Solar Advice's basic off-grid solar power system prices compared

[Benedict A55h0le not]

That charge is only for Independent Republics, come to Joburg, you are going to love it here, I give you six months and you'll be bouncing down the streets, spreading positivity to everyone, you won't even remember how being miserable feels like.

Why is the entire JHB middle-class fleeing to the Cape of Bad Hope?

 

[wingnut771]

That charge is only for Independent Republics, come to Joburg, you are going to love it here, I give you six months and you'll be bouncing down the streets, spreading positivity to everyone, you won't even remember how being miserable feels like.

And privileged Jhb residents who are on postpaid and don't want to jump through hoops to game the system.

 

[TheChamp]

Why is the entire JHB middle-class fleeing to the Cape of Bad Hope?

Let's not get too bogged down on other people, let's focus on you and your health, how soon can you come over? Cape Town is clearly causing you great distress. You urgently need a change of scenery, come test it out for six months and you'll take it from there, you have nothing to lose.

 

[SauRoNZA]

What about multiple days of bad weather and the grid is down (stolen cables, substation blew up, etc)? That extra battery is only going to buy you one more day and buying a week's worth of batteries doesn't make financial sense.

When I put solar in I'll still keep the generator for backup.

Then it just means I’ll need to compromise on things like running heaters and aircons and what not and actually think about it.

Right now it’s a no mess no fuss affair.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

It looks like JHB have not added these taxes to the bill yet. Its going to happen like it is already in CPT.

Yeah good luck with that. Going after the prepaid systems of a few thousand solar users means pissing off millions in the townships.

The DA might be able to get away with schit like that in the WC where an election win is almost guaranteed, but even they're not dumb enough to try it in GP, otherwise it would have happened by now...

 

[Simbasunxxx]

I have previously gotten a couple of quotes just get my geyser off grid. It was eye bleeding expensive. My question is this. How long will it take for the installation to pay for itself? Forget all this about all the additional costs of inverters and all that nonsense. Based on my geyser quotes I calculated it would take around 27 years before I could relax and say thanks I am now out of the red and in the green. That was for doing my entire house. I have no doubt that many of these installers are in it just to make a quick buck. As someone else here said this obsession with going off grid is weird. I think a lot of people are going to get badly hurt financially

 

[SauRoNZA]

I have previously gotten a couple of quotes just get my geyser off grid. It was eye bleeding expensive. My question is this. How long will it take for the installation to pay for itself? Forget all this about all the additional costs of inverters and all that nonsense. Based on my geyser quotes I calculated it would take around 27 years before I could relax and say thanks I am now out of the red and in the green. That was for doing my entire house. I have no doubt that many of these installers are in it just to make a quick buck. As someone else here said this obsession with going off grid is weird. I think a lot of people are going to get badly hurt financially

Geysers do make zero sense unless it’s a brand new install and you aren’t throwing away a perfectly good working geyser, came to much the same conclusion.

Spending that money on your inverter + batteries + solar setup makes far more sense while powering your normal geyser conventionally. Maybe throw in a most economical element, but even that seems pointless unless the old one dies.

My setup, ignoring actual generation will cost me exactly what I would have paid Eskom anyway for the next 10 years without compensating for their price increases which is a complete unknown, assuming I spend less the projected R500 or less with Eskom every month.

Now add generation to it and the value from that and the 10 years start counting backwards pretty quickly, but with only winter data so far it’s hard to call but I would say anywhere between 5-7 years.

Once I have a full year’s data it will be much easier to gauge.

So far the value of generation appears to be 1% per month of the total investment cost. Which is 8,33 years before it levels. Summer will of course change this drastically.

 

[SAguy]

The DA is socialist and I think COCT is the socialist masters. COCT charges a R6k registration fee and charge the network charge for all non-indigent houses, pre and post paid, solar and non-solar. COCT is now even forcing off-grid systems to be registered and not having a grid connection is banned. It is like you said CPT is has a much more "effective socialist system". So this is very much a case of different taxes for different municipalities, but I think others will copy COCT.

You're a really sour and bitter person hey. Just always mad at everyone and everything.

You should seek professional help

 

[noxibox]

Not connecting your system to the grid won’t protect you from any future additional charges. Unless you’re officially disconnected they’ll just bill you.

Yeah good luck with that. Going after the prepaid systems of a few thousand solar users means pissing off millions in the townships.

Unless they also have solar generation it won’t impact them.

The DA might be able to get away with schit like that in the WC where an election win is almost guaranteed, but even they're not dumb enough to try it in GP, otherwise it would have happened by now...

They get away with it because it only impacts some of the voters, and not enough to swing the election. Plus there aren’t a lot of viable alternatives. No matter what any of the other parties might promise during elections they’ll quickly discover that there are bills to be paid and their election promises aren’t viable.

