Eskom ... is there ANY chance? In CPT there is

I quickly browsed threw the document.
It seams they want to focus quite a lot on TOU, I assume this will require some very smart electricity meters since they propose 3 timeslots plus differences between summer and winter if I understand correctly.

You want to feed back, the meter for that will be R10k sir, oh then there’s the new fancy TOU meter as well, that will be another R25k, but, but, remember we no longer charge you anything for the SSEG application, so if you look at it long and hard, apply your mind, then you actually save money.

Oh and from what I read going forward Eskom will make a big effort to encourage people / businesses to go SSEG, so they’ll probably spend money on this.

Lekker business strategy in the long term that, spend money to encourage people to buy less of your product. :smiley:

Well, right now they need to not die at all cost.

So, although they make less money in future, it might be more profitable to make less revenue… You also get to live until that later day, without your head going on a pike. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

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SSEG must be on TOU rates, must pay for meter, but

The offset rate for customers exporting energy onto the Distribution system at the same point of supply (or
metering point) under the net billing scheme will, at this stage, be made equal to the current Homeflex TOU
energy rates.

Other costs seems to match the new Homeflex TOU rates. TOU optional to non-PV users, still need to pay for meter.

They say it’s revenue neutral for non-PV users. PV users without batteries will see increased bills as they use more expensive power during evening peak, where they could in past get away cheaply under the first tranche of the Inclining Block Tariff. PV makes things especially bad, since they don’t buy a lot of power via IBT, and don’t use during the day, but ramp up massively in the evenings. Many save their batteries for the night, so the generator rampup is very large during evening peak.

Eskom happy to sell less power during peak, since they’re not recovering actual cost anyway.

So expect to charge during the day, use battery in peak evening, then charge during off-peak to use in morning peak.

Flips the warranty calcs on batteries quite a bit, suddenly you’re doing 2x cycles per day and not just x1. V2H EV will help smooth things out quite a bit here.

Interesting times.

That could be a good use of of all US and EU the money they want us to spend to “Go Green”…

I am the opposite… I use my batteries down to “x” SOC and then leave them there for the rest of the night. So they are normally @ 65% at around 21:00 or so. Switch to grid at 40% (loadshedding risk adjusted) and then back to battery in the morning when enough PV to supply loads and charge. I get good use of them regularly!

Anyone else do this…

Effectively off grid. Use PV for daytime and as that ramps down, use battery until 20% in winter, except if blackouts predicted. Then use till 40% or 35% and leave that as buffer. So no morning or evening peaks normally as I am on battery. Battery capacity is 32kWh

Only time is a few cloudy and/or rainy days where I then charge them batteries during off peak times and use em during them peaks.

Groetnis

Nice writeup of where we’re at big-picture wise:

Very good summary - and the timeline is very interesting! Thanks @mariusm

Can I just skip all the above discussion, and go with the summary “Eskom will tax your solar!” instead?

:stuck_out_tongue:

New thread… no wait… rename this … Err… no… Won’t be the same thread title for long :wink:

Can anyone who read the document in detail or came across a write up somewhere else give me the short version of Eskom’s intention with direct customers on small holdings and farms, 3 phase?

In general I take Landman’s utterings with a big scoop of salt.
There’s optimistic, then there’s rose tinted glasses, unable to see what’s really happening around you.

I tried to find some details on Homeflex - but could not find a lot. They state that if you have PV you have to be on Homeflex, but they also speak of net metering under that tariff, and seemingly no fixed costs. I would actually prefer Homeflex at this stage.

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Fixed costs will be the same as a similar non-flex. The whole point of the overhaul is introducing accurate fixed costs. Homeflex is just also TOU. There’s an appendix with actual R/c at the end of the doc.

Net metering is only a problem if you feed in at 12:00 and expect to draw out at 18:00 at the same rate – that power doesn’t cost the same to produce. Under the TOU net metering will “net” at the specific time. So if you feed in at 12:00 you will get 88c, if you feed in at 18:00 you will get 6x more. So it’s 1:1, but in the correct price band per timeslot.

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That’s mostly what I expect, but it’s not clear from any of the documents, although I did not go through them thoroughly. What it does mean is that it becomes viable to buy more batteries and export during peak times.

If the cost difference between peak and off-peak is enough then energy arbitrage even makes sense. (I know of some companies doing this in Stellenbosch where they are on TOU tariffs.) Just charge your battery during off-peak and discharge it during peak, no solar required.

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Also done in some parts of the UK, I’ve heard. No solar panels. Just charge when it is cheap, push it back into the grid later. We’re past the point where the batteries are too expensive for that, it is starting to make sense.

p.96 of the proposed tariffs

One municipality that seems to have already incorporated the basic elements contained in the original 2020/2021 Eskom retail tariff plan is George.

In essence has the following:

Single phase domestic consumers with a mains breaker not exceeding 20A pay only a fixed energy charge (239.62 c/kWh).

Single/3phase domestic consumers with a mains breaker exceeding 20A
Basic charge: R74.63 per month
Capacity Charge: R4.50 per Amp per phase per month
Energy Charge: 208.49 c/kWh

There is also a DomesticFlex tariff with TOU billing (consumer to pay meter cost)
Basic Charge: R75.19 per month
Capacity Charge: R4.54 per Amp per phase per month.

The domesticflex tariff is voluntary with the intention to make it compulsory for SSEG.

With SSEG there is an additional R100 basic charge. The feed-in tariff is also TOU based but NOT 1:1 to energy charge (Peak energy charge 511.18 c/kWh while feed-in will be 419.61 c/kWh).

Reactive energy charge for power factor <0.85.

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I know Eskom propose all of these changes from April 2023, how long does NERSA have to respond to or approve it, in other words when will we have certainty?