EDF

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I have received a letter from EDF Saying that my Electric meter has reached the end of its life span and they want to replace it.
Surely this can not be correct as the meters are only 15 years old.
Has everybody received a letter?

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Yes, I have received the letter too

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We have the letter too.  I suspect it has to do with the roll-out of 'smart meters'.

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Yes i've had the letter too and the replacement done.

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Hi greenlanddock

How long did the whole replacement take? And how much time was the engineer in your home apart from getting the metre in the cupboard changed?

Thanks

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Hi.  It took around 20 minutes to change the meter, the engineer was in the flat for no more than 5 mins to turn off the fuse box and then back on again. 

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All – I have an appointment on Monday morning for my meter to be changed by EDF. The guy turned up and couldn't do the job. Apparently on Friday (16th) they were all told that they could no longer replace meters with metal wire ducting in place or where the central box had a metal cover (as ours do).  Health and Safety was quoted here.  I was the 5th (of 10) that morning to be aborted.

If anybody has an appointment arranged (or is looking to make an appointment currently) it might be worth checking in as I had a wasted morning off work and have to rearrange for once they have decided on how to proceed (apparently a big meeting is taking place on Wednesday where they decide how they will change meters with metal wire ducting in place).

I'll update if I hear anything – I have the engineers mobile and will call him later in the week (he was very helpful … well … as helpful as you can be when not actually doing the job !).

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James, thanks for the update – would appreciate if you could keep us informed when you hear more about this. I've booked an appointment on the 16th April and looks like may need to change it.

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I've spoken to the engineer again and they have not yet got resolution on how it's going to work. I haven't bothered making another appointment through EDF as it seems they'll just line me up for an appointment and the engineer may still not be able to do the work.

As soon as I hear anything further I'll post on here – but it may be sometime next week.

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All – I have just spoken to the engineer and apparently all is now in order. I'm not sure what (if any) change has been made, but he has booked in an appointment with me.  The best thing is … he has given me a 2 hour window rather than the EDF 8-1am window !

Fingers crossed, this time he'll be able to change the thing this time !

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Hi, I was just wondering what everyone's quarterly EDF bill was for the last quarter? I just received a bill for Dec-Mar from EDF which was £410. For a 2 bedroom flat I find this extortionate. Has anyone switched to a new supplier and found it cheaper?  thanks

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Ben, I am on EDF and my annual usage from Aug '10 to Aug'11 was 1490Kwh for a charge of £172.29.  2 Bedroom flat.  Economy 9 Tariff DD, unit prices day 13.92p and night 5.36p. 

Usage can be a big factor, in '09 to '10 my usage habits were necessarily different and my bill then was £413.84 for the year,  still well below your bill for the last qtr.

I looked into the different tariffs and have found EDF to be the most cost effective.

Hope that helps.

Regards

Simon

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Simon, just out of interest, how do you manage to keep your electricity so low? What usage habits did you change the most? I'd really like to lower my electricity bills.

Thanks, Mimi

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Ben, yours sounds ridiculously high. My bill is about £150 for the last 3 months. I live in a one bed, but the difference shouldn't be that big. Maybe you could share how you actually use the heaters and boiler so that others can help you cut your bill?

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Hi Mimi,

I wouldn't say I make a huge effort to be particularly frugal with the electric.  Here are some pointers.

I have replaced a lot of the main lighting with low energy bulbs. This saves a great deal of energy, for instance our sitting room has 4 100watt halogens on the wall.  Unless we need strong light in the evening we use a 16watt energy saving bulb in a lamp.

We only boil the kettle water we need.

I changed our plasma TV for an LED TV, again this saved a lot of power, 300 watts down to about 80.

We have three storage heaters but we generally only use the main one in the sitting room which I changed for a model with a thermostat. I only ever have the heating on during the Winter lighting period and never have it set to more than slightly over 1/2 the total 'input level'.  I have never known the temperature in our flat to fall any lower than about 22 degrees.

I think a lot of people set the heaters way too high and then have to have the windows opens because its too hot.

Other than that I cant think of anything else. 

Hope that helps.

All the best

Simon

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You should check which tariff EDF have you on.  The flats are designed (I believe) to draw power on the basis of Economy 9 (i.e. 9 hours of cheap rate electricity).  My bills are no more that £150 per quarter and I am on this tariff (one bed flat).

When I moved in, I was incorrectly put on Econ7 by EDF.  I highlighted that this was not the case for the other customers in my block and they transferred me.  This could be why you're paying so much.

R

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I have a direct debit of 70 per month which generally seems about right over a full year (2 bed, and as has been noted I'm one of those people with the old storage heaters that keeps them too high and then cools the flat rather than being too cold and putting on another jumper !). I do have a bath every day too which probably adds a bit over showering !

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Put on a jumper, how jolly inconvenient. Thank heavens for global warming hey. I hope you don't bother to recycle your waste! LOL

I have a direct debit of 70 per month which generally seems about right over a full year (2 bed, and as has been noted I'm one of those people with the old storage heaters that keeps them too high and then cools the flat rather than being too cold and putting on another jumper !). I do have a bath every day too which probably adds a bit over showering !

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Global warming you say ? I'm just glad I made it through the acid rain burning the clothes off our backs that we all faced in the 1980s !

Joking aside, you are quite right. I would be very interested to hear any comments/recommendations or experiences regarding more efficient storage heaters.  There are so many and I guess mine will need replacing (or should be replaced) fairly soon.

Also, is there such a thing as an energy saving tube that you can fit instead of the flourescent ones ? I've tried looking into this online but haven't quite figured it out.

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