2 minutes ago, DeepBass9 said:

As I understand it you are all contributing to a common pool of power. It will be metered at the consumer, and charged to the service provider. Presumably also if one power generator is a bit short, they can buy from another generator for their customers.

Because it is competitive, everyone will be trying to generate at least cost with the most uptime. 

Then Johandup has hit the nail on the head. There are two problems
1) Generation - and the plan for "Eskom 2" goes a way to addressing this
2) Distribution - and "Eskom 2" makes no difference here.

Yes, you need an independent power distribution network, which is a good example of a public good that the government should provide. Generation on the other hand should go the the people who can do it best and cheapest, with government providing regulations.

I'm not sure what Eskom 2 is supposed to achieve. 

Edited February 4, 20206 yr by DeepBass9

3 minutes ago, DeepBass9 said:

As I understand it you are all contributing to a common pool of power. It will be metered at the consumer, and charged to the service provider. Presumably also if one power generator is a bit short, they can buy from another generator for their customers.

Because it is competitive, everyone will be trying to generate at least cost with the most uptime, and attract the most users for their product. (a stark contrast to the current situation) 

A while back, one afternoon, when I was bored, I asked for quotes from the various utilities who provided power to the address I used to live in England. The cheapest was twice what I pay COJ. Maybe our prices are unrealistically low. Or maybe the service providers in the UK have a nudge-nudge wink-wink agreement to not squeeze each other too hard.

In a way it's like MetroRail and Gautrain. Gautrain is newer and a separate entity and has none of MetroRail's historic baggage. But it also costs a lot more to ride it. They provide a good service - clean, mostly on time, comfortable, lots of security staff at the stations, but all that stuff costs money.

The cost is capped though (especially in sunny SA) with the amount that rooftop solar costs.

I just heard a sound clip from Chris Yelland on  the radio and this Eskom 2 is an 'idea' at this stage.

Edited February 4, 20206 yr by DeepBass9

2 minutes ago, DeepBass9 said:

Yes, you need an independent power distribution network, which is a good example of a public good that the government should provide. Generation on the other hand should go the the people who can do it best and cheapest, with government providing regulations.

Or we get lots of "mini grids", as suggested in a local paper recently. A group of householders whose properties adjoin or the owners within a secure complex agree to invest in an off grid system (or big ass generator with automatic fail over) that will service just them. I can see technical problems with this and issues when one of the properties involved gets sold, but given the way some parts of Johannesburg have tried to control access to their roads (with various degrees of legality and success), I wouldn't be that surprised if somebody tries it.

17 hours ago, Richard Mackay said:

I wish people would provide their location. Where I am in Joburg the electricians have ripped out the ripple relays many years ago..

Where are ripple relays still in operation in a big way (which is a prerequisite for this system to be effective)?

I actually did have one when I bought my current property (Randbug). It was bypassed - the electrician said this was allowed - after I had switched from element to heat pump.
 

17 minutes ago, Bobster said:

I actually did have one when I bought my current property (Randbug). It was bypassed - the electrician said this was allowed - after I had switched from element to heat pump.
 

Yes, you can have it bypassed under some conditions - like if you have solar AND the geyser element is <2kW. If it is bypassed and you don't meet the conditions, there are some very steep fines. (or pay a fee to be excluded)

Quote

Question: What are the consequences of illegally bypassing or tampering in any way with the operation of the geyser control units?

Answer:  Bypassing or removal of the equipment is a criminal offence that carries a maximum liability of a fine of R2000.00 or 6 months imprisonment.

from here: https://www.citypower.co.za/customers/Pages/Geyser-Control.aspx

Geyser control was an idea from the previous regime aka your political opposition.

Will it really save your ass when you are not producing enough electricity?  Off course not.  I removed mine the day the muni conveniently forgot to switch it back on.

The public is only hearing the side of Eskom the politicians deem necessary. They know if the whole truth comes out their heads will roll.

And that is he reason why I am looking at increasing my setup so as to be able to get off the grid when the pawpaw hits the fan.

5 minutes ago, Pietpower said:

I know of one estate in Centurion that has a mini grid.  They have one bulk meter for the whole estate and the people in the estate with solar can push back into the "mini grid".  They will have to relook the system when there is enough solar power to start pushing back into the municipal grid at the bulk meter.

Midstream? 

11 hours ago, Bobster said:

Did you have a timer switch on the geyser? I had a similar problem some years ago. We called an electrician who found out that the timer switch was between the main supply and the ripple switch. So if they send an "off" signal whilst the timer switch is in the on state, that is obeyed. But if the timer switch is in an off state when they send the "on" signal, it never gets to the ripple switch, so the geyser turns off. He rewired things so that the timer sat between the ripple switch and the geyser - end of probem.

