All the stuff you never knew you needed to know about life in rural France.....and all the stuff the books and magazines won't tell you.

Thursday 29 March 2012

Shining a light on your French electricity bill

Electricity for 1 euroElectricity for 1 euro (Photo credit: nicolasnova)
There are two ways of reacting to the arrival of the electricity bill.
Three if you include sitting down sharply and reaching for the bottle that not only cheers but also inebriates.

The first is to hold it at arm's length, note the grand total through binoculars and decide whether to stuff it in the drawer right away or whether to pay it and stuff it in the drawer later.

The second is to examine it closely to make sure it isn't the neighbour's, that they haven't given you an estimate based on the consumption of the supermarket in the next town and then, once satisfied it is yours, appreciate the fine detail of how much of it is for electricity actually consumed and how much - with VAT added at every step - is for local authorities, future development of the service and other codswallop.

However, there are things that your bill will not reveal, despite all the detail on the front and explanatory notes on the back.

It will not reveal that you, the consumer, are financing ninety per cent of the electricity bill of each and every person employed by Electricite de France...the poor devils being constrained  to pay the other ten per cent themselves.

It will not reveal how much you are paying to allow Green shysters to install wind farms in your backyard to generate electricity which has to be cleaned up to enable it to enter the grid.

And it will certainly not reveal how much of your money is going to finance the activities of the EDF Social Club.

All big firms are obliged to have a social club, run by people elected by their fellow workers, to provide social and cultural activities.
Big utility companies and the public transport sector, being strongly unionised from their days under state control, usually have their social clubs run by the dominant union in the sector, so you might think that the workers were guaranteed to benefit.

Well, up to a point, Lord Copper.

I have used EDF as an example, but in general these social clubs (Comites d'Entreprise) are much of a muchness.
A percentage of the revenues of the company is allocated to them, to do with as they please in the interests of their members.
In the case of EDF the sums allotted amount to eight per cent of the company payroll. With RATP (the Paris public transport body) it is more like two and a half percent.
A considerable sum in either case, with only a vestige of control.

We are not talking coach trips to the seaside with a crate of beer here.

We are talking of holidays overseas, the ownership of campsites and even of chateaux.
Spectacles.
Fetes Champetres which eclipse anything the Ancien Regime could put on.

So what's wrong with that? Why shouldn't the workers get a taste of the high life their bosses enjoy on their share option and bonus regime?

Because the workers who have a chance to exercise their taste buds are chosen on the principles of Animal Farm equality and, although in accordance with the latter part of Matthew chapter 20 verse 16 where many may be called, but few chosen, the choice is distinctly out of line with the first part of that verse where the last shall be first and the first last.
In other words, if you and Comrade Machin, shop steward, both want to go to the ball you'd better start looking for a fairy godmother because he's booked the whole coach.

Where suppliers are concerned it is a matter of 'round up the usual suspects'.
These social club directors are very loyal customers indeed, and  a while a whole industry is dedicated to their needs they rarely change a supplier in the search for value and variety for their members.

Following the money from source to seashore is next thing to impossible thanks to lax accounting which owes less to schools of chartered accountancy than to schools specialising in 'find the lady'.
Not unreasonably this gives rise to suspicion that some of it finds its way into funding the very union whose members run the social club.

So as you pay your utility bill  or buy your train ticket you will be delighted to know that in your own small way you are contributing to the efforts of those who bring railways to a halt, block roads, ground aircraft and blockade petrol refineries, while completely failing to protect the job and working conditions of ninety two per cent of French workers.






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28 comments:

  1. I'm surprised they don't ask you to pay a tip as well.

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    1. For goodness' sake don't give them ideas, Steve! There'd be VAT on it as well...

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  2. Twas ever thus...
    Most Westerners like to think that it's only furriners as is crooked, but corruption and collusion (sometimes with polite names!) exist almost everywhere.
    Mind you, some have polished it to an art form. France, for instance...

