“It’s shameful”, an EDF customer in Orne accuses her of “making money during the holidays”

The Tempo option of EDF's Regulated Sales Tariff (TRV) is quite unique in its operation. It has three specificities. The first is a price per kilowatt hour changing depending on the time of day, a price per kilowatt hour changing depending on the day of the year and changes announced the day before for the next day.

Over a year, in the Pays de L'Aigle (Orne) as elsewhere, the user benefits from 300 Tempo days bleu (very inexpensive), 43 days Tempo blanc (inexpensive) and 22 days Tempo rouge (very expensive).

Tempo, for those who can adapt

According to the specialist site suppliers-electricite.com, “the Tempo option was introduced by the electricity transmission network manager to facilitate the passage of winter consumption peaks”.

On these days, to reduce network demand, RTE places a red day, which encourages customers with a Tempo package to reduce their consumption by raising the price of the KWh to a dissuasive level. This is called consumption cancellation.

Alerted the day before the switch to Red Tempo, the subscriber can adopt sobriety measures and postpone consumption outside of these high-rate days. You still have to be able to do it. Running a washing machine another day is still possible, but heating with electricity alone does not allow you to juggle these different prices. When it's cold, it's cold. Households that can adapt to wood heating are delighted with the Tempo option.

Less 26% on energy bills

Overall, this has been a great success since it went from 274,000 subscribers in 2022 to nearly 900,000 in 2024 because, again according to the site suppliers-electricite.com, “users would reduce their bills by 26% per year on average compared to the basic blue tariff”.

The energy supplier comparator selectra.info details that “the Tempo option of EDF's Regulated Sales Tariff (TRV) is a wise choice for all consumers. The price variation allows savings to be made and encourages users to shift their consumption to blue and white days.”

Watch out for the price increase in February

He also explains that “the Tempo option should experience a price increase from February 2025. At this time, we assume that only households capable of shifting their electricity consumption will take full advantage of this TRV option. Considering that the price of peak hours on red days increases substantially, this should discourage the use of electrical appliances during these periods.”

To circumvent this potential increase, the site offers an alternative.

Using the wood stove during HP red days would save €25 per day, or €550 over the entire season. Considering an average price of €1,500 for the purchase and complete installation of a 4 kW wood stove, the investment will pay off in less than three seasons.

“It was to make money”

However, if it seems interesting, the Tempo option would not only have good sides. A subscriber of Eagle Country is even very angry.

On December 24 and 31, Tempo was on the white rate, that is to say the intermediate rate. They took advantage of the fact that many people would be at home using the oven, food processors, dishwasher, etc. to set this price

“It’s quite shameful of them, I think. It’s to make money,” laments the retiree before describing the complex functioning of this option.

Red days cannot fall on Sundays or national holidays, and are limited to 5 consecutive days. White days cannot fall on Sunday… Not to mention that there are also peak and off-peak hours. This electricity option is a real gas factory.

Normally, we are notified the day before the pricing change, but recently this was not the case and we were presented with a fait accompli

Like everyone else, they still have the possibility of comparing and changing suppliers.

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