Off-grid system prices from Solar Advice

wingnut771 said:
Aircons and turn meter backwards.
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Only the older meters can go backwards no ?...if newer ones could - then fair enough, but as you probably know once your bill is ZERO, they don't pay you for pumping the extra electricity back into the grid, so it's pointless at that stage ( i.e. a waste of electricity )
 
itareanlnotani said:
I don't need that much (in summer), but i need to provision for winter, so...

Plus, solar panels are the cheapest part of the system, why not overprovision.

I currently use around 4kw / day. (Less at the moment as I'm not there).

Some older details -


I have more generation now (14kwhr of panels+-) and 10KWhr of LFP, but I will be finishing off the 2nd house at some point, and will need it. The panels and inverter are in place, and wired in, just not really necessary at the moment...

Will be adding aircon and underfloor heating + pool + heatpump, so why not have enough to support all of that.
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OK - then that makes sense i guess for your needs, but most households don't need that much.
 
Fjorko said:
OK - then that makes sense i guess for your needs, but most households don't need that much.
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I'd suggest its a fairly average requirement actually.

Most houses use around 20KW a day. Its not really overkill.

Some of the people in here have reported using 50KW a day (which I think is overkill, at that point I'd invest in reducing my daily consumption).
 
Fjorko said:
Only the older meters can go backwards no ?...if newer ones could - then fair enough, but as you probably know once your bill is ZERO, they don't pay you for pumping the extra electricity back into the grid, so it's pointless after that point ( i.e. as waste of electricity )
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Yeah, in dbn we have the old meters and need aircon 24/7. We also have a lot of cloudy weather so makes sense to over provision PV. Objective is a close to zero meter.
 
Fjorko said:
why on EARTH would you need that much electricity - there will be SO much waste....

I say this because you don't run EVERYTHING in your house all the time surely ???
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You size for winter so inevitably there will be a lot of waste in summer. If you need 30kwh per day you need to spec it to produce this in average on a winter day. In summer a lot of that will be idle but if government really wants to be proactive they would allow all this excess to be stored in the grid and therefore not wasted.

I think most solar system are sitting idle for 4 to 6 hours every day as batteries are full and loads are low. Someone needs to do a survey on all installed home and business private systems to find exactly what kwp of pv is sitting idle when it could be contributing to the grid.
 
itareanlnotani said:
_Off_ Grid.

I no haz meter. I no haz Eskom. Heck, there isn't even Eskom infrastructure on the property, so currently (haha) no monthly electricity fee's either.
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The advantage of having a meter is I don't need so much battery, just enough for rolling blackouts.
 
AchmatK said:
You size for winter so inevitably there will be a lot of waste in summer. If you need 30kwh per day you need to spec it to produce this in average on a winter day. In summer a lot of that will be Isle but if government really wants to be proactive they would allow all this excess to be stored in the grid and therefore not wasted.

I think most solar system are sitting idle for 4 to 6 hours every day as batteries are full and loads are low. Someone needs to do a survey on all installed home and business private systems to find exactly what kwp of pv is sitting idle when it could be contributing to the grid.
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Summertime I'm generally full by 9am, maybe 10am if its cloudy.
Winter, before I added more panels, some days would be lucky to be done by 4pm.

Winter needs more. Size for winter needs. I've said that forever.
 
itareanlnotani said:
Summertime I'm generally full by 9am, maybe 10am if its cloudy.
Winter, before I added more panels, some days would be lucky to be done by 4pm.

Winter needs more. Size for winter needs. I've said that forever.
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It is the angle of the panels or the short days?
 
Fjorko said:
Only the older meters can go backwards no ?...if newer ones could - then fair enough, but as you probably know once your bill is ZERO, they don't pay you for pumping the extra electricity back into the grid, so it's pointless at that stage ( i.e. a waste of electricity )
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Personally I don't care that much about wastage. I'll find something to use it on.

Would rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it...
 
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Ive been living off the grid now since January. Its the best thing since sliced bread. Been government free is freeken awesome. Load shedding is something that happens to other people.

Theres absolutely no problem with winters. Solar geyser and solar panels work even when its raining.
 
w1z4rd said:
Ive been living off the grid now since January. Its the best thing since sliced bread. Been government free is freeken awesome. Load shedding is something that happens to other people.

Theres absolutely no problem with winters. Solar geyser and solar panels work even when its raining.
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Which part of this lovely country of ours?
 
Uh, you cannot escape Eskom even if you don't use any electricity from them you are still by law required to have their power supply hooked up and pay the connection fees for no service rendered.
 
w1z4rd said:
Ive been living off the grid now since January. Its the best thing since sliced bread. Been government free is freeken awesome. Load shedding is something that happens to other people.

Theres absolutely no problem with winters. Solar geyser and solar panels work even when its raining.
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Are you still paying the connection fee monthly or have you found a way to avoid getting billed ? Unless you live in an actual shack there is no way I can think of that Eskom is going to ignore you from billing the default connection fee.
 
John Tempus said:
Are you still paying the connection fee monthly or have you found a way to avoid getting billed ? Unless you live in an actual shack there is no way I can think of that Eskom is going to ignore you from billing the default connection fee.
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I'm on prepaid so unless I top u off there is no fee paid towards electricity at all
 
John Tempus said:
Uh, you cannot escape Eskom even if you don't use any electricity from them you are still by law required to have their power supply hooked up and pay the connection fees for no service rendered.
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I don't believe you are.


If I want Eskom I need to pay 30k (last I checked) for them to run a cable over and trench to my plot in CPT.
I didn't bother, and went fully offgrid.

The local building inspector did moan slightly, but I was adamant I didn't want any overpriced electricity from them. Been offgrid for 7 years+- and don't pay fee's for no services rendered.

They are completely ****ing me on water though - I pay 800 a month before I use a drop. 50mm conduit, that I don't need. They refuse to change it. I suspect I may have to have some "scrap" guy come steal the meter, so that they are forced to install a 20mm connection.
 
John Tempus said:
Uh, you cannot escape Eskom even if you don't use any electricity from them you are still by law required to have their power supply hooked up and pay the connection fees for no service rendered.
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Not if you're on prepaid on City power
 
Lupus said:
Not if you're on prepaid on City power
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Depends where you live.

CPT they definitely charge a monthly fee for pre-paid.

That will be rolled out to more muni's at some point.

eg, in CPT


  • You have a credit meter (whatever your municipal property value), or you have a prepayment meter and a municipal property valuation of R1 000 000 or more.
  • The HOME USER TARIFF works as follows:
o A monthly service charge (to reflect on the consolidated monthly accounts as “HOME USER CHARGE”)
of (R168.95 plus VAT) = R194.29
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