coj off-grid process

purrr said:
Will be easier to sell the house with an electrical connection.
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The idea was to rent it out to my younger brother just to look after it. And I have gotten 3 people messaging me from the community WA group asking who to get for their sole installs and how to go off grid. One just bought their house and wants to disconnect.

So it may not be as unattractive as some think. And they are all prepaid btw. Once my brother moved out in a few years would have upgraded the inverter and battery bank to rent it out to the not so energy saver conscious crowd, that way could still come back to the same house if we ever came back to SA.
 
GMAN03 said:
A world class African city
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Indeed. The issue is the time it’s taking. Having to ask my boss every week or 2 to take time to go to COJ is not a good long term strategy. If I was working from home, sure. But even then. It shouldn’t take 10 visits to get anything done with those people.

When the admin for the community WA group messages me to say it took her 4 months to get converted to prepaid and multiple visits I should have known COJ would be the same in regard to going offgrid. They think we have all the time in the world to be visiting them and checking on stuff. Utterly useless.
 
Don't forget your tax when you guys leave... so many people just leave SA to work overseas and think they don't have to file your yearly tax returns. SARS is the devil and will come after everything when you come back. Find a good tax accountant who knows section 10 for starters so you each get the R1.25m per year tax free (183/60 out of the country)
 
MTIRAWCP said:
Don't forget your tax when you guys leave... so many people just leave SA to work overseas and think they don't have to file your yearly tax returns. SARS is the devil and will come after everything when you come back. Find a good tax accountant who knows section 10 for starters so you each get the R1.25m per year tax free (183/60 out of the country)
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Yeah, that’s the primary reason for me having to leave the country sooner. After 183 days she qualifies for the 1.25M relief but will still pay some 40k tax a month on the remainder.

Me being here means she can’t completely cease tax residency so I have to be with her then she won’t have to pay any tax this side. Exit tax she will pay that also.
 
Got another request from a neighbour for going offgrid and solar solutions to not pay as much for electric. This is number 4 or 5 now since late last year.

In the spirit of finishing what I started I will do what I can to get this damn quote loaded onto the COJ system. I am quite surprised at the interest people have at not paying for electricity.
 
denmendez65 said:
Got another request from a neighbour for going offgrid and solar solutions to not pay as much for electric. This is number 4 or 5 now since late last year.

In the spirit of finishing what I started I will do what I can to get this damn quote loaded onto the COJ system. I am quite surprised at the interest people have at not paying for electricity.
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Why surprised though?
 
Don’t know what it’s like up there but in the Cape you’d need to 4X your panels to get through winter vs summer. That’s a lot of panels. Or lots of batteries.
 
purrr said:
Don’t know what it’s like up there but in the Cape you’d need to 4X your panels to get through winter vs summer. That’s a lot of panels. Or lots of batteries.
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Joburg is forgiving enough due to the bright sunny winters which generally offset the shorter days. Typically you only really need to 2X your panels. A backup generator would be useful for long rainy periods in summer though. COJ has made the decision easy with their R1000+ per month fixed charges which quickly helps to recoup the investment and potential generator running costs.
 
GMAN03 said:
Joburg is forgiving enough due to the bright sunny winters which generally offset the shorter days. Typically you only really need to 2X your panels. A backup generator would be useful for long rainy periods in summer though. COJ has made the decision easy with their R1000+ per month fixed charges which quickly helps to recoup the investment and potential generator running costs.
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Winter and summer is roughly the same generation up here in JHB, as in Summer we have clouds, problem is that late Dec through to April the sun already starts waning and clouds make it terrible for generation. Winter we just have shorter days but generation is consistent. My best generation periods are Sep and Oct which is Spring.
 
Sinbad said:
Why surprised though?
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Because everyone on here says going offgrid will affect house resale etc and yet I’m getting messages left and right on how to do it.

If I had a solar business I would have had about 5 clients since late last year.
 
purrr said:
Don’t know what it’s like up there but in the Cape you’d need to 4X your panels to get through winter vs summer. That’s a lot of panels. Or lots of batteries.
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As GMAN says, Joburg is more forgiving. I went through the whole winter last year without needing the grid for the house. I haven’t needed since April 2025.

The geyser was the only thing left till September give or take when I switched to a Geysertech solar solution for heating. So I’ve been 100% offgrid for 4 months now.

I don’t even check the battery or consumption anymore except when a user comments on consumption figures and then I check to see how I performed over the month. But daily? No need. The anxiety is gone.
 
Friend in Montagu tried for 2 years to get disconnected from Eskom

Eskom told him initially he must apply to Eskom Worcester. 8 or 9 visits later, they told him what he is trying to do is illegal. The incoming feed was isolated in Jan 2024. Since then, unpaid bills from Eskom (sometimes an estimated reading) exceed R21k.

His sister in Cape Town is an attorney and delivered a court order to Eskom's office in Bellville instructing them to cease and desist back dated to Jan 2024. Seems to have made no difference whatever

Staff are clueless
 
chrisc said:
Friend in Montagu tried for 2 years to get disconnected from Eskom

Eskom told him initially he must apply to Eskom Worcester. 8 or 9 visits later, they told him what he is trying to do is illegal. The incoming feed was isolated in Jan 2024. Since then, unpaid bills from Eskom (sometimes an estimated reading) exceed R21k.

His sister in Cape Town is an attorney and delivered a court order to Eskom's office in Bellville instructing them to cease and desist back dated to Jan 2024. Seems to have made no difference whatever

Staff are clueless
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This is shitty powa not eishkom.
 
They are reloading it on their system (CP). And guess who is going back to COJ for probably the 10th time now, me. On Friday.

As per usual, CP is more helpful than COJ. The last phoned COJ to clear it up
 
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