This was a holiday for us, even before we had arrived in France I was under strict orders not to undertake any work so I prepared my self mentally for putting up my feet.

Being me I was unable to totally relax so after the electricity tripped out twice, I convinced the family that there was just one job that could be done.

Anyone who owns a property in France may be aware of the limited power supply there is the each property, the supply board in an effort to maintain a green supply encourage low maximum demand and penalise heavily for having to supply a electricity supply above 30 amps. Most people I tell struggle in imagining how you can cope with such a small supply, it does take a little thinking about in the winter months in the summer its not a problem. But after you have been out side after having a bath or shower as that's when it normally goes you soon learn to think about the loading before loads such as water heating come on. Most people in France tend to us gas for cooking, so the immediate fear of copping with 30 amps is not so difficult.

After studying some of the electrical books for France I found a device that automatically controls the current being used in your house. These devices are known as a Délesteur the one I purchased was made by ABB and is model number LSS1/2 which stands for load shedding switch and it has two switched outputs and cover supplies of 5 amps to 90 amps and cost €135 from Leroy Merlins, Legrand make similar devices but they do tend to be more expensive at €290 for two channel or €140 or for single channel. The advantage with the ABB unit is that it came with instructions in about five language including English.

This shows the LSS1/2 mounted in the fuse board, I used secondary relays to protect the contacts in the unit although they are rated at 16 amps per output they will always switch the load off under load conditions I used Hager double pole relays units.

This shows one of the two old fuse boards in our house, I have now mounted all the trips in the new board, this incorporates a main switch, RCCD and trips.

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