Electricity in France

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1. 1. Opening an Electricity Account in France
2. 2. Getting a New Electricity Supply
3. 3. French Electricity Tariffs
4. 4. Your French Electricity Bill
5. 5. Assistance with Payment of Electricity Bills
6. 6. Changing Your Electricity Supplier
7. 7. Complaints Procedures

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4.1 Understanding Your French Electricity Bill

On the front of your electricity bill you will find the total amount you need to pay – montant à régler - and you will also find the final date by which you should pay it – montant à régler avant le ... (date).

You will also see your client reference number (votre référence client) which you will need to use in all your communications with EDF.

It is on the reverse of the bill that you will find details of your consumption and the tariffs that apply.

It will state the amount of the monthly direct debit – abonnement – the amount of electricity consumed under each tariff over the period, and the cost of this consumption.

If you are using off peak then you will find details of your consumption for on-peak – heures pleines – as well as that for off-peak – heures creuses.

The column ‘autres prestations’ is a public service supplementary cost, mainly towards renewable energy.

VAT (TVA) at the rate of 19.6% is payable on the consumption charge.

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4.2 Paying Your Electricity Bill

You can either arrange to pay by cheque following receipt of your bill or arrange a direct debit (prélèvement automatique).

If you have a competency in French language, you can also arrange to pay your bill over the internet by setting up an internet account. You need to go to the EDF site to set up an Espace Services account.

EDF read your electricity bill every six months, and send out a bill every two months. So for a large part of the year the bills you receive will be an estimated reading carried out by them.

If you are out when they call, they will leave a Coupon Auto Relevé which you should return to them in nine days with the reading you have made.

If you want to only pay actual consumption each time, then you can use their Relevé Confiance service. Under this service you read your own meter (four times a year) and send the meter reading into EDF over the internet. You will need to set up an account in Espace Services. You will then be sent a bill of actual consumption.

Alternatively, before your new bill is due, you can ring them and advise them of the reading.

You can also choose the regularity of payment. Normally, a bill is sent out every two months, but once you have an established pattern of use, you can pay the same amount each month. Any difference from actual use is regularised at the end of the year.

If the property is a second home, then you can arrange to be sent a bill every six months.

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