I may have missed something but I don't see how you can be sure the phone call isn't a scam. Does edf really telephone people if there's a problem with payments? That's not my experience and if they did they'd get nowhere with me - I get so many "indesirables" that I never pick up the phone if I don't recognise the number (and have a special ring for friends etc. numbers registered on the phone).
Mark, I would still they were cheap heating, if you compared that to conventional electric radiators to heat the same area I bet they would have the house for sale by now. From your €400 a month between two pumps that's just over 2kw per hour if they were on 24hours during the cold spell. 2kw through a poor performing pump would still be around 4-5kw of heat out. depends so much on the size of the building and the insulation level.
Doesn't help Norman though but fitting an electrical consumption meter as James described on one of his sales blogs is both low cost and a very good way to keep an eye on the electricity consumption. EDF put up prices by 4.6% from last years, if they increase by 4% annually in 10 years we will all being paying 50% more than today so time to do something about consumption.
Had the same a couple of days ago. Yes a scam!
Done a bit of googling by just putting number in and you will see. Basically numbers that start with 097… Are a little suspect, which this one is.
If not already done so get yourself a phone where the number comes up so you can simply monitor your incoming calls. You can then have a choice whether to answer or not then let Ansaphone deal with the dross.
I would check the pomp a chaleur first. Have some friends who have just bought a house with two of these already fitted, they thought they would have cheap heating but hadnt realised that they were still costing 400 euros a month
Thanks Sarah, I have just forwarded that link to our household waster ;-)
Hi Norman,
First, I have my PC on from around 8am until 2 or 3am the following morning almost every day (not a laptop), my daughter then comes home from school and will sit playing minecraft or doing homework etc for at least 3-4 hours most days on her desktop and I would not say that this is an unaffordable or highly expensive contributor to our bill.
Check this site out - I think it contains calculators for most household appliances.
Norman, as Brian says, this sounds very dodgy. don't call the number given by the caller, call the one on your latest invoice, or one of the English-speaking numbers.
05 62 16 49 08 or 05 56 17 40 70
Norman, I took the same call yesterday evening and asked how they knew that? As it happens, our bill only arrived a couple of weeks ago and the main offender for wasting electricity in this house pays it. She also keeps separate folders for each regular bill. So she had just looked over it before having a good moan to be rebutted by one daughter and myself about the main waster. OK, that is a distraction en route. The point is, our consumption has actually gone down over two successive years as we rein in wastage by two of us constantly checking and putting off unnecessary appliances, using power saving means wherever, timers and so on. The bill was so fresh in my mind and the fact we had reduced and still could reduce further was a point for me to chuck back. So I did. I was told that EDF were actually basing this on forecasts. I asked how when we are reducing consumption? She began to dither and said she would have to check our files (having already said she had our details up on her screen), so I laughed and told her (using the English word) that it was a lousy scam and that she should get a new job. Phone down.
Laptops use relatively little power, even a PC using standby and sleep functions does not use that much when not in actual use, so do not worry about that. Simply do as you did, look at your bills and tell them how to get on the fast track to Hades. It is, as you say, a sting.