A Question of Solar Amidst Scarcity

I’ve been contemplating installing solar panels on the roof of my house, so invariably I began doing some research into costs and what I would save in the long run.

Electricity has been increasing at an alarming rate in South Africa due to Eskom’s (the local electricity/power provider’s) inability to manage demand. 3 years ago South Africa was forced to endure rolling blackouts as Eskom could not cope with the demands for increasing electricity.

In 2009/2010 Eskom hiked their tariff by an alarming 31.3% and electricity prices have risen by between 20 to 25% since that period. In response to these hikes, consultancy Frost & Sullivan claimed: “These decisions must be taken in the interests of the country’s economic development, the sustainability of industry and ensuring a reliable supply of electricity.”

Prior to this in the 10 year period dating 1987 to 1997 electricity tariffs increased by an average of 10% per annum. This shows that over the past 5 years electricity tariffs have increased substantially more.

Supplying 95% of South Africa’s power with a user base of 6.5 million people, Eskom started to feel the heat with a shortage of supply in electricity since 2008.

With these enormous tariff increases over the past 5 years, I did some costing into installing a solar system at my house. I costed a system at R30 000 which includes panels and inverters. Such a system would be enough to power my geyser as well as other appliances, saving me money in the long run.

Such a system would obviously work towards an eco friendly planet as one wouldn’t be consuming as many resources as well. However 30k is no small amount of money. For your average South African who might have a mortgage, other loans, or families to provide for, such a system may seem like a luxury. Considering the current economic climate as well as the state of affairs of the monopolistic electricity provider, it should rather be a necessity.

So what is the real question here? Money. Production. And keeping that production cycle going. That cycle requires one to be more productive to have the time to think of new ways to create more money. More money that gets pumped back into the system for which consumers have to bear the brunt in the form of rate increases.

A statement from Earthlife Africa on the tariff increases: “What is shocking is that while poor users, small businesses and domestic customers will all be faced with increases, Eskom’s large customers [under special purchasing agreements] will not be affected....Essentially township dwellers and suburbanites will have increases to meet Eskom costs, but large companies are given a pass. This is taxes for the poor, and handouts for the rich.”

It seems a sustainable energy source like solar power, for which South Africa’s climate is ripe, is buried under a conglomerate of power and money hungry corporations whose sole purpose it is to keep the scarcity wheels in motion by driving production even more. Lest we should forget that we live in a finite context with increasingly limited resources.