EDF ---- Energy de France, I leave in November

Fortyfoot

Prompted by the attitude of the French, proposing to cut the power off to the Channel islands it is my intention to change my energy supplier from EDF at the end of my current contract, even if it costs me more. Which id the best comparison  site to use, MSE?
I avoid French products eg apples, in the supermarkets.

Fortyfoot. 

[Deleted User]

If you are so outraged by the attitude of the French, then why are you waiting until November to vote with your feet?

It is worth bearing in mind, that these threats are often nothing more than political posturing. 

It is also worth giving some thought to the simple fact that EDF operates a number of nuclear power stations in the UK, and the UK imports a lot of its energy from continental Europe.

Quote: The UK has been a net importer of electricity since 2010 with a net 17.9 TWh of electricity imported in 2020. … Total imports were 22.4 TWh in 2020 (down 8.8 per cent compared to 2019) while total exports were up 32 per cent on 2019 to 4.5 TWh. Unquote
Yes, you can choose a UK supplier; however, none of us can insist on a particular energy source. You get what is in the Grid irrespective of its source.

dogshome

If you are determined to move away from EDF, 1st go the the Citizen Advice energy website which compares prices from ALL the suppliers, but be sure to check the customer feed-back before signing up to a new one

It's sad, but I don't think you moving from EDF will make a jot of difference to the way the French are behaving, you can have more effect by refusing to buy anything French - Fruit, Wine. cheeses, perfumery, fashion etc

We as an extended family, nine households, started a What France Deserves policy, and with the word going out to friends and friends of friends, we are now up to up to 47 households who have crossed all French products off their shopping lists.

These numbers are just a drop in the ocean, but if continues to grow it will have an effect

Just think of all those French soft cheeses with short shelf life dates, being left on the shelves to rot - The Supermarkets and other outlets will just cancel futures orders, which will have the French dairy farmers screaming at their politicians

macman

Dedicated Little Englanders will also want to cross off Eon and nPower (Germany beats us at football), and Scottish Power (Spanish want Gibraltar back).
Why pick on EDF? They don't make French gov't policy.

phillw

dogshome said:

We as an extended family, nine households, started a What France Deserves policy, and with the word going out to friends and friends of friends, we are now up to up to 47 households who have crossed all French products off their shopping lists.

So because the French fishermen didn't take the undeserved kicking doled out by the Jersey government and after protesting, France responded in kind to us sending the gun boats in. You're going to change your buying habits in the hopes it punishes an entire country, and you don't think that says something about you which you didn't intend?

I kinda feel this is the wrong forum, maybe a post on the daily express web site would be better.

Neil_Jones

Fortyfoot said:

Prompted by the attitude of the French, proposing to cut the power off to the Channel islands it is my intention to change my energy supplier from EDF at the end of my current contract, even if it costs me more. Which id the best comparison  site to use, MSE?
I avoid French products eg apples, in the supermarkets.

You do realise its pointless "avoiding" in this way because you're actually paying Tesco/Asda/Morrison/Whoever for those apples.  They've already paid for them from somebody else who has already paid for them from somebody else who has already... etc ultimately culminating in somebody has paid a farmer to plant the damn things in a field somewhere and grow them.  So your avoidances needs to go much further than not buying things in Tesco.

Re: the energy supplier - this was discussed in  @ https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6265182/boycott-edf-energy-supplier.  The UK arm of EDF makes the profit in the UK and after tax and VAT and whatever gets paid, profit gets distributed to shareholders, the largest of which happens to be the French government.  I hardly think your upping sticks and leaving is going to make a difference to the Jersey saga which now looks like to have been a storm in a teacup.

A._Badger

phillw said:

dogshome said:

We as an extended family, nine households, started a What France Deserves policy, and with the word going out to friends and friends of friends, we are now up to up to 47 households who have crossed all French products off their shopping lists.

So because the French fishermen didn't take the undeserved kicking doled out by the Jersey government and after protesting, France responded in kind to us sending the gun boats in. You're going to change your buying habits in the hopes it punishes an entire country, and you don't think that says something about you which you didn't intend?

