EDF Tempo

[Sparkle]

We received a letter from EDF yesterday re the benefits of changing our contract to Tempo. We are on Tarif Bleu the cost of heures creuse 0.1470 and heures pleine 0,1841 and crikey that has gone up as expected. Is anyone here on the Tempo tarif or has swapped from Bleu to Tempo - I'm not convinced we should swap as I have a 24/7 electric cooker which I wouldn't switch down or off as it's also a heat source for our kitchen/diner. Every other room tends to go on night service by day anyway unless the weather is exceptionally cold. Interested to know all thoughts on this. Thanks.

particulier.edf.fr/tempo

[MAD87]

We had Tempo for 2-3 years in our last house, but frankly I'd never have it again. Yes, you save a bit of money and we were younger then! But...18 days in the winter of super-expensive electricity (red days) required a lot of planning and hot soup on those consumption-avoidance days. To take all the gizmos installed by EDF, our input was increased from 6 to 18 Kw with a corresponding increase in the standing charge. Read all the small print first.

[suein56]

The only problem with Tempo is the obligatory 22 days a year at (much) higher unit cost. (22 days in Morbihan, I see Mad's is only 18).
These days always appear in winter and usually on the coldest days. Whilst it is possible to 'manage' the odd day, or two days in a row, of very much more expensive costs per unit, it is either v difficult or horrifically expensive to manage 5 red days in a row .. as happened to a friend.
Although she had a wood fire and she cooked on her Weber barbecue on the red days, showered rather than bathed etc the year the 5 red days in a row happened was the final straw. So she changed asap to a normal blue tariff and didn't regret it.
I am not saying it is usual to have more than 2 red days in a row .. just there has to be a total of 22 red days crammed in somehow before the end of the winter period.

[Sparkle]

@MAD87 @suein56 thank you soooooo much for your replies. That confirms to me that we are not going to change contracts.

[Blaze]

A lot depends what sort of house you have and where you live (climate) and how you set yourself up to cope.

When we lived in 49 during a cold winter, we lived for 3 weeks without electricity after storms but didn't find it a hardship as we had the wherewithal to keep warm, shower and cook.

We're less well set up here, no wood-burning cuisinière with back boiler/oven etc (though we do have a gas hob) and we have uninsulated granite walls. We have a wood burner and a mobile gas heater and we're sticking to the Tariff Bleu.

[suein56]

A lot depends what sort of house you have and where you live (climate) and how you set yourself up to cope.

My thoughts exactly.
In the UK countryside we had solid fuel CH so the boiler was always ticking over, even in summer. We had constant hot water and an always warm bathroom, courtesy of the gravity-fed heat-leak radiator. We had bottled propane gas for all cooking so we could cook and keep warm in the kitchen if there was a powercut and the CH pump was not working.
Here we are mostly electric, heating and water heating, with 2 gas hobs and an insert fire .. we're staying on the blue tariff too.

[Sparkle]

I don't think it gets that cold here and so far we've only had a couple of very cold weeks and that was at the beginning of this year. Our house (the end one of 3) is a 3 storey stone house with a 2 storey house attached. All walls are insulated as was the roof of the main house when we had it replaced. We are in a small village so benefit a little I think by the warmth from other buildings but we are surrounded by countryside and it can feel very cold just a few metres down the open lanes when I go off for my early morning trek. That said we're not a couple that feels the cold to that extend and if we do we get moving around ie get the pot on!

[hughnique]

I had te very same letter yesterday and was planning to ring the English speaking line and enquire, thanks for putting this up as after reading it I won't bother.

[MAD87]

It's many years since we had Tempo, but it's not really for the elderly or those who feel the cold. Better to apply the expert/government advice and tricks to reduce consumption as far as possible. They reckon you can save at least 10% on common-sense measures, even if you have to shell out a few hundred to help the reduction along, it'll pay for itself quickly.

[Blaze]

We've just been notified by EDF of the benefits of changing to Tempo (we're currently on Tariff bleu). Whilst we do not use electricity for heating and are used to using electric appliances/water heater at night, like Morbihan we'd have 22 red days. We have a bottled gas hob but an electric oven, and a woodburner.

Our monthly bill has gone down which may be what prompted the proposal to change. But re-reading the above postings, we're not totally convinced it would be the right decision to change.