Hi,

We currently have a solar + battery system which currently has unused production, and I'm considering if SSEG route might be one way to utilise that production.

Has anyone actually gone through the process and could confirm:

• Actual process required
• Cost of the new meter (latest articles seem to indicate in the range of R3.5k?)
• Actual Feed-in tariff as there seem to be conflicting sources of info for Tshwane

With the cheaper meters, the actually looks like a more cost effictive way to get some use out of exxess capacity compared to adding an additional battery to charge and cover some of the current shortfall we draw from the grid early mornings.

 

As with other municipalities, the first thing that will be necessary is registering your system with the City
https://www.tshwane.gov.za/?p=70218

There will probably be a cost to  this, because usually you need an engineer to sign off on your installation. 

I live in Joburg, but they are encouraging registration here too. I used Pure Energy Solutions to do the SSEG for me.  I went this route because they took care of everything. I signed a letter appointing them to act for me, and I did zero queuing at offices only to find  that I had filled in the wrong form or whatever. For me that was a good saving of time (I get paid by the hour, so a day at the City's offices is a day I can't bill).

In my case Pure Energy did only the registration, they didn't get involved in tariffs and whether or not I wanted to resell (at COJ tariffs I don't), that remained between the City and me. But they don't operate only in Joburg, they deal with multiple municipalities. (it may be that they can assist with tariff changes, ask them, or whoever you deal with, those questions).

Registration means meeting all the regulations as well. Right down to warning labels. Pure Energy will not rectify any problems they find, they will tell you what needs to be attended to before registration. In my case this was labelling.

The last step of the process involved the City sending out an inspector who performed certain tests.

Almost certainly you are going to need a new meter at your cost.

As I said, I just got my system registered, I didn't change tariffs. But in Joburg registration is necessary for reselling, and whilst they are allowing after the fact registration right now, if they apply the by-laws strictly then any non-registered system is a system that may not be connected to their grid.
 

 

 

Sent Pure Energy a query now, maybe they can clear it up.

I've tried the Tswhane contact email several times, I'm sure you can guess how much of a response I've gotten so far by this post

What I also meant to say is do some sums first. Get hold of the tariffs, get a handle on the cost of converting to the SSEG tariff (meter etc). Get a ballpark figure for how much you could save (or, make) a month, and then figure out the time to recover the investment.

I did this with COJ's tariffs and couldn't see a way to as much as break even. So I'm not reselling, for now. When they publish new tariffs next year I can redo the sums.

Edited October 14, 20241 yr by Bobster.

1 hour ago, Shaun Barlow said:

Sent Pure Energy a query now, maybe they can clear it up.

I've tried the Tswhane contact email several times, I'm sure you can guess how much of a response I've gotten so far by this post

In January the were paying the Nersa price of 12c per unit. This price plus all the cost did not make it feasible for about all residential systems. 

This with paying over R3 a unit for evening use does not look like a good deal. 

Edited October 14, 20241 yr by Scorp007

I managed to actually find the Government gazette with their latest published tarrifs. I'm assuming the tarrifs as ex-VAT, but that doesn't matter for any of the comparisons


R270.23 monthly charge for the privilige of being able to provide power to the city

R0.7851 per unit in credit applied (you can at best only cancel any of your actual use). I suspect the NERSA price was increased

Assuming that credit can even be applied to the monthly charge, that means you have to export at least 345 units per month to break even for the fee. 🤯

After that you need to export 3.44 units for each one consumed to cancel actual usage (and that's assuming you don't consume more than 100kwH and hit Block 2 where it gets worse).

So exporting from a domestic premises will just never work financially. Other supply types don't get additional fees added, but still
 

2 hours ago, Shaun Barlow said:

I managed to actually find the Government gazette with their latest published tarrifs. I'm assuming the tarrifs as ex-VAT, but that doesn't matter for any of the comparisons

Assuming that credit can even be applied to the monthly charge, that means you have to export at least 345 units per month to break even for the fee. 🤯

 

The if the new power meter cost R3500 and is paid off over 3yrs at current rates it means another cost of about R97 per month. 

Edited October 14, 20241 yr by Scorp007

7 hours ago, Shaun Barlow said:

So exporting from a domestic premises will just never work financially. Other supply types don't get additional fees added, but still

 

Well you saved yourself some time and some money. As I said, I couldn't as much as break even in COJ, so my system is set to not export, so doesn't work as hard. 

 

On 2024/10/14 at 6:32 PM, Scorp007 said:

The if the new power meter cost R3500 and is paid off over 3yrs at current rates it means another cost of about R97 per month. 

We wish...

I found these prices in the 2024/2025 tariffs:

 

 

Here is the full page:

Some key points:

1. All embedded generators need to be registered with the City of Tshwane (wish I could figure out HOW - I never get a reply to my e-mails to them).

2.  You will pay a monthly fixed fee of R 270.23, irrespective of your meter (conventional vs prepaid vs bi-directional)

3.  You will need a bi-directional meter if you want to feed back to the municipality (see previous post:  R 10 744.03 for a typical residential meter)

4.  You will be paid R 0.7851 per unit fed back to Tshwane, but you must be a net consumer.  To just recoup the cost of the bi-directional meter, you need to feed back 13 685 units back to Tshwane.

 

It thus clearly does not make sense to try to sell back to Tshwane.  The cost of the bidirectional meter is the prohibiting factor.