As far as I can remember, the electrician didn't say anything about a timer-switch when he explained to me why the geyser wasn't switching on (while pointing to the connections in an outside connection-box), so I can only assume he didn't see a timer switch or there wasn't one.

 

-G-

11 hours ago, Bobster said:

A group of householders whose properties adjoin or the owners within a secure complex agree to invest in an off grid system

This group system could work well if say four or more properties invest in one big inverter that is shared between them, and setup to accommodate individual needs. That can also make the cost of solar cheaper because you share the cost of only one inverter and just buy your batteries to suit individual needs. This could even benefit Eskom if they could look into supplying solar provided they wake up and cut their KWh cost. 

Let's be real here, can you imagine the bickering that would go with sharing solar with your neighbours.  No you ran your aircon more , no you ran your tumble dryer to many times, etc.

7 hours ago, gallderhen said:

As far as I can remember, the electrician didn't say anything about a timer-switch when he explained to me why the geyser wasn't switching on (while pointing to the connections in an outside connection-box), so I can only assume he didn't see a timer switch or there wasn't one.

 

-G-

What I rather did, instead of timer, I swopped the normal geyser breaker out for a contractor, and then manage the contractor using a sonoff, that has a build in timer and well integrated that with my Home Assistant setup. even without the HA setup, the web interface to the sonoff (oh I flashed with Tasmoto) just made it easier to toggle the power at any time if I wanted the geyser to be on at a different time, or change the timers program.

G

On 2020/02/04 at 8:34 PM, Pietpower said:

Southdowns

 

I have family there. Nice (but very larny) place.

17 hours ago, georgelza said:

swopped the normal geyser breaker out for a contractor

You need the breaker as well. It is there to protect the wire... 🙂

 

12 hours ago, plonkster said:

You need the breaker as well. It is there to protect the wire... 🙂

 

true... it is there still,

What we removed was the old style timer.

G

26 minutes ago, Pietpower said:

What is bad is that our prices keep going up while we have less electricity and the rest of the world seems to coming down in price.

hi @Pietpower - i presume you refer to the present sa situation notwithstanding the fact that you mention the price in usd.

i agree, no use having cheap electricity and the availability is haphazard; the other negative side effects i do not even want to go into

Edited February 7, 20206 yr by Gabriël

1 hour ago, Pietpower said:

 

My electricity has gone up fron 0.12usd in 2018 to 13.5usd for 2019/20

 

That is a one helluva increase? I presume you meant 12$ to 13.5$

"My electricity has gone up fron 0.12usd in 2018 to 13.5usd for 2019/20"

See.ree.as?

Eish. Zimbabwe is bad

On 2020/02/07 at 12:51 PM, Pietpower said:

Was just below R1.80/kWh and now just over R2.00/kWh

New Ekuruleni municipal rate will be closer to R2.35/kwh pre-paid from 1July with the new 6.9% increase. Looks like Eskom winning during lockdown they got their way with Nersa’s hands tied behind their backs during lockdown. 

We all have to go shopping again to add at least 6.9% more panels.😁

COCT budget now includes a R0.25 "incentive" per KW/h to feed in.

Still not cost effective for a solar powered home to feed in excess power (it costs you more than you will get back for most homes). But at least a step in the right direction.

In my opinion:

1) Vast difference between what you get for a supplied KW/h vs. a KW/h used from grid. Fine, I can accept that one.

2) Around R15.000 charged to supplier for a bidirectional meter (you will never be able to amortize that cost - dead loss to the solar supplier).

3) Increased monthly fixed charge for the pleasure of supplying power (this one I do not get at all). 

Effectively this means Eskom is still favored as supplier by municipality - small scale solar supply effectively discouraged (while trying to project "green" image).

 

On 2020/02/07 at 12:03 PM, Pietpower said:

 

My electricity has gone up fron 0.12usd in 2018 to 13.5usd for 2019/20

Still a fair bit cheaper than most Euro countries by on par with USA and more than Canada

What is bad is that our prices keep going up while we have less electricity and the rest of the world seems to coming down in price.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-prices-in-selected-countries/

Global electricity prices in 2018, by select country

Now imagine what our elec price could be if only everybody who used electricity actually paid for it!

2 hours ago, FixAMess said:

Now imagine what our elec price could be if only everybody who used electricity actually paid for it!

Drove through Mamelodi again last weekend.  The 230V naked cables above ground looks like a high tension distribution network with upright poles and lines spaced apart.  Unbelievable that not more people/kids die from this.

5 hours ago, Pietpower said:

The 230V naked cables above ground looks like a high tension distribution network with upright poles and lines spaced apart. 

The same has been done on the R59 highway at Meyerton, big tree branches with bloudraad has been erected and shacks just tap straight of there.

Cape Town mayor Dan Plato was requesting permission (court case?) from Eskom to be able to source power from other electricity suppliers.

Does anybody have any news on this since this will definitely make COCT position easier..