Budget 2023
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Gordhan should force Eskom changes

Cape Town - Eskom’s capacity and the price of electricity, as well as the effect of coal-fired power stations on the environment, are matters of concnern to many South Africans.

One of the issues that comes up repeatedly is that home owners who have invested in solar panels and other renewable energy equipment are unable to export excess electricity back to the national grid.

The problem is simple: solar panels produce power during the day, when people do not use much electricity because they are at work.

This needs to be stored in expensive battery banks using pricey expensive invertors to convert 12 volt and 24 volt battery power to 230 volts to power their TVs at night.

The solution is equally simple - Eskom can buy power from households during the day and sell it to businesses.

Household meters effectively run backwards and at night we buy electricity from the grid when we need it.

Solar batteries are pricey and a smaller battery bank would mean lower capital cost and more incentives for people to install solar panels and wind generators.

Fin24 user Mungo Orpen from Johannesburg has another idea.

He asks Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to insist that Eskom introduce variable pricing for off-peak times.

“In most European countries, off-peak consumption of electricity is rewarded with vastly reduced rates. So, instead of begging us to turn off our appliances, rather incentivise us," he said.

Eskom has enough surplus power between 23:00 and 05:00 to power (at no additional burden to the grid) 7 million electric cars.

He said this is because it is not worthwhile to shut power plants down completely.

“Every household can program geysers, pool pumps, washing machines and other equipment to run at these times if we could buy electricity at lower rates.”

This will reduce demand - and stress on the grid – at peak times.

He reckons that consumers' power savings could be spent on something else, which will boost the economy while bringing down the cost of electricity.

“Thank you for looking after us as your loyal tax payers,” is his message to the minister.

Another user, Johan, asked if SA is still exporting electricity to Zimbabwe at reduced prices and if Zimbabwe has paid for all the electricity it has used over the past 10 years.

 - Fin24

*After chasing money on the JSE for 15 years, Adriaan Kruger is now living a relaxed lifestyle in Wilderness and lectures economics part-time at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

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