EDF took advantage of its file of 20million subscriber households at regulated tariffs to sell its own market offers! A situation deems unfair which now forces her to share her information. However, you must give your consent.
EDF customers with a Blue Tariff contract – regulated sales tariffs which concern more than 20million households in France currently – have been receiving since the beginning of April a letter or electronic message of the company about their personal data. More precisely, EDF invites its customers to accept or not the sharing of information with other electricity suppliers. The consumer defense association, UFC-What to choose studied the situation and gave its advice.
Clearly, EDF took advantage of its solid gold customer file to sell its own market offers! A situation deemed unfair in February 2022 by the Competition Authority against alternative suppliers. In addition to a penalty of 300 million euros EDF has made several commitments, including that of making available to its competitors the file of customers at the Blue sales regulation rate (the only one that has been kept for individuals), explains the association.
GDPR compliance
However, despite this condemnation and its commitments, EDF must comply with the general data protection regulations (GDPR) which requires the customer’s consent before the transfer of certain data, in particular the surname, first name or landline and mobile telephone numbers.
In this situation, UFC-Que Choisir advises you to respond to the request because it is in your interest to limit the exchange of your data as much as possible. Indeed, if you do not reply to the message, EDF will by default transmit those of your data which do not specifically require your agreement, namely your consumption address, delivery point number, subscribed power in kVA, annual volume of consumption with a two years prior, commercial name of the subscribed tariff option and type of meter (communicating or not).
electricity, gas: reduce your bill with our online comparator
Do not leave the TRVs before 2023
According to the examples collected by the UFC, in e-mail messages, the ‘no’ box is checked by default and one click is enough to answer. Generally speaking, consumer protection associations consider it more prudent to refuse this transfer of data unless the customer strongly wishes to change electricity supplier.
Electricity and gas: should you modify your contract before 2023?
As a reminder, current electricity prices are set by the government and TRV customers escape a sharp rise in their bill. In addition, so-called fixed contracts which guarantee an attractive price over a long period have disappeared from the market. It is generally not recommended to change the offer, at least, before 2023.
In this energy crisis, beware of offers that are too attractive and bills that are too low, warns Caroline Keller, communication director of the Energy Mediator. Telephone canvassers use the amount of the invoice to offer attractive offers without specifying that the difference will very often be invoiced during the annual adjustment.
ENERGY: SAVE ON YOUR CONTRACT