Time Pressure With Solar
My solar installation cannot happen soon enough and it seems like I am one of the fortunate few who can go entirely of the grid. Todays news is highlighting that Eskom the SOE for power supply is not being paid by the Johannesburg City Council. Residents pay their electricity bills and that money is not being passed on so Eskom which is owed R4.9 billion has stated they have no choice, but to cut power.
Loadshedding set to continue at no fault of the residents, but the poor mismanagement of collected funds by the City Of Johannesburg.
Eskom has mentioned that they will cut power in the form of load shedding until they are paid the outstanding balance owed to them. f you were a private business you would do exactly this and I do not see this as being unreasonable and people should be asking where are the missing funds?
My solar has already been paid for and the delay has been the bank clearance. The supplier can see the funds, but they have not been cleared and we expected them to clear some time this last Friday as that would have been 5 working days. I paid the previous Thursday and expected the normal 3 day clearance, but this is an international transfer which could be the hold up. Saying that the money I have moved previously was not via the normal bank route and this took 2 days to reflect.
With this latest news I suspect solar prices will sky rocket due to demand and then the proposed new electricity tariff to increase by over 36%. These increase are not in line with anything we can compare and is totally absurd. I suspect once my solar is installed this week I could pay this off within less than 30 months which is also kind of crazy when I first thought it would be 54 months.
That is not all as here are penalties for anyone who has solar and dips back to the main grid for topping up purposes and those fees are expected to be at an increased rate of 321%. If you have solar you make sure you go off the grid properly and not just to make a saving as that move will cost you far more than you are currently paying.
This does not make any sense I know as many will be scratching their heads because those going to solar should be easing the strain on the grid. This is Africa so there is no sense and the only goal of the government is to make you pay as you are seen as stealing from them now by not requiring their services.
Remove yourself from the grid entirely or you will R554 monthly even if you do not use any of the grids power.
We will see how my 16kwh system works when it is up and running and if I need an additional 8kwh which will be added if required. I am leaving nothing to chance plus having a generator converted to topping up the solar batteries if required. Going back to the grid is not an option.
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16 kwh system is large. I have a 5kwh system for about ten years now...
It may need to be increased to a 24kwh and we shall test it out first. We cannot use the grid so we must have extra capacity.
Given the reported mismanagement of funds by the Johannesburg City Council, what actions can residents take to ensure their electricity payments are used appropriately, and what consequences might they face as Eskom enforces load shedding due to unpaid debts?
With new tariffs and potential penalties for solar users rejoining the grid, how will off-grid solar installations impact long-term savings for South African residents facing escalating energy costs and unreliable power supply?
There is no real course of action here as the power will just be cut. The problem is as the prices escalate more and more will turn to solar and those left on the grid will have to cover the lost revenue. The answer is to have a big installation that never requires you to return to the grid ever again. We are cutting ourselves off as they still want to charge R600 monthly even if you do not use their power. Forget the possibility of selling back to them which is just not worth the hassle as they will find a way to penalize you when you are actually helping.
I can understand that, but cant relate to having to deal with a power grid that is that instable and a power provider that wanna charge even if no service is delivered. Sounds like a awful situation.