Where the money goes
Your account is three different things, and only one of them is electricity you used
EnergyWhat you usedCharged per unit — and the price of that unit changes by the hour and by the season.
Capacity and fixedWhat you bookedCharged every month on the size of your supply, whether the lodge is full or standing empty.
PenaltiesWhat went wrongDemand spikes, poor power factor, estimated readings, and simply being on the wrong tariff.
Eskom rural tariffs 2026/27, excluding VAT
R8.32one unit in the winter evening peak on Ruraflex
R2.04the identical unit after 22:00
R61.78per kVA every month for supply capacity, used or not
Four times the price for the same kettle, depending on the hour it boils. That gap is where a well-designed system earns its keep — and where a badly set-up one quietly gives it away.
Rural tariffs went up another 8.76% in 2026/27. Eskom's tariffs have risen far faster than general inflation since 2007. This is why we read the bill first.
The honest answer on money
We talk payback, not price
A price on its own tells you nothing. Two lodges can spend exactly the same and get completely different results, because payback is decided by four things:
- How much of your bill is fixed. Capacity and fixed charges do not shrink when you add panels. They shrink when the supply is right-sized — and that fix often costs nothing.
- When you actually use power. Moving load into daylight is the first saving to take, and it costs nothing to make. Getting load out of the evening peak is the next best.
- Whether the tariff suits how the lodge runs. The wrong tariff can cost more each year than the panels save.
- Tax. Solar PV up to 1 MW can be written off in full in the first year under section 12B — confirm the detail with your own tax practitioner.
You get the payback in writing before you spend anything, worked out on your own twelve months of readings and your own tariff — not on an industry average.
What your guests now expect
“Eco-friendly” is no longer enough. The numbers are.
Many lodge guests book through European travel companies, and those companies now work under stricter consumer rules. Since 27 September 2026, vague words such as “green”, “eco-friendly” or “carbon neutral” cannot be used to sell to EU travellers unless the claim can be proven — and neutral claims resting only on offsets are out. The larger operators also report on emissions across their supply chain, so the question is reaching lodges directly: show us the data.
MeasureEvery source meteredSolar, battery, grid, generator and gas each logged, so every unit the lodge uses has a known origin.
RecordA monthly energy statementHow much came from your own sun, the diesel litres avoided and the CO₂ figure, worked out from real readings.
Say it plainlyClaims you can stand behind“Our own solar supplied most of last season's power” with the readings behind it, rather than a leaf on the website.
The same meters that prove the claim also find the money. A lodge that can see where its energy goes stops paying for what it does not need.
What happens next
The free bill check, in three steps
- Send one account. A photo or a PDF, by WhatsApp or email. Twelve months is better, but one is enough to start.
- We read it and measure. Every line on the bill, the tariff, the supply size, the generator hours — and, if you have solar, what it is really producing.
- You get it in writing. What you are overpaying, what can be fixed for nothing, and what a system would pay back.
Some of what we find costs nothing to fix. We tell you that part too, whether or not you ever buy anything from us.
The call we take most often
"We put in solar, and the account barely moved."
The panels are on the roof, the invoice is paid, and the Eskom or municipal account looks much the same. When we go and measure, it is nearly always one of five things:
- The system was sized for the roof, not for the lodge day. Guests use power early, late and through the night. Panels make it at midday.
- The batteries are still on the installer's defaults, so they charge and discharge at the wrong hours and the expensive hours still come off the grid.
- Nobody is watching it. A tripped string or a failed charge controller can run for months before anyone links it to a rising bill.
- The tariff was never revisited, so the fixed and capacity charges are still paid in full on a supply the lodge no longer needs.
- The generator still carries the evening, at diesel prices, because nothing was designed to take that load.
If you already have solar, start here. We will read your system's own production data against what it was sold to do, and tell you plainly where it stands. If it is working well, we will tell you that too.
