not registering a constant, phantom, use.

If it doesn’t drop we’ve not totally eliminated the possibility that something is tapped off between the meter and disjoncteur - albeit that seems unlikely.

155

1000 watts per hour is a pretty crazy load, and understanding that there are only cameras on at the house plus intermittent lighting, my money is still on someone tapping off somewhere.

156

I think others have already answered for me. 24 hours covers all eventualities, especially if the supply is dual tarif (HC/HP). It will also make it more convenient for some helpful person to do the deed i.e. they knock it off when passing on Day 1, then on at the same time on Day 2.

157

We never assumed that the Linky meter was responsible in the beginning. Initially we thought that it was the boiler since heating needs to be maintained during the winter months at a low level. However, it’s when we received the electricity bill in May when the heating is not maintained past March that we realized that something is wrong. The boiler is only three years old. Very few appliances are connected. Everything is disconnected except what is needed to maintain security of the building. So it’s not like I received the first electricity bill immediately after the installation of the Linky meter and assumed that the Linky readings have been wrong. If anything the initial assumption was that we were responsible for the consumption. If it could be proven that it was indeed my fault, I would be more than happy to accept it as it would put closure to this issue. My electrician seems pretty sure that it’s the Linky meter and even Enedis has admitted that something is wrong. EDF have told me that in less than 1% of cases they do find fault with the Linky meter so it’s not like these meters have a perfect record.

158

This is good advice.

Earlier (much earlier…) in this thread I also mooted this…

This would explain why the consumption appeared at the same time as the Linky.

As ever though we are all making guesses with very few practical facts to go on.

159

“When the heating is not maintained past March”

Are you sure?
Could you have an out of control thermostat?

160

How does the boiler get switched off after March when you are not there to do this, does somebody do that for you or is it done remotely or automatically?