SIMON BROWN: Going off the grid

The only unknown about load-shedding is what stage it’ll be on. Since late June, when stage six arrived on the scene, we have suffered almost constant doses of load-shedding and this wears us down, especially because the 6pm-8pm slot seems to happen more often than any other.

There are fairly cheap ways to get around this including power banks for your wi-fi router and modem, a UPS for bigger appliances and some battery lights. But all this is far from perfect.

The big question is: is it worth getting some real backup power? The answer is yes — and there are a few options.

The first and cheapest is a lithium-ion battery that connects to your distribution board. The battery will charge while Eskom is working and when the power goes, your home will automatically switch over to the battery without you even noticing.

Including installation, this could be as cheap as R50,000,  depending on your requirements, Remember, you don’t need to wire everything into the battery. You could exclude the geyser and maybe even the oven, reducing the capacity required. This option is especially useful in a flat, where solar panels may not be an option.

The other option is the same (or bigger) battery but with solar panels to power your home and charge the battery. The cost will be higher and you’ll have more decisions to make. Do you want to go totally off grid, which will require more panels and batteries? Or do you want to be grid-tied so you first use the solar power then switch to battery when the sun sets or the day is cloudy, finally moving over to Eskom when the battery runs out?

The cost will depend on your system and size requirement. A modern solar system won’t be cheap but it is a lot cheaper (and more efficient) than it was a decade ago. Also, when Eskom actually does supply power, it’s not cheap. My bill has more than doubled in the past five years and is likely to double again in the next five.

So, over time, not only does an off-grid solution ensure you have power but it will pay for itself relatively quickly, probably in less than five years.

If you go the larger and more expensive route, you’ll probably need a loan. You may be tempted to dip into your home loan, but a word of caution here. Yes, the interest on a home loan is cheap at around prime. But the term is 20 years and you don’t want to be paying this off over 20 years.

Rather speak to the bank providing your home loan and ask if you can take a separate loan over a shorter period, at competitive rates. You could pay this off over three to five years. 

You will save on electricity every month and this will help offset the cost of the loan. And, of course, having power regardless of load-shedding is great. Another real benefit is that being independent of Eskom will increase the value of your property.