May 9, 20242 yr I wanted to ask what people are using now per month since installing their solar systems. Reason I ask is we had the Ethekweni electricity guys come past and ask "Why the meter readings had gone down", so now not sure what the next step will be from them. We are still using +_ 100Kw/h a month.
May 9, 20242 yr We use around 300-350kWh from Grid/Eskom per month now. Solar + Battery accounts for approx. 65% of our usage. More batteries would increase that percentage but we don't really have the space for more.
May 9, 20242 yr 1 hour ago, Greglsh said: I wanted to ask what people are using now per month since installing their solar systems. Reason I ask is we had the Ethekweni electricity guys come past and ask "Why the meter readings had gone down", so now not sure what the next step will be from them. We are still using +_ 100Kw/h a month. This is standard. Don't infer more than curiosity from it. When the municipalities see your bill drop a lot and stay down they get curious about what has changed. There may be an innocent explanation, or somebody may have bypassed the meter. So they investigate. 100kW/h is about 3 a day. Lately I have been using about 1.5 a day, and over a multi year history that includes spells of bad weather, the average is about 2.4. What happens next I can't say. I live in Johannesburg - different muncipality with different rules. For me there was never a problem, though there were repeat visits.
May 9, 20242 yr They visited me and inspected my pre-paid meter and then moved the meter to the street and that was it.
May 9, 20242 yr Off the grid basically. Just keep mine ticking over once in two months. 3 months without activity and we get disconnected permanently which can become costly to get reconnected. On initial solar start my end I was audited for possible/assumed electricity theft twice. The third time without pre notification some contractors pitched up and I was migrated to prepaid. So now I just charge a R50 voucher every two months or so and when solar conditions are poor, which doesn't happen often, I use some of the credits on the prepaid.
May 9, 20242 yr I manage my consumption around 50 units a month. I have my system off for 2-4 days a month or until I reached my target. My production is very close to my daily use. It varies and goes up a bit when having visitors over a weekend. We are only 2 in the house. Edited May 9, 20242 yr by Scorp007
May 10, 20242 yr Author We have 3 people in the house and my dad in the Granny flat, I did a DIY battery of +_15Kw so I think this helps. I can see the production numbers dropping a little as we go towards winter.
May 10, 20242 yr Author @Antonio de Sa Nice graph, what inverter and what you using to collect the data and create the graphs?
May 10, 20242 yr 7 minutes ago, Greglsh said: @Antonio de Sa Nice graph, what inverter and what you using to collect the data and create the graphs? I have two Growatt's 5000 ES running in parallel, = 10 KVA 1 X 5 KW LBSA battery and 12 X 410 W Csun panels, 6 connected in series to each inverter. I use Grafana to create the graphs and Modbus protocol to read the info from the inverters and battery. I have all the info archived on SSD data since installation. I have to admit I am BC before computers, my custom-made monitoring system was programed by my son. Herewith some of my graphs.
May 10, 20242 yr My small string on a car port. Getting shade and due to shadows creeping longer every day. This in contrast with my main string that provides a steady good yield now. Although it faces north the peak has dropped over 50%.
May 10, 20242 yr Another take on it. This is using a solar flat-panel water heater with grid back-up, then just 2.75kW panels on MPPT1 of a 5kW Deye, just one 5kWh battery, and importantly, a Time-of-Use tariff for buying and selling from grid. The way it's managed is to run as much as possible from solar during the day, solar-charge by day, then use the battery only during peak tariff periods and loadshedding. I don't mind paying off-peak rates for running my house in the evening, charging from grid or heating my geyser at night when I need to. This is my energy balance for buying and selling in April in terms of kWh. Approx 200kWh taken from grid, and approx 100kWh feed-in for the month, with some poor autumn weather in-between. Summertime net purchases are closer to zero, at least in kWh terms. There's potential, but not much incentive to upgrade with more panels and batteries.
