Weighing up how to beat increasing cost of electricity and water

The Herald

3 days ago

After my wife started complaining about the exorbitant cost of electricity, I decided to see whether it was possible to make any savings.
I also viewed the latest water tariffs and was shocked at the overall price of electricity and water.
Electricity is close to R4 a unit (prepaid), depending on usage and the time of the month you purchase it.
To counter this, one would have to install solar, which is a long-term investment that most of us cannot afford.
I have installed a solar water heating system which saves me a fortune in summer but is lacking in winter, as my electricity account bears testament to.
I have been using gas water heaters with great success at my offices and am investigating installing a dual system that uses gas heating when the water from the solar heating is not warm enough.
There is another system that I am looking into that converts your geyser element so it can use AC and DC current, thus being able to run the element off solar panels.
It is called PV photovoltaics, which converts light into electricity.
According to a website, it still operates in inclement weather, and apparently provides a 30% saving on your water heating account.
Now I must just weigh up the gas costs and capital outlay in my decision.
These efforts would then drastically reduce or even eliminate the need for electrical water heating, which amounts to about 40% of household electricity costs.
The gas backup is relatively cheap, and initial quotes start at under R10,000, whereas the AC/DC system is about R25,000.
I already cook with gas and rarely use my oven; therefore, my only electricity cost will eventually be for lighting and small appliances.
Under these circumstances, one could consider investing in a small solar unit.
Though not back in a drought, the price of water once again increased with the publishing of the 2025/2026 water tariffs by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality.
Without sewerage costs, 9kl of water costs about R200.
If you use 15kl, it costs R350, 24kl is R650, and 30kl is about R1,000.
If you have an unlimited supply of cash, you will fork out R3,000 for 48kl. Thereafter you will pay more than R150 per kilolitre.
Though I have heard some success stories, 9kl a month (300 litres per day) is roughly two five-minute showers, five toilet flushes, one load of dishes, and maybe two loads of washing a week.
Anything above that you will have to pay the higher rates. You will not have the luxury of a rose garden and will have to settle on a cactus rockery, and a fishpond or swimming pool would then become virtually unaffordable.
A borehole is a dream for most, so the only other alternative is to reduce consumption or to harvest rainwater.
I have reduced the cost of my water account, as over time I have made sacrifices and installed almost 30,000 l of water tanks to harvest rainwater.
Many question if this is a viable option.
For me, the joy of being able to have a vegetable garden makes it worth all the sacrifice.
Besides, with all the burst pipes and failing infrastructure in our metro causing numerous water outages, it is a vital backup.
You can survive for days without electricity but not water.
Money makes the world go round so I did a few calculations to see if I made any financial savings, and if so, how much.
I worked on the premise that on average we get about 600mm of rain per year at an average rate of 50mm per month.
If a house has on average 175m² of roof space, that will equate to 175 l per millimetre of recorded rainfall.
Multiply that by 50 and you get to about 9kl per month.
Depending on your total monthly usage, it can mean a minimum saving of about R200 to more than R1,000 if you are a high-end user.
When we have good rains, I can go a good month or two without using municipal water, and water my vegetable patch at the same time.
Considering that the advocates of climate change predict floods and droughts will worsen, the supply of dam water will reduce.
Add to that increased demand through rapid population growth and not even a rumour of more dams or alternatives to augment the water supply, and we can see that we will have a problem in the near and distant future.
We cannot sit back and live in hope that our municipality will always ensure that we have a constant and affordable supply of water or electricity in the future.
This week in history:
2011 — heavy snowfalls recorded in the Barkly East region
Dam levels
68.22%, slightly down from previous week's 68.37%
Impofu up to 50.58%
Weather safety tips:
Driving at night is dangerous at the best of times. Driving in the rain is just as dangerous.
Driving at night in the rain in our metro with road markings virtually non-existent is an accident waiting to happen.
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