Last week our electricity provider announced that those with Solar Power will be treated and billed differently. Previously everyone had to be moved over to prepaid meters including those on solar. Now they say those on solar cannot have prepaid meters as they need to be able to also supply back to the grid.
I was not allowed to be on prepaid meters anyway as our household in the past had some how been bypassed and we have to be on regular monthly payments for at least 24 months before allowing to move on to pre paid. This is actually not a bad thing if this is the so called targeting solar users as I literally will be able to send back to the grid instead of discharging daily losing the unused capacity.
I will be getting 2 more batteries so we are talking minimal power from the grid and this makes little difference to me and maybe I can supply back much more. Apparently the monthly billing electricity is far more expensive than the pay as you go kwh pricing which I was unaware of anyway.
The power service provider is so scared that they are going to lose the monthly payments from the solar users they are finding any angle they can fill that lost revenue. Most properties are not in the same position we are and have much smaller back up solar units so I think it will be understandable they will feel the monthly increase more. An average household is expected to pay on average around R1000 more monthly which is roughly $60. This is going to be a problem for so many and why people are feeling outraged at this being a good idea.
OUTA (Organization Undoing Tax Abuse) the independent legal group funded by the community and is a non profit organization has already stated they are taking this on directly with the electricity company. The last two occasions the service provider was blocked and I suggest they will be blocked again because you cannot force a group to be paying a different rate. This lot never learn and they will be given another hiding.
Those who have the pre paid meters and solar have until June 30th 2026 to get the meters changed over. They also asked for those with solar to register their units and I will not be coming forward. They know who has solar and who has not as we know they have been taking photographs of the various properties when the staff are doing the meter readings. I do not see the need as I am already on the monthly meter reading system so there is no point.
A bit of luck on my part as it looks like I am not going to be affected at all and could actually benefit all because I went for a bigger system in order to get off the grid. The only months I may struggle to avoid the grid and then I should have credits to cover the few hours of power we would need each day so in theory we would be off the grid or not being charged a monthly bill.