May 10, 20242 yr These numbers terrify me, my house uses 30kWh Eskom and 25-30kWh solar a DAY! The only things on Eskom are the geysers and stove. System: 10kW Kodak 15x 555W JA and Canadian panels (soon to be 18) 30kWh of my batteries Once I finalise the second string with the 3 more panels the geysers will go on the solar with some home automation trickery I've yet to figure out so should hopefully drop Eskom to nearly zero. Then the wife has promised her 13th cheque to buy a double gas oven, sink gas instant water heater and installation so then will hopefully be at zero.
May 10, 20242 yr Guys like me, @Bobster.and @GreenFields would always wonder what does one do to use 60kWh a day. My generation YTD and adding my grid 50 kWh one gets to my total power use. I love my workshop and do use a lot of power tools. Now with low LS I cycle my battery just to get it to exercise a bit and not staying above 80%. I have 1 fridge on the battery 24/7. I run on grid during the non PV periods. Still in the same 4 bedroom house for the last 34 yrs. 10 yrs ago I did also use a high 40 kWh a day. I do have a heat pump but all other power use is from PV or the grid. I have only 2.5 kW of PV installed.
May 10, 20242 yr I'm mostly off grid and on pre-paid. I top up with R30 every month. My long term energy totals: Home Usage: 7011.5 kWh Grid Usage: 132 kWh (1.8%)
May 10, 20242 yr 3 hours ago, LiFePOWER said: These numbers terrify me, my house uses 30kWh Eskom and 25-30kWh solar a DAY! The only things on Eskom are the geysers and stove. System: 10kW Kodak 15x 555W JA and Canadian panels (soon to be 18) 30kWh of my batteries Once I finalise the second string with the 3 more panels the geysers will go on the solar with some home automation trickery I've yet to figure out so should hopefully drop Eskom to nearly zero. Then the wife has promised her 13th cheque to buy a double gas oven, sink gas instant water heater and installation so then will hopefully be at zero. That is like 2500watts per hour for 24 hours.. In other words a base load of 2500watts. That's insane Edited May 10, 20242 yr by Jakac
May 10, 20242 yr 2 hours ago, Scorp007 said: Guys like me, @Bobster.and @GreenFields would always wonder what does one do to use 60kWh a day. My generation YTD and adding my grid 50 kWh one gets to my total power use. I love my workshop and do use a lot of power tools. Now with low LS I cycle my battery just to get it to exercise a bit and not staying above 80%. I have 1 fridge on the battery 24/7. I run on grid during the non PV periods. Still in the same 4 bedroom house for the last 34 yrs. 10 yrs ago I did also use a high 40 kWh a day. I do have a heat pump but all other power use is from PV or the grid. I have only 2.5 kW of PV installed. 27 minutes ago, Jakac said: That is like 2500watts per hour for 24 hours.. In other words a base load of 2500watts. That's insane I was being a bit dramatic with the 30kWh Eskom but it's not far off, that's why reading this thread blew my mind, I am in a fairly unique position though: 4 adults in the house. Eskom: My wife and I take loooong showers My MIL has like a 600L bath FIL showers twice a day Oven cooked meals every other night Housekeeper that loves a hot tap..... Can't wait to get the geysers on solar! Solar: 2kW pond pump that runs all day Pool pump, but that's only a couple hours, 1 now in winter Dishwasher, run everyday Washing machine, run multiple times a weekday Vacuum cleaner, makes a difference when it's 1000m2 of floor Ironing every afternoon, this absolutely destroys PV accumulation 2 fridges Small appliances kettle/toaster/lawn mower/hairdryers/etc/etc/etc, these things EAT electricity 200W+ LED lights all night, no that's not an exaggeration I'm well over 4GWh of solar generation the last 6 months. 45-50kWh is more of a reasonable assumption for the household but that's still nuts considering we don't have any aircons, heaters or tumble dryers. Edited May 10, 20242 yr by LiFePOWER
