Without going nearly off grid, what suggestions are there for coping with 5 straight red tariff Tempo days? I expect next week to be the same, so wonder what we can sensibly prepare over the coming weekend?
Red Day off-peak is slightly cheaper than Bue Day peak this year, so run any large electrical appliances between 22:00 and 06:00.
I have my electric immersion heater running from 03:30 - 05:30.
Central heating is gas which draws very little power and the gas hobs and oven only use electricity when the oven fan comes on.
The only electrical items running during peak hours are the fridge, the freezer, the broadband and occasionally the TV.
A Red Day usually costs me around a €1 more than a non-laundry Blue Day.
I’m not too unhappy as temperatures this week mean that we’re unlikely to need any heating.
1 Like
I hope you have a wood burner just in case.
Don’t use any electricity hungry appliances during the day. We don’t have any electric heating and things like the washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, hot water and car charging are all between 22.00 and 06.00, irrespective of the day colour. If anything needs cooking in an oven we use the air fryer. Ironing waits until a blue or white day. Apart from that we don’t worry about it. Our usage costs about €3 blue, €4 white and €6 red days.
2 Likes
I turn the fridge and freezer either off, or down to minimum, and put them back up in the evenings, and when wanting a hot drink, I put a stove kettle on the hob. Quite a few of my red days end up cheaper than a white day.
I’m stopping using my wood burner. I can no longer convince myself that irrespective of how old the wood is and all the advice ( from wood burner companies) that , “ you only emit the amount of co² that was collected during growing the tree so it’s neutral” , I still think it’s better to leave the tree standing and not burn the wood. It’s taken years for that tree to collect the C0² and seconds for me to release it. And there’s the question of PM2.5’s being released. It’s a cheap source of heating in monetary terms but a huge cost to the environment.
I’ve just invested, not very much at all, in a solar shower and I’m making a solar oven. Clearly not much good in December, but hopefully all my showers from May onwards will be guilt free.
2 Likes
I wonder if others are coming across (v minor!) unexpected consequences from the block of red days at this time of year?
We had cooked multiple meals months in advance for red days which were put in the freezer..Unfortunately they are mostly stews and soups, as we assumed red days would mostly be in the depths of winter.
Yesterday the sun was shining, the temperature was about 15C, the grass was growing, and I started to mow our lawn with an electric mower, then stopped rather guiltily when I remembered it was a red day.
We arranged months ago to have an artisan come to sand down our shutters in the spring but have had to postpone him till after 31 March as he’ll be using an electric sander all day.
Yes. We had artisans here for the last two days using substantial electrical power. After waiting 6 months we could not delay. However checking our daily consumption on EDF & Moi, it may have added about 2 euros a day. We have now almost got through our frozen batch cooking. So we are starting to plan what to prepare this weekend. We could barbecue this week with the sunshine. Clear sunny skies here in the Haut Jura also mean clear cold nights, and our 12kw Godwin woodburner goes out about 2am… Unfortunately next week’s specialised local forecast indicates a return to more usual March weather, possibly even snow again.
Just to make you all feel a little better, here in the UK our electricity is permanently a double red day 
3 Likes
Main idea is just to shift and reduce usage. Run appliances at night after 22:00, lower heating a bit and pre-heat before red days, and avoid big loads like oven or dryer during the day. If you can, batch cook ahead. Biggest impact is really heating and hot water
1 Like
Have your immersion heater running for a couple of hours before 06:00 and you’re slightly than peak hours on a Blue Day.
Unless you have a sizeable solar/wind generation capability and a mad amount of battery storage, you need a second heating source for Red Days.
We have gas central heating which starts automatically on a cold red day. and we use the gas hobs instead of the oven on a red day. The washing machine and the dishwasher are reserved for non-red days. We also have a wood burner but it is too warm to light today. Instead we went out for a picnic in the beautiful sunshine.
I crumbled yesterday and made a crumble that cooked on jours rouge rate for 1 whole hour. I just needed crumble and I had some of a delicious new recipe for crumble topping to use up.
In my defence I did use my 400W mini-cooker. So, by the time the double round of taxes applicable on the naked 0,75cts or so per KWhour jour rouge rate are added, cooking it will still have added well under 1 euro to my electricity bill. Even for that reckless exploit.
And it was delicious. So there!
8 Likes
Went out for supper. Of course spent more than if we’d stayed in and cooked, so maybe not sensible. But made a good excuse. 
1 Like
Can,t see electric being more expesive in the UK,how about a bill for 2 months with EDF here in France= €560,how does that compare?Reading this post is like going back to the 1940,s,is this how we have to live nowadays,turning fridges off and not cooking etc,sad.
Sensible step. Go and make that visit you have been putting off to friends / family for a few days who don’t have Tempo.
1 Like
Average about 28p per kw.
So,how much are you paying just for electricity for 2 months?
and plug in all your devices,chargers etc while you are there….