Come home to a real fire
A week ago we had a big wood delivery - eight stères (cubic metres) of oak - to burn in our wood-burning stove. Given the price of oil for the central heating this is a good thing.
Woodburning stove heating works very well for us, especially because the converted barn where we live is more or less one big open space of several hundred cubic metres volume. That’s pretty large for a single room (about 40 feet * 40 feet * 15 feet if you are not metric), but perfect for a stove because the heat can circulate freely.
I would estimate that heating with wood costs about half as much per kilowatt as heating with oil, but that will vary a lot according to your own setup, and it is only an estimate.
In France the government rebate 50% of the cost of ‘environmentally friendly’ heating systems such as wood-burning stoves, geothermal heating systems, solar heating and heat pumps in an effort to encourage their use. Three cheers to them for taking this action.
But there is something troubling. The price of wood for burning has increased from about 30 euros per stère to 50+ euros per stère during the last few years. Labour costs and forestry costs have not increased that much, so why has wood? Because the woodsellers see how much oil and gas have increased in price and increase their prices to keep in line.
Thumbs down to them for taking advantage, although perhaps you can’t blame them. But much worse is the pricing in the ‘pompe a chaleur’ market.
If you didn’t know, a pompe a chaleur (PAC) takes the heat from the air outside and turns it into more heat for inside your property. And by a miracle of technology, based apparently on doing the opposite of what a fridge does, if the temperature outside is 10 degrees, the PAC can heat your house to 20 degrees, and very economically. You pay for the electricity to run the PAC but that magically turns into 2-3 times as much heat as you paid for.
So not surprisingly the pompe a chaleur qualifies for the French government 50% grant - if you install one you can get a rebate of half of the cost. Now here is the scandal (according to a financial journal I receive):
Before the grants were introduced a PAC typically cost 9,000 euros. And since the grant was introduced the typical price has become 24,000 euros. So the consumer actually pays more than before. The manufacturers are, to all intents and purposes, pocketing the government grant as profit for themselves, and removing the incentive for all the rest of us to use environmentally friendly heating.
And that is a definite thumbs down!
All very well to think that you will get a 50% rebate. Try to claim it and find the 50% reduces to 40 , 15 or nothing. The percentage completely reduces by inverse square law with the insistances of the salesman! Do not factor a rebate in to the price that you are being charged.
Hi Yvonne,
Is that based on experience? You would need to complete a French tax form to get the rebate, I think, but I wasn’t aware there is a doubt about receiving it.
We know someone who completes a tax return, but doesn’t actually pay tax (they earn too little) and they still received a cheque for the 50% rebate.
If you have any knowledge of when the rebate doesn’t apply that would be useful (I seem to remember it needs to be a principal residence for the rebate to apply?)
Cheers
Hi Boris,
We have just done our first tax return, and paid, our accountant got 15% off for our new oil boiler, the particular model not attracting any higher. Our new electric blinds were ‘promised’ 40% rebate by the salesman and we got nothing. We had no claim for a new car that if properly advised could have been a tax deductable purchase. In effect it is a bit of a lottery and I must say that when newcomers to the system buy straight away we must accept that we pay through the nose! We have installed a woodburning stove and will see if that is a runner. Regards.