80% of France’s electricity is produced by nuclear power. Well that was the figure in 2004 and I’ve not heard of any new nuclear generating stations being built since so let’s assume the percentage is still about the same.
This means, in theory, that our electricity should be cheap and at 25% less than the typical UK charge, I suppose we should be grateful, but at around €2,500 per annum, we (sorry, I) look for every means possible to reduce our energy consumption.
The new house we’re in was installed with a sort of smart meter which has a little light which flashes in line with how much energy the house is consuming at any point in time and it’s quite noticeable that since J and the kids have been on holiday, the light probably flashes about once per minute. Now they’re home, you open the cupboard door and the inside is all lit up with the light flashing faster than a strobe on a disco’s ceiling!
Anyway – two things. With all the sunshine we get down here you’d have thought that France would be awash with solar panels, but no, the ever-dictatorial local mayors have virtually vetoed any solar energy being produced by hard-strapped pensioners like myself. Apparently, they don’t like the roman-roof tiled houses being blighted with row upon row of glass panels, and to a certain extent I can understand this view, but where we are, many of the roofs cannot be seen, by anyone, except Easyjet passengers flying at approximately 25,000 feet above us. But it seems like there is a blanket ban on solar panels being fitted. Our neighbours recently applied to have it installed and the scheme looked brilliant. The total cost was about €20,000, 40% of which could be reclaimed on your behalf by the solar company as a grant. Therafter, once installed, EDF (the national utility company) would contract to buy the electricity you produced for approx €2,000 per year which meant that after 6 years, you had paid nothing and were now getting, in effect, €2,000 per annum of free electricity. Taking my earlier figure of €2,500 per annum, you can see that my bill, for an outlay of zero, would be reduced by 80%. It’s a no-brainer as they say but my neighbour’s planning application was turned down and there we remain – solar powerless!
The second and related point and generally in line with France’s agreement to cut greenhouse emissions is that a French company developed another sort of smart meter. This device actually worked out (from the grid I suppose) when national/regional consumption was at its peak and then gradually shut down devices in the home. This had the effect of reducing France’s need to import or generate ad-hoc electricity and at the same time, reduced the homeowner’s consumption. The problem was that the device was too clever by half and the supplying companies found they had too much electricity and had to sell it on the wholesale market (you cannot store electricity) thereby reducing their revenues and profits. So what did the French utility regulator do? They made the makers of the device pay the electricity companies the equivalent of their lost profits, thereby rendering the whole scheme a waste of time.
So, despite the fact that France needs to reduce its greenhouse gasses or it will receive a huge fine (mega hundreds of millions) and hence it’s incentives to install solar panels (the 40% grant), nobody seems to give a toss! And all this when Sarky is spending over £300 per day on flowers for a palace he never lives in – aaaagh – don’t start me on the French!
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