 

[noxibox]

Total electricity cost for house A is not R500 p/m. That figure has to include purchase, installation, maintenance and repairs of the solar system. As a bonus it needs to include the opportunity cost of tying up potentially R100-500k in an illiquid, depreciating "investment/asset". As an example R150k in a 6% p.a. account will net you R750 a month

And if you borrow the money the total interest that will be paid. Someone buying a R200,000 system and paying it back at R2000 per month is going to end up paying over R100,000 in interest.

 

[Martin 007]

Having a cloudy and rainy day in Hermanus, my 6 x 400 watt panels generating about 100 watt each, 400 watt in total, so even on a super bad day can get 25 percent power. In the middle of summer I can generate 1.6 Kw. A small generator is the answer rather than lots of battery storage.

 

[AchmatK]

And if you borrow the money the total interest that will be paid. Someone buying a R200,000 system and paying it back at R2000 per month is going to end up paying over R100,000 in interest.

A monthly R2 000 electricity bill today will be more than R4 000 per month in year 10 with a conservative 9% annual Eskom increase. That's over R360k just in electricity purchases over 10 years.

That R200k loan would be long paid off by then and the person that opted not to go with solar is still going to have to spend money every month in electricity. And the guy that took the loan and got solar can still expect a further 5 to years out of the system before needing to replace anything major.

Panels should last for 30 years and even then they will still work, just at a reduced output of 80% of their rated capacity.

Batteries are the same. 6 000 cycles comes to 16 years if cycling them once per day. And again they won't be dead just reduced capacity.

A decent inverter might have a 5 year guarantee but the design life is at least 10 years.

Electricity is a basic need and paying for 15 years worth by going solar is a much better option than being dependent on the government to provide it as clearly they are not capable of doing so.

Solar plus storage is cheaper today in any calculation you try and throw at it. Using cash, taking out a loan, extending your bond, etc. But that's not the only consideration as you cannot put a price on not having to go through loadshedding.

This my real life graph and in 2 years time my cost/kWh is going to be less than anything CoCT can sell me.

 

[GrootVoet]

I have one question, with more and more people want to go off the grid either to safe themselves from load shedding or getting away from Eskom how & who will subsidies the poor?

Think of it, at some point government will realize this and say you can't allow the rich to have electricity and the poor not (NHI ring a bell) and will either tax the hell out solar of it of make it semi impossible to generate your own electricity.

 

[TheRoDent]

Not in CoJ. Bought R1,000 on Wed, got 460 units.

Even if they do introduce it, that measly R150 or whatever is not enough to give me buyer's remorse. And if it does put anyone off, chances are they can't afford a solar system anyway. Looking at a certain someone on this thread...

Using the R1000 benchmark is a good idea, Techcentral has summarised it quite nicely.

How much you really pay for electricity in South Africa

The situation in Johannesburg is bizarre and increasingly untenable.

techcentral.co.za

Citypower Joburg Postpaid users are getting nicely shafted. It's definately worth going to prepaid.

 

[gotaway]

Parys, prepaid and you’ll get 337,8 units for your R1000.

This should last a while with Eskom loadshedding, municipal load reduction to stay within the limits of the Eskom substation, and downright downtime due to faults, cable theft…

 

[SauRoNZA]

I have one question, with more and more people want to go off the grid either to safe themselves from load shedding or getting away from Eskom how & who will subsidies the poor?

Think of it, at some point government will realize this and say you can't allow the rich to have electricity and the poor not (NHI ring a bell) and will either tax the hell out solar of it of make it semi impossible to generate your own electricity.

People don’t want to go off grid.

People want to supplement the grid.

If they allow those people to sell back to the grid it helps the poor and everyone else who is getting load shed.

It can be a symbiotic relationship.

 

[Lupus]

People don’t want to go off grid.

People want to supplement the grid.

If they allow those people to sell back to the grid it helps the poor and everyone else who is getting load shed.

It can be a symbiotic relationship.

Oh with all the restrictions on solar in SA we can't supplement nothing

 

[GrootVoet]

People don’t want to go off grid.

People want to supplement the grid.

If they allow those people to sell back to the grid it helps the poor and everyone else who is getting load shed.

It can be a symbiotic relationship.

That would be nice but we know that is not how government sees it otherwise they would have made it possible by now.

 

[SauRoNZA]

That would be nice but we know that is not how government sees it otherwise they would have made it possible by now.

City of Cape Town is on the right track towards it now.

We just need to get around the very expensive meter problem, then it’s golden.

 

[wingnut771]

City of Cape Town is on the right track towards it now.

We just need to get around the very expensive meter problem, then it’s golden.

Wake me up when we can be a net producer and get paid for it.