Cost of joining a power co-operative

OUR VILLAGE HAS AGREED THAT WE JOIN A SYNDICAT D’ENERGIE - AND PAY AN 8% SURCHARGE OUR electricity supply from EDF has been very unreliable in our area since we moved here six years ago,

with dozens, sometimes hundreds, of power failures each year. Last winter, as well as failures we had power appliances – ovens, toasters and dishwashers – not doing what they were supposed

to do. For a week, we connected an AC voltage measure on the supply: the voltage was well below the 225 claimed, dropping as low as 169. A couple of years ago, new arrivals in the village

asked EDF and our mairie to increase the permitted load to their house. They were told that any increase to dwellings would entail an increase in wiring and this would have to be paid for by

the village, not EDF. Now we learn that the mayor of our village has agreed that we join a syndicat d’energie formed by EDF, whereby we will be paying a surcharge of eight per cent on our

bi-monthly bills for “repairs and improved service”. This is in addition to the recently publicised increase in bills agreed by the French government. Have other cantons and communes in

France experienced what we have here? I would be most interested to hear from other parts of France. Geoff TAYLOR Pouzols-Minervois (Aude)