I decided the other day to check that we are on the best tariff for us here, so I dug out the old electricity bills. I am used to there being a standing charge, a consumption charge and then VAT (sales tax) on the sum.
However, this being France, it couldn't possibly be that simple. Here, the bill is made up of 6 different charges with two different rates of VAT applied to different parts of these charges.
The other complexity is that not only are the charges different in each municipality but they also vary with the power rating for your electrical supply. For those of you used to unlimited supply, in lots of countries in Europe the standing charge and cost per kWh are related to the main circuit breaker rating, with the lower the rating the lower the charge. If you exceed your rating the circuit breaker kicks in and you are in the dark until you can turn off some appliances and push the reset button on the consumer unit.
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| French electricity bill calculator |
It has taken me three days, but in the end I managed to create this spreadsheet for EDF's Tarif Bleu which:
- shows the total cost for a period if you know the figures for:
- CTA (contribution tarifaire d'acheminement)
- CSPE (contribution au service public d'electricite)
- Price per kWh without taxes
- Standing charge for your power rating
- kWh consumed
- Municipal tax rate (shown in footnotes of bill)
- Departmental tax rate (shown in footnotes of bill)
- Shows the actual monthly standing charge based on all of the additional sums and tax rates
- Shows the actual cost per unit based on all of the additional sums and tax rates
If you want a copy of the Excel spreadsheet with instructions so that you can work out your own bill then please send me an email.
