Making light work of soaring power costs

BBSA

BBSA

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Johannesburg resident Jon Adams has slashed the electricity bill for his three-bedroom home to about R500 a month, thanks to his installing energy-saving devices that provide 80% of his family's energy needs.

Adams began transforming his house and switched to a solar system more than two years ago after experiencing a light-bulb moment during a trip to Berlin, Germany three years ago.

He said: "I was looking at the houses in Germany and thought that they don't have as much sunlight as we have and that's when I decided to look into this (solar power) for South Africa."

Adams, a retired engineer, approached the SA National Energy Research Institute (Saneri) which helped him with his research into how he could switch to solar.

"The installation of the system cost more the R300000 and I did fly out engineers from Germany at the time. Two years ago we didn't have the technologies or technicians in this country to do it," Adams said, adding that there is a lot more expertise available in South Africa today.

His electricity bill has fallen from about R1500 to R500 a month.

The cost of maintaining the solar system is minimal.

"I have done what my country asked me to do and reduced Eskom energy consumption by 75% to 80%," Adams said.

Cobus Roux, sales manager for Home Comfort, suppliers of solar heating systems, said: "If, on average, your monthly electricity bill is R1000, having a solar geyser saves you 30%, so you save R300."

Roux said though there were a variety of solar geysers, the more expensive systems were better.

"In the long run a system that comes with a 10-year guarantee is more expensive but it will last for 25 years," Roux said.

Eskom's solar water heating programme, introduced at the beginning of 2008, offers consumers rebates. In order to claim the rebate for the system fitted by approved Eskom suppliers, the purchaser must submit a claim for the rebate to the power utility.

Kristia van Heerden, a member of Solahart's marketing team, said the cost of installation for their products was included in the price of the solar geyser.

"The 300-litre system goes for R33410 including VAT and installation. The Eskom rebate on the 300 litre is R4917.

"The 180-litre goes for R23173 and the Eskom rebate on that is R2483," Van Heerden said.

Since Eskom's programme was launched, 1700 households have purchased solar water heaters for their homes. More than 1500 have received rebates to date.

Each solar system will have its own rebate value according to its energy footprint, which is measured by the South African Bureau of Standards.

Eskom spokesman Andrew Etzinger said: "The cost of installing a solar geyser varies between R12000 to R35000 depending on the size, type, and source (imported or locally manufactured).

"The rebate calculates to between 15% and 30% - depending on the equipment's energy-saving capability.

"The electrical geyser uses 30% to 50% of a household's monthly electricity bill. Replacing one's conventional geyser with a solar- powered system will reduce that percentage of one's electricity consumption by up to 70%."
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R300000...... That is just grazy!
 
Yes it is but if you are going to live here I think you need to get off the grid in terms of Eskom, Vodascum, EMPTY-N, Telkscum etc.
Sad that in your own country there are no services you can use where the providers are not trying to rape you.
 
Whats strange is I see that you can get solar panels at a rate of $1 per watt in the US and Europe. Of course, this isn't the installed price, nor does it include the price of inverters etc, but I can't help but feel that it's far more expensive down here than it is elsewhere in the world.
 
marine1 said:
Yes it is but if you are going to live here I think you need to get off the grid in terms of Eskom, Vodascum, EMPTY-N, Telkscum etc.
Sad that in your own country there are no services you can use where the providers are not trying to rape you.
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I would love to get of the grid.... but not at R300 000.

Maybe I must go slowly. Start with the geyser, swimming pool and borehole.
 
Turn your geysers off during the day.I turn my geyser on for 5 hours a day from about 5pm to 10 pm . Using about 800 kw per month. Try this it works. I found a place that sells a 300l solar geyser for about 195 euros. That works out at about 2200 rand. 33000 rand means some one is getting rich at a mean speed
 
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Ponder Ponder. What happens when we save this money and dont pass it on to Escom etc. Where is ESCOM etc going to get their money from then. What excuse will they have next to hike the rates ?
 
Fuzzbox said:
Turn your geysers off during the day.I turn my geyser on for 5 hours a day from about 5pm to 10 pm . Using about 800 kw per month. Try this it works. I found a place that sells a 300l solar geyser for about 195 euros. That works out at about 2200 rand. 33000 rand means some one is getting rich at a mean speed
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:sick::sick::sick:
 
marine1 said:
This country is fast becoming the most expensive places to live, very clever IMO, make more people poor. Very intelligent politically
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Also chasing away the only people who don't want to live in squalor.
 
How about those very energy efficient LED bulbs?
Changing from a 50 W downlighter to a 6 W downlighter saves 88% electricity!
Imagine all that right now!!!!
 
You do not save very much by switching your geyser off

You do not save very much by switching your geyser off.

I did some measurements with a gadget from www.efergy.co.za .
(e2 single phase model)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day one:

Geyser was on all day. No hot water was used from the geyser.
(i.e. geyser only switch on to keep the water at a temperature of about 55 deg C)

Power consumption : 1.7623 kWh

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day two:

No hot water was used from the geyser. Geyser was switched off for 13 hours.

Power consumption : 1.5317 kWh

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Electricity saving for switching the geyser off for 13 hours in a 24 hour period:

0.2306 kWh = R0.196 (@ R0.85/kWh) = 20 cents per day = R6.00 per month

Not really much of a saving.
 
One:
I would really like to know from someone who has actually done the whole solar upgrade. is it worthwhile in the long run?

