Geoff Vickerstaff from Plan My Power said that even at a cost of over R200,000 per household, you will save money in the long run.
“If you are to amortise the capital amount over 20 years, the cost is around R2,000 per month,” he said.
That calculation is so broken.
R233 000 financed over 20 years with the current prime interest rate of 9.25% = R2134 p/m
Which makes your total payment for the system over 20 years (240 months) = R512 153
You need to replace your batteries every 10 years, this will cost R922 p/m for R72000 over 10 years, making the battery cost R110 620 paid every 10 years.
Plus build in a factor a 20% overall cost for replacement of failed panels, panels getting hit by hail stones, maintenance, etc for the 20 year period - R102 430
Total cost of the system is more like : R725 203 over a 20 year period.
If you are currently paying R1000 p/m for electricity now and Eskom increases their electricity cost by 10% every single year for the next 20 years, you have only paid a total of R687 299
If they increase at 15% every year for the next 20 years, you will have paid R1,229 322.99
So in a nutshell, if the the total increase in electricity cost over the next 20 years is at or below 11% average over those years, then you will pay almost exactly the same amount and save nothing.
I on the other hand only pay around R550 a month for electricity, LED lights, Heatpump, etc help for that, so the system makes absolutely no financial sense to me.