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    1. Centuries of practice, that's what it is...and where do they think furriners got the idea from anyway?
      France was a wonderful apprenticeship for Costa Rica....what Costa Rica thinks of as corruption is small change compared with France!

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  3. Ha! Love it, Fly..(Well, I don't love it, but you know what I mean!) Fresh from learning more than I ever wanted to know about the complexities of the French payslip, I've had my eyes opened to the way we are stitched up in the name of Egalité and Fraternité Animal Farm style.
    Still, there's a way to reduce your "contribution" to SNCF, at least: drastic though it may be. A good friend told me that she has half-price travel rights on the trains for life. Her valuable contribution, which has allowed her this concession? Having five kids....

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    1. Three more and she gets a medal, I believe....a measure dating from the Vichy years.
      There's a lot worse then this....just see what happens to your URSAFF contributions...

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  4. They use the money to send their kids cheaply to holiday camps too. CE subsidise that plus a whole load of other perks. Unbelievable really.

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    1. It's a real perversion of the idea of the Colonies de Vacances...

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  5. Oh joy, I knew there was a 'good' reason for our lovely EDF bill!

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    1. Yes, it's nice to know why you're paying so much, isn't it...

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  6. This post is getting printed out and put into my French file. What good it will do, I don't know, but I don't want to forget! Thanks, Fly!

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    1. It will remind you that all is not as it seems in the French world of smoke and mirrors.

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  7. Interesting. I did hear recently that our electricity bills include an amount that goes towards paying for electricity consumed by people who haven't paid their bills. I'm wondering if I'm being stupid when I am always anxious to pay mine on time.

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    1. The mind boggles, it really does!
      Here, if you don't pay after being given a reminder you are cut off. That's it.

      apart from the people who have connected themselves to someone else's supply, of course...

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  8. And of course the same thing happens here Fly..being cut off..but it still leaves money owed, and I assume they are determined to recover it.

    I discovered this information on a forum by the way, not officially, but no-one disputed it, and several people said they were already aware that it happens.

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    1. It really makes you see why people are tempted not to be honest, doesn't it!

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  9. When I last checked one of my bills, only half of it was for electricity.

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  10. Thats actually sort of astonishing. Oh and I agree about the darn windfarmers - dreadful things, but then you already know I think that.

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    1. Yes, hideous things. Aesthetic crimes.

      Astonishing indeed. And taken for granted.

      This is only the tip of the iceberg.
      What about grants to young farmers effectively only going through one farmers' union?
      And boss's representatives on public bodies voting through training projects which their companies will run?

      Lots more....

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  11. Impressive stuff. Does the equivalent of the local council also have to provide for their staff?...cause they provide sod all in Scotland for fear of being seen as providing perks and thus incurring the wrath of their constituents.

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    1. The public sector equivalent of the CE is the comite paritaire technique.

      It doesn't generally get much bunce - similar reasons to Scotland and if there is any money the councillors prefer to spend it on themselves - and the hold of the big five unions is diluted by the presence of a lot of smaller unions who do not, in the public sector, have to produce proof that they represent people as is obligatory in the private sector.

      There are exceptions in some of the major cities, of course.

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  12. Doesn't EDF run some of our electricity here in England too? Not my supplier, luckily, from the sound of it.

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    1. It certainly does...and directs supply to France when France has problems...

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  13. Makes me glad that we still manage to run our little cottage on a 3kWh abonnement, Fly - lower standing charge but slightly higher unit cost. In summer that doesn't amount to much, thank goodness.

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    1. Yes...a bit more complicated for year round living!
      I've just been reading one of these newsletters telling Americans how cheap it is to live in France...apparently you can cut your electricity costs dramatically by using woodburners.
      There is no mention of the price of wood....

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  14. Interesting post, Fly, thank you. What irked me most in France was that on both EDF/GDF and water bills you pay for local and regional taxes and then your VAT is calculated on top!. So you pay value-added-tax on tax!

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    1. Yes, it is a typical French structure...you load on all sorts of subsidies into a utility bill...and then pile VAT on as you go along...

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