This just landed in my inbox. @Stella suggested a new thread about it so here we are.
The whole thing, plus link-thru’s, is in perfectly sound English, if req’d.
I do like the new subtitle for The Plywood Shack - A Thermal Sieve.
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This is an outrage! I’ve made every effort to reduce my consumption on these red days, turning off the one radiator I have on so that its normal ‘on’ moment at 07:00 is delayed 3 hours and the temp set when it is on is reduced from 18C to 16C
This is the result
No washing machine or dryer. I never use my main oven. All as per normal but reduced. The intervening days give away the stupendous mark-up …
The day u/l in green is the most kWh used of these 9 days - €5,19
I still don’t get this, you know what rates you signed up for and, if it doesn’t suit your usage, then you can simply change back.
I did a quick calculation and I’ve saved about €100 over the last quarter including the recent red days, so there’s quite a way to go before I break even, far less make a loss. Have you tried calculating your costs over the year on the normal tariff and see how it compares?
Up till these red days I’ve saved a lot. But this time last year - from mid Oct '23 to end +/- end Feb '24 I was ‘treating myself’ to a bit extra heating after my surgery/op. Difficult to make a calc but thereafter, up till now, savings
Still 20 days of Dec 24 to go but still … €430 saved after coming off the flat rate.
You have to check you figures after s year on it but without any other sort of heating it may not be the tariff for you.
6.52e for the day in s largish house with 3 people. The early morning spike is me putting on my reverse cycle in the bedroom while I got dressed and makeup on, I’d not woken up enough to remember it was a red day,!
@captainendeavour I don’t understand it either. We have looked at both Tempo and Heures Creuses and chosen the latter. We never go over 3 euros a day all year and we only have electric with a pellet burner in the kitchen. Our heating bills (including hot water and pellets ) are about 900 euros a year and we are warm. Mostly at 22C through winter but adding a bit more in the cold spells
Tory, you may well be right. I can’t do any more to reduce my usage. I’m at rock bottom now.
It works well barring red days but I can’t be hung out to dry [sic] on the 22 red days p.a.
I’m paying €10/day extra for red days despite using fewer kWh than ‘normal’. At that rate red days will cost me +/- €220 extra - €26 more than the energy bung I will get in April.
It was costing me that just to heat my sitting room which is why I abandoned it, moved an armchair into the kitchen and live there.
Not for nothing have they come up with ‘thermal sieves’ for house like mine! 
I am contributing to the entropy of the universe: viz As entropy increases, the energy becomes more spread out and less concentrated, making it less useful for performing work.
Performing work like keeping me warm!
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So you’re complaining about saving money on the tempo tarif 
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Your using a lot of power given you’re huddled in the kitchen - and barely using anything off peak. Is this way higher than summer use?
When’s your water heater coming on? There’s no obvious jump overnight. Look at moving everything possible to after 10pm (washing machine etc).
But electric heaters can easily swallow 2-3kW an hour - which mounts up.
Insulation is the only thing that’s going to fix the basic problem -
It’s not really ‘giving it away’. The rates are there for all to see.
HP rouge is 370% more expensive than HP bleu. Yes, you need better insulation
I’m still very happy to have 343 full days a year (+22 periods of 8 hours) when I pay less than any other rate available under Tarif Bleu.
It might also feel better psychologically if you hang onto your energy bung till Decermber then hand it over as it will then come off youŕ worst bills.
Quite right it is…
You’ve saved +/- 430€ & with a "bung of 26€ ", now what’s that bung all about? So 556€ economy in a year & you’re having a whine and a groan.
Now be proactive 'Chop chop! And buy a couple of those diesel heaters at 90€ a pop & a few gallons of red diesel.
Looking at your electrical consumption it seems you haven’t got your hot water heater on a timer, programmed from 22.00hrs til 6 in the morning, but maybe yours is an instant heat on demand type?
Not at all. As I noted to Toryroo “It works well barring red days”
I am complaining of what looks like a remarkable mark-up on the other two levels of charges.
Yes.
I do/ I have.
And when the 60 min wash cycle ends there will be the 'inevitable midnight ramble ’ trip to the loo and chance to put the dryer on <06:00.
I’m using no more than ‘normal’. The rad in the kitchen is set ast 18C. Since the red days I’ve dropped that back to 16C
I have a timer rigged on the power feed. An hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. How minimal is that?
That is indeed what may be the outcome. This is the first time since Feb '21 that Red Days have been an issue. It may, as you say, all come out in the wash.