May 10, 20242 yr 4 hours ago, LiFePOWER said: I was being a bit dramatic with the 30kWh Eskom but it's not far off, that's why reading this thread blew my mind, I am in a fairly unique position though: 4 adults in the house. Eskom: My wife and I take loooong showers My MIL has like a 600L bath FIL showers twice a day Oven cooked meals every other night Housekeeper that loves a hot tap..... Can't wait to get the geysers on solar! Solar: 2kW pond pump that runs all day Pool pump, but that's only a couple hours, 1 now in winter Dishwasher, run everyday Washing machine, run multiple times a weekday Vacuum cleaner, makes a difference when it's 1000m2 of floor Ironing every afternoon, this absolutely destroys PV accumulation 2 fridges Small appliances kettle/toaster/lawn mower/hairdryers/etc/etc/etc, these things EAT electricity 200W+ LED lights all night, no that's not an exaggeration I'm well over 4GWh of solar generation the last 6 months. 45-50kWh is more of a reasonable assumption for the household but that's still nuts considering we don't have any aircons, heaters or tumble dryers. Our house consumes 30-40kw per. Pv generates 25-35kw per day but the geyser alone uses 15-20kw per day. Quite scary. Granted the geyser is on 24/7, I don't use any timers or smart switch trickery. I do plan to add my solar geyser(non pressurized) as a pre-feed to my electric geyser. I already have the solar geyser but every plumber I have asked has said this is not possible???
May 11, 20242 yr Was using about 18 units a day that around 540 a month after installing gas warmer (geysers) and solar we using now 3.5 units a day as we use eskom at night but that will soon change as I'm ordering anothere lithium next week this will then make it possible to run 24/7 on inverter as long as weathers good .
May 11, 20242 yr Let me put this into perspective with evidence. I resideded in Gauteng in beginning to mid 2023 then relocated to Cpt did not have time yet to compare savings to between Coct and Ekuruleni. There is big savings reverting to solar systems. Between Feb 2023 to April 2023 my consumption was cut in half when i installed 8kw Deye and 20kwh lfp battery capacity supported by 8kwh solar. If you can afford it do it load shedding will be back big time!!
May 14, 20242 yr Pre-solar, we would purchase between R3000-R4000 on prepaid. Basically two houses/households on the property. Post-solar we now purchase R1000 a month on prepaid. Majority of which is due to running the geysers for early morning showers. A 2kW and 4kW element. Prepaid purchases will likely increase by about R500 now in winter as the geysers run for a bit longer in the early morning, during the day the both heat from PV only. In summer didnt have to run them early morning which was great they would still be hot from the afternoon runs for early morning showers. Daily average in Summer was around 5-8 units a day. We would be “off-grid” from about 07:30 until as late as midnight or 1-2am with the battery set to discharge at 50%. Daily average in Winter is around 15-20 units a day Lowest grid usage month was March at 339 units. Planning on going the gas geyser route and eliminate the 4kW geyser element…so that will save in grid usage which is about 4 units per day 28 units a week, 112 units a month. But redirect that saving towards gas…but still better as then no worry with load shedding/cloudy days etc. Just waiting on the SARS rebate for the panels 😁
May 17, 20242 yr Last time I purchased units was 14 months ago. I bought 330 units. I still have 150 units left. Since I installed more panels in October last year I have not used any grid. We have never had a visit from inspectors. Maybe because they can see the panels from the street.
May 17, 20242 yr 18 minutes ago, Chris_S said: Last time I purchased units was 14 months ago. I bought 330 units. I still have 150 units left. Since I installed more panels in October last year I have not used any grid. We have never had a visit from inspectors. Maybe because they can see the panels from the street. WOW, living the dream! Weird that they haven't come out...usually if no purchases in 3 months then they disconnect...or so I've heard.
May 17, 20242 yr 4 minutes ago, Carl Anthony said: WOW, living the dream! Weird that they haven't come out...usually if no purchases in 3 months then they disconnect...or so I've heard. It is strange. When I use rain water tanks for a couple months they often come and check the water meter but never for electricity.
May 17, 20242 yr 1 hour ago, Carl Anthony said: if no purchases in 3 months then they disconnect depends on the Municipal area. Ekurhuleni has that policy
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