I currently foot a bill of R1500 a month. Going Solar geyser will cost me R25000. Lets say its 30% saving like they claim. That means R500 a month, in the near future that might be closer to R1500-2000 a month. That IMO is worth the investment. Cause R1500 a month saving means 16months or so and I've paid off the geyser. I spoke to a rep from Solarhart and he claims these things last forever. a Service once every 3 years for R600 and your sorted.

However 30% saving is obviously the marketing sales pitch. if its only 10%-15% what then? Then you've gone and invested into something that doesn't really warrant the initial capital.

And how long will it take for these "Alternate Energy suppliers" to up their rates when Eskom starts their hikes? Everyone wants to make money, whether you frak up a country while doing it isnt their worry. Isn't it maybe wise to get this done sooner than later?

Second:

How much of a property is wise to run on Solar? Should I while im busy with the Solar geyser, not just lay it all on the table and get the fridges to run off solar as well? Hell let most of the house run on Solar during the days, and at nights only use Efkom? Granted I'm not home during the day, but it will have an effect on fridges, pc's, tv's etc. As well as over weekends.

Three:

Is it worthit to go gas? I am thinking of getting a Gas Stove to undercut Efkom even more. However Gas prices are sure to rise insane amounts once Efkom hits the fan.

All I know is, I want to find the easiest way to break away from Efkom as soon and as cheap as possible.

So is there any wise soul out there with info on what is the best options?
 
Well, instead of building more power stations, lets just spend that money on installing all these fantastic devices at every home.
 
davemc said:
Well, instead of building more power stations, lets just spend that money on installing all these fantastic devices at every home.
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Thing is, the Power station projects create insane amounts of work. Which is very good.

What Eskom is doing wrong is footing the bill through us, and not through wise planning.

I mean wtf are we paying tax for? In all honesty, how many Working Class people use ANYTHING our Tax money pays for? We have Medical so no thanks to Public Health care, we have Private security firms, no thanks Police, We pay road taxes through each Toll gate we go, we will be paying evem more with the new tollgate systems going up soon on the N1. We get NOTHING from our taxes...

Rather re-invent the way the working mans taxes are being wasted on Ministers and pump that into Eskom, instead of now asking us to Foot that bill as well.

The government is draining the Working class dry, all the way to the bank.
 
Other than solar water heating, alternative energy such as photo voltaic panels and wind turbines are not cost effective.
I would love to go totally off-grid and give Tshwane municipality the middle finger (currently 74.2 cents per kWh) but I worked out that I'd need to invest approximately R200,000 in panels, batteries and related equipment just to generate and store about 11 kWh of electricity per day (max draw of 1500 Watts at any given time).

If Eskom have their way and I end up paying 220 cents per kWh in three years time, it would still take me at least 12 years to pay off the equipment and that's assuming zero maintenance costs!
 
"I have done what my country asked me to do and reduced Eskom energy consumption by 75% to 80%," Adams said.
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Oh how patriotic :rolleyes: The average person can't afford the systems he has.
 
zaphod said:
You do not save very much by switching your geyser off.

I did some measurements with a gadget from www.efergy.co.za .
(e2 single phase model)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day one:

Geyser was on all day. No hot water was used from the geyser.
(i.e. geyser only switch on to keep the water at a temperature of about 55 deg C)

Power consumption : 1.7623 kWh

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day two:

No hot water was used from the geyser. Geyser was switched off for 13 hours.

Power consumption : 1.5317 kWh

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Electricity saving for switching the geyser off for 13 hours in a 24 hour period:

0.2306 kWh = R0.196 (@ R0.85/kWh) = 20 cents per day = R6.00 per month

Not really much of a saving.
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+1

Turning off your geyser does not save you much electricity. It uses almost as much to re-heat the cold water as it does to keep it hot.

Turning down the thermostat in summer will save you electricity tho.
 
Paul_S said:
If Eskom have their way and I end up paying 220 cents per kWh in three years time, it would still take me at least 12 years to pay off the equipment and that's assuming zero maintenance costs!
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Do you realize how good LED's are going to be if 220 cents/kWh becomes a reality?

I can't wait, go EKSDOM you good thing!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
marine1 said:
This country is fast becoming the most expensive places to live, very clever IMO, make more people poor. Very intelligent politically
Click to expand...

marine1 said:
Yes it is but if you are going to live here I think you need to get off the grid in terms of Eskom, Vodascum, EMPTY-N, Telkscum etc.
Sad that in your own country there are no services you can use where the providers are not trying to rape you.
Click to expand...

Marine, you are seriously getting more and more negative with each post which I would not have thought was possible....
 
Lighting

:erm: Everything above is valid, although I do disagree :rolleyes: with turning off the geyser everyday. That does not save much, however I do agree with turning it down in summer, also to make sure you do have an energy saver rated geyser.

:confused: I do like the idea of getting these LED lights in my house but do have a few questions first. With the incandescent lights all the power surges and dips currently a common phenomenon they blow very quickly. The same goes with the so called energy saver ones, how will the LED stand up to these same dips and peaks?

The brightness of a 60W incandescent is 60W, then the equivalent 60W on energy saver is just nowhere near the same. So will the LED equivalent of 60W be 60W? :whistle:

I must add that during the load shedding we bought a GG Stove :love: that is a gas stove and gas oven and not DEFY :sick: and I can only say that was the best thing we ever did. Even although we are only two in the household, and it is a big three bedroom house we average about R550 to R640 per month. Have water leak :wtf: I think that is why it is so high. And I use a tumble dryer weekly for my washing :whistle: we have a lot of rain where I am so it is necessary, even this time of the year. Only seen the sun for a total of a week in the last two months. We have also just bought a dishwasher which will help reduce the hot water usage further.
 
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