France in Focus

New tariffs from 1st Nov. But no change to the Tempo tariffs except a few cents on the abonnement.

@ Polarengineer, I suppose you speak about the EDF blue tariff, also the tarif réglementé. It is also used as a guideline for structuring the prices of all suppliers' market offers. The price of an EDF blue tariff kWh is € 0.2516 (basic option) in November 2024.

What is the regulated sales tariff (for electricity)? The regulated sales tariff, or TRV or Tarif Bleu, is the price of electricity offered only by EDF or, in certain communes, by Local Distribution Companies (ELD) in their capacity as historical electricity suppliers. These tarifs are set by the public authorities. Unlike regulated tariffs, market offers are available from all suppliers. Their price is not set by the public authorities, but is defined contractually by the suppliers. Many other fournisseurs, sometimes large companies, sometimes a one-man business with a good looking website.

Les fournisseurs alternatifs proposent des offres de marché. EDF et les ELD sont les seules autorisées à vendre l'électricité au tarif réglementé. Elles proposent également des offres de marché.

In my opinion the crux of the matter, is there a brake built in for unexpected price increases in the future or not. And when a complete stop is not possible, it at least helps reduce the vehicle's speed slightly. In the past many clients were not pleased at all with their once cheaper tariffs from other energy suppliers. The energy crisis, brother, can you spare a dime, my kids are hungry and my house is cold.

The miracle of the privatisation of the French energy market should not go unmentioned. Whichever way you look at it, EDF remains the largest producer of electricity in France for the time being. A nice pie chart with a brief explanation here. To promote market forces and competition, EDF was forced by law to sell part of its production on the free market to other market players at extremely low prices. Thus enabling other energy providers to compete with whom? With the EDF.

Don't get me wrong, I am not in favour of (semi) state monopolies. But still, with that you have an element of democratic control via the parliament, the Assemblée and the Sénat. France, the only country in the world where a private company (?) is forced by law to subsidize competing businesses, many of them not producing a single electron, in order to get a free market.

In the free market you have the democratic right of ‘voting by feet’, the economic sanction of the non-repeated purchase, that'll teach them, for you another, a cheaper fournisseur d'énergie. That seems nice, but all that switching also comes with a price tag. My estimate: more than hundred euros per switch. Tentative conclusion: that money has to come from someone. From whom? From the chers clients et clientes I'm afraid.

The EDF, a little bit more expensive but fitted with shock absorbers for a possible bumpy road lying ahead.

I’m looking at the tariffs again. EDF have a tariff called Zen fixe. 2 year fix. It is lower than the réglemented tariff.
Is anybody using this?
Is there a catch.?

Headers, hardly a catch, it is not green as explained by the guys of Selectra. Its a new tariff, launched the first of January this year, at this moment not many users to give some feedback. What might be a catch is the timing of the heures pleines/heures creuses, read this comment.

RobertArthur wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2025 11:23 am Headers, hardly a catch, it is not green as explained by the guys of Selectra. Its a new tariff, launched the first of January this year, at this moment not many users to give some feedback. What might be a catch is the timing of the heures pleines/heures creuses, read this comment.

Thankyou. I have read the link. My current HC is 22.00 to 06.00 but I believe sometime soon the whole HC thing is under review because of the high daytime solar panel production so I’m expecting the hours to change anyway. As I don’t have solar and we are at home all the time I can just adjust my working of washing machine and dishwasher to suit and the hot water tank will take care of itself.
There seems to be nothing to stop me changing over.

In case of misunderstanding, EDF is now entirely owned by the French Govt. but functions is a semi competitive market. Profits, is there any, go to the State. How efficient it is I dunno but I suspect seriously top heavy management at least.

Headers, now is the time, now is the moment to reconsider the pros and cons of your HP/HC tariff. As from august 2010 already it gradually lost the supposed benefits. Only for families and real power users something to do. Again Selectra, now with a nice table: Quelle est la rentabilité des Heures Creuses avec EDF ?

Their overall conclusion:

The HC/HP option is attractive for consumers who can use half their electricity during Off-Peak hours (often at night).
For households that consume most of their electricity during the day (Peak Hours), the dual tariff option is not advantageous: they consume most of their electricity when the price per kWh is higher than in the Base option

I’m googling the tarif. I have found that the reduction for the standard tarif is going down to about 0.176 and 0.2295 from 1 Feb réf www.fournisseurs-electricite.com the zen rates are currently on offer at 0.1456 and 0.1876 so the zen is still less but not by much.
The question is will they reduce the zen fixe rates on 1/2 as they are not réglementé.
We use more on HC than hp (3887 HC vs 2923 HP) so it’s still worth it. I have done a rough calc and on the figures I have we could still save around 200 euros a year.If I could work out the KW rating we require I could probably drop to 9kw and save a bit more as well but I’m not too confident on that.

I have done the deed.

@ Headers, dropping your puissance souscrite in LINKY times, think twice.