I kinda feel this is the wrong forum, maybe a post on the daily express web site would be better.

It's somewhat ironic to sarcastically advise another poster to air his views via the Daily Express when your interpretation of the fishing dispute is cribbed straight off the the BBC/Guardian. Pot kettle black.  

dogshome

To fend off some of the flak, I like to make it clear that I do not hate France and have enjoyed many holidays there. but they have a different way of doing things.

Years ago, my elder brother was caught up in the port blockades by farmers protesting against importations of English sheep and he reported it as chaos - Entry roads to the port was blocked by tractors and other farm machinery - There was a large Gendarme army present, but all they did was stand on the sidelines and watch

It seems to be accepted that any defined group who feel  they have been disadvantaged, can take to the streets and cause as much mayhem as they can until the politicians take notice

Even all the GP Doctors went on on strike for months, the joke was that the national death rate went down ! 

I regard the fishermans invasion as a jolly day out - Sure enough there is a problem, but it is one of red tape and will be sorted out over time.

More serious is the threat to cut power to the Channel Isles, as even the suggestion has to have come down from high authority

During the Brexit negotiations, some bright spark suggested France cut the under channel power link to the UK, it took them 48hrs to realise that the cable was a two way street and there were periods when the Continent needs to import power from the UK'

So having failed in one area, the 'Authority' has changed to a target for which they think there no defence.

This is where the What France Deserves campaign come in  -  When French exporters to the UK find they have dwindling orders, particularly the Farmers, they will take to the streets against their own Govt..

.

niktheguru

Fortyfoot said:

Prompted by the attitude of the French, proposing to cut the power off to the Channel islands it is my intention to change my energy supplier from EDF at the end of my current contract, even if it costs me more. Which id the best comparison  site to use, MSE?
I avoid French products eg apples, in the supermarkets.

Fortyfoot. 

Why wait till November. Just switch now, I’m sure the exit fees are a drop in the ocean for the principle. To be fair, you’ll prob get a much better deal elsewhere anyway.

gropinginthedark

What I don't understand about the "cut off the electricity" proposal is that surely there's a contract in place and cutting it off would invoke significant compensation.  Secondly, from the perspective of French exporters of anything, if they set a precedent by government arbitrarily deciding to break a contract, who's going to want to do business with them ever again?  (And I guess the same would apply to anyone exporting TO France, Government could step in and block those deals too).

Going a bit off-topic but someone here has already mentioned the Lamb & Sheep blockades of many years ago (poisoning and burning hundreds of sheep). That was a breach of EU trading laws and French Govt was ordered to pay compensation to UK but dragged their feet, I'm not even sure they ever paid up. Just as they broke EU law by disregarded the EU's lifting of the UK beef ban and destroyed legal imports of UK fish in 2015. 
Bottom line: the French are untrustworthy - and I include government, farmers, fishermen, and the Gendarmes who just stand back and watch when the law is being broken in these situations.  I believe the French attitude to the EU was one of the factors influencing the Brexit decision, we didn't want to be tied to a set of rules that one member could and did just choose to disregard when they didn't like them.

There's the argument that individuals choosing not to buy French products are an irrelevance, that it's not going to change anything.  That sounds like an argument against democracy, my individual vote on Thursday didn't swing the election so why bother...  I've avoided buying French products for decades, among other things my not inconsiderable booze and cheese consumption is very well addressed with fantastic English cheeses and Southern hemisphere wines (cheaper and better).  My individual decision won't change anything but, as with Thursday's vote, collectively we've managed to defeat a stumblebum local councillor and lose her party's majority on the incompetent local authority.

nigelbb

macman said:

Dedicated Little Englanders will also want to cross off Eon and nPower (Germany beats us at football), and Scottish Power (Spanish want Gibraltar back).
Why pick on EDF? They don't make French gov't policy.

To be fair Électricité de France (as EDF is correctly named) may not make French government policy but is 85% owned by the French state.