WE KICKED ESKOM TO THE KERB’

By Vivian Warby vivian.warby@inl.co.za

John Moss and his wife, Amy, who live outside Cape Town, decided to become Eskom independent earlier this year after constant load shedding at their home began causing a bigger problem on their property.

IT WAS a “no-brainer”, they say about making their spot Eskom free.

However, it wasn’t an overnight decision and they thought long and hard about going solar.

“A two-day outage after a rain storm was the final decider,” says Moss.

“We then spoke to other people in our area who were using solar and came across a reliable installer who had put in systems in our area. There were many good reports.

“They came in, analysed our usage and made recommendations, with quotes. Although they recommended a 8Kwh inverter, with two lithium batteries and a 12 panel solar array, the 8 kwh inverter has a noisy fan and, as our inverter and batteries are in a living area, this did not suit us.

“We finally agreed on 2x5kwh inverters, two 5Kwh lithium batteries and 10x550w solar panels.”

The cost? With transport from Cape Town and installation the total was R220k.

However, says Moss, “we should be able to claim the Sars rebate on the panels, which is 25% of panel cost only, limited to R15k”.

He says the installer asked for 80% payment in advance, with a wait of a month for installation.

The installation went smoothly and was completed in one morning.

“Although we are still connected to Eskom, the grid is used only to charge batteries during long overcast periods or two four-hour periods of stage 6 load shedding during the night.

“It is now a month later and we estimate a monthly saving of about R3 000 a month which gives a payback period of six to seven years.”

But, says Moss, “that is not the issue. The peace of mind that having an uninterrupted electricity supply gives is amazing”.

“There is no stress of food going off in the freezer. The freedom to go to bed or stay up as we wish and not having to plan around load shedding is amazing.”

For the Moss family, peace of mind and less stress is the best thing about not relying on Eskom which, Moss points out, you can’t do anyway.

Getting solar panels installed can be a game-changer I IMAGE: BILL MEAD UNSPLASH