Meantime, you are absolutely correct that remedying the state of The Plywood Shack from ‘a Thermal Sieve’ by installing better lagging is the answer.
The Plywood Shack would make a fab bonfire, tho’ it would be baked potato embers in about 45 mins… 
I would still like to move south, tho’ 
Just a suggestion (not knowing the size of your ballon), but it might be more economical to have the water heater on for say 6 hours between 11 pm and 5 am
Unless you have a 30-50L hot water tank is minimal enough over time for a build up of legionella as you wouldn’t get all the water over 55-60°C
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Dryer? Even on Blanc or Bleu that eats a lot.
I dry mine outdoors and hope even for a chill wind even on a literally freezing day. Then Dec-Feb if winter cold not gone after I’ve let the wind take away as much water as possible, it comes inside and goes on the Lakeland Dry:Soon heated rack to finally slowly and cheaply dry.
The Dry:Soon is only for the depths of winter.
It uses low centimes per hour. An electric tumble dryer’s consumption is clòse to having kettle on permanently.
Btw could you host a mate from Valencia in the summer and go to theirs Dec-Jan? Might get best of both worlds.
I do appreciate all the help and suggestions coming in. Thanks.
As a benchmark, this is what my consumption for 04/09 - 04/10 looked like when I closed down all but the balon [Linky in charge] and the fridge/freezer and was away.
This suggests that the insulation on the balon is very good.
It is paid directly to EDF when it is issued - in April.
The year is not out and Dec looks like this, so far. As I predicted, tomorrow is RED as well.
My ‘normal’ daily rate is as you see. So the red days are adding €10-€12/day. As we know there are 22 of them p.a. that’s going to add €220-€264 to my annual total.
You’re right. I had it on a timer when I was on the flat rate but since going on the split rate Linky rules and, as @hairbear explained, Linky switches the balon on and off.
I can’t rememberif I’ve tried to add the timer back in, downstream of Linky. When I saw the daily consumption with Linky doing its thing I was content to let it continue. Maybe I’ll try the timer again.
For just the one of me I don’t need much hot water.
100L
I do, too. As long as it’s not actually raining, stuff does get to a point where a quickie in the dryer does the rest. I’ve only have the dryer on for a full dry when I’m caught out with a wash, and it’s rainy.
I have checked on ‘normal’ days what having the dryer on for 30-40 mins does to that day’s costs and it’s well within budget. One, maybe two of the days in the chart above has the dryer use in it but difficult to tell which. Maybe a €5,XX. I only use it in the off-peak hours.
I wish! They’re all working people.
Well, Giorgia and Adele seem to work when they feel like it./Need to top up the piggy bank
Last summer they discovered the delights of renting a camper van so I expect they wll be cruising Iberia - the photo was taken in Portugal. Winters they work at Giorgia’s brother’s €600 p.p.p.n. hotel in CH
Fernando is a family man
Ben has a restaurant to run
An ‘asado’, all flame grilled meat.
The answer is, if they can’t come to me I must go to them. I did buy a van in Feb to make into a basic ‘bedroom on wheels’ - no water system and maybe just a camping stove - but after much messing about all summer it went back to the dealer with terminal injector problems.
I shall try again.
Legionella bacteria are effectively killed at temperatures above 60°C (140°F). Specifically: At 60°C (140°F), Legionella bacteria will die almost instantly
It’s 100L. The water from the hot tap just now is 68C * . It’s 2/3 thru’ an ‘off’ cycle so when Linky switches it on in about 45 mins for 30 mins the water in the balon must be well into the 70C’s, plenty hot enough to see off Legionnaire. It’s been running so for a year now and I’m still standing, as the song goes.
- Looking at the reviews of the thermometer before I bought it one person asked “How do you set it to zero?”
The joys of not living in ‘a thermal sieve’, I presume.
As I understand it, Linky is in charge. The breaker on the board actually moves from ‘On’ to a sort of ‘Pause’ position. When I tried turning the breaker ‘Off’ I found that Linky over-rode that and it reverted to the ‘On/Pause’ routine. It’s an aspect of the tariff.
That isn’t likely. If forced to the ON (position ‘I’ ) the contactor for the chauffe eau will flip back to Auto once the HC period starts & remain there i.e. ready to switch back on at the next HC period.
If it’s switched to the OFF (position ‘0’) it will remain there until you physically move it elsewhere.
Except your Dec breakdowns clearly don’t have the water on overnight.
One minute you say it’s on a timer morning and evening - then you think it’s on auto.
Sort that first. Your new charts do not have the rise from a baloon on auto
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