{"id":92306,"date":"2015-07-02T13:35:53","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T11:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=92306"},"modified":"2015-07-02T13:35:53","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T11:35:53","slug":"how-much-it-costs-to-live-eskom-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/92306\/how-much-it-costs-to-live-eskom-free\/","title":{"rendered":"How much it costs to live Eskom-free"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Trade union Solidarity has recently released its electricity self-help guide which provides South Africans with advice on how to\u00a0beat load shedding and limit their reliance on Eskom.<\/p>\n<p>The guide was compiled by Muller Pretorius, who holds engineering and information science degrees from the University of Pretoria.<\/p>\n<p>According to the report, public demand for electricity is on the increase\u00a0\u2013 which equates\u00a0to electricity shortages and higher prices.<\/p>\n<p>Research undertaken by Solidarity shows\u00a0that Eskom\u2019s supply will still be under tremendous pressure for several years.<\/p>\n<p>To help households cope with the electricity shortages, higher prices, and load shedding, Solidarity released the self-help guide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith this guide Solidarity is offering a useful manual to its members and the public on how households can become less dependent on Eskom,\u201d said Solidarity.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">How to beat load shedding<\/h3>\n<p>To become self-sustaining when it comes to\u00a0electricity, Solidarity recommends the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Replace all lights with low-energy 12V LED lights which can run on standby batteries<\/li>\n<li>Buy a diesel or petrol generator<\/li>\n<li>Buy a solar geyser<\/li>\n<li>Thermally insulate\u00a0your house to limit the use of heaters or air conditioners<\/li>\n<li>Invest in solar power to produce your own electricity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Solidarity guide provided the following pricing guideline for the aforementioned suggestions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>12V LED lights with batteries \u2013 R10,000<\/li>\n<li>Diesel or petrol generator \u2013 R16,000<\/li>\n<li>Thermal insulation for your house \u2013 R14,000<\/li>\n<li>Solar geyser\u2013 R27,000<\/li>\n<li>Solar power panels and batteries \u2013 between R56,000 and R280,000<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Becoming completely Eskom free<\/h3>\n<p>To become completely Eskom free, or to run a grid-tied system to provide full protection against load shedding, can be expensive.<\/p>\n<p>A 6kW grid-tied solar system, which includes solar panels and a feedback meter, will set you back around R174,500.<\/p>\n<p>A 6kW solar system, which generates all the electricity needed to run a household through solar power and battery backup, will cost around R280,300.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The full electricity guide\u00a0is <a href=\"http:\/\/solmediafiles.co.za\/maroelamedia\/kragdag_gids_opt.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">available here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Solidarity, in conjunction with KragDag, has also launched an emergency plan aimed at the event of a total Eskom blackout.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/solidariteit.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Kragdag_noodplan_eng.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">The plan<\/a> offers practical tips on how households can prepare for the possibility of being without Eskom electricity for up to two weeks.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">More on Eskom<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/91982\/why-nersa-said-no-to-eskom\/\" target=\"_blank\">Why Nersa said no to Eskom<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/91520\/if-i-acted-like-eskom-i-would-lose-my-business-ceo\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>If I acted like Eskom I would lose my business: CEO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/91396\/eskom-in-upward-spiral-by-2020-ceo\/\" target=\"_blank\">Eskom in upward spiral by 2020: CEO<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new electricity self-help guide provides South Africans with advice on how to beat load shedding and limit their reliance on Eskom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":90548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874,1],"tags":[1164,26,1632],"class_list":["post-92306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-trending","tag-eskom","tag-headline","tag-solidarity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92306"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92314,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92306\/revisions\/92314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}