HOW TO BEAT

LOAD-SHEDDING
Is frequent load-shedding leaving
you in the dark? This guide provides
some easy and affordable ideas to
protect your home.

DO THE CHEAP AND

EASY THINGS FIRST
Check the load-shedding schedule
1 to plan your electricity usage. Download
the City of Cape Town’s app to get the
latest information.

Buy rechargeable lights (about R200

2 Charge essential appliances before
load-shedding and if possible, make
5 - R300). They last for up to 10 hours
when fully charged. Light bulbs with
sure cellphones and laptops have built-in batteries are now available.
sufficient battery life. They fit into normal fittings and can
last between 2 and 5 hours.

3 Buy a solar cellphone charger 6 Switch off your lights and sensitive
(about R300), a car phone charger, equipment during load-shedding to
or a cellphone power bank. prevent damage from a power surge
when the power comes back on.

Buy a small gas cooker if you don’t

Use a surge protector plug for your
4 already cook with gas. A small
portable cooker can cost you R300 -
7 television, computer or laptop and
fridge to protect your appliances
R600. Make sure that the gas cooker
when the power comes back on.
meets safety standards.
Depending on the number of
sockets, these cost R100 - R400.

RESEARCH WAYS TO
“LOAD-SHED PROOF”
YOUR HOUSE
Calculate the daily minimum amount of electricity needed for the household.
Do you need the wifi/internet, lights, fridge and TV on? Or only the wifi/internet
and TV?

You can then find out how much electricity each appliance needs.
• With lights, identify the wattage of your lights (it is usually printed on the
globe itself).
• With appliances, find the labels on the appliance that state the power usage
in watts.

Note: Kettles and electric stoves have high power ratings which means they use
a lot of electricity over a short period of time, so it’s best not to include these.
If in your budget, you can rather use a gas stove to cook your food and heat water.
Make sure your gas stove is installed by a qualified person and that you receive
a CoC. An insulation cooker is a good way to retain heat and continue cooking
even after the power has gone. If you have an electric geyser, it is best to exclude it
from your calculation, as it uses a lot of electricity.

Now that you know how much power you will need, find out what the
different options will cost you.

BATTERY BACKUP SYSTEM

Load-shedding can last for between two and four hours at a time. Therefore, an ideal battery
system capacity of five hours should be sufficient. A battery backup system consists of the
following components:
_ +
Lithium-ion
UNINTERRUPTED BATTERY or Lead Acid

POWER SUPPLY (UPS) Stores the electrical

power for later use.
Provides temporary power and surge protection to There are two kinds of
switch over to an alternative power supply such as batteries:
a battery.
• Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries
have a high upfront cost but are highly efficient
and last longer.
• Lead acid batteries are relatively inexpensive but
the more they are used, the shorter their lifespan.

Note: Lead acid batteries generally cannot

discharge as deeply as Lithium-ion batteries; this
means you will require more lead acid batteries to
power the same load as that of a lithium-based
battery system.

BATTERY INVERTER
CHARGER Converts the DC battery power into usable AC
power during load-shedding.

Charges the rechargeable batteries from the AC

mains power while there is no load-shedding.

Note: Sometimes the battery charger is built into

the inverter.

COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT

If your battery system is a stand-alone appliance that you plug devices into, there are no
compliance requirements.

If your battery system (including inverter) is interconnected with the wiring of your house, it
must be authorised via the municipality’s small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) process to
confirm that EITHER it is operating safely as a standby system OR it is compliant and authorised
as a grid-tied system (usually in conjunction with solar PV). Use an inverter approved by the
City of Cape Town and installed by a registered professional.

The size of the battery system will depend on the equipment to be powered during
load-shedding.

A qualified electrician can install the battery and connect it to certain circuits, so that only some
items are powered during load-shedding.

Alternatively, you can buy a stand-alone uninterrupted power supply (UPS) backup battery
system, which allows you to plug in one or more items (similar to a generator).

CHOOSING BETWEEN A BATTERY

BACKUP AND DIESEL GENERATOR
In the long term, it may be better to invest in battery backup or a solar PV
battery hybrid system, rather than investing in a generator.
OR
Although a generator may cost less initially, it requires diesel to operate and
creates air and noise pollution. Remember that you may not have more than
20 litres of fuel for your generator on your premises. This fuel should be
locked in a separate area and you must have a fire extinguisher of at least
4.5 kg on the premises.

BATTERY BACKUP AND ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS

The table below includes a summary of some plug-and-play battery backup options (1 and 2) as well as battery
backup electrical installation options (3,4 and 5). See ‘key notes’ for additional details and useful tips.

Option Price Inverter Battery Average load Appliances supplied Notes

Energy Typical appliances

kVA Type Ah V 2.5hrs Off 5hrs Off Technology details
(kWh) (over 2.5hrs)

Lithium Specifically for WiFi router backup

1.1. WiFi only R800 - R1 500 DC-DC 7.2 12 0.0864 29W 15W WiFi router
-based only.

Lead Mainly used as a PC safe shutdown

1.2. WiFi only R1 000 - R1 500 0.85 7.2 12 0.0864 17W 9W WiFi router
acid device.

Can supply an office

R8 000 - R10 000 Lead Generally, only suitable for stage 1
2.1. Plug-and-play 1.2 100 12 1.2 240W 120W laptop charger and WiFi
(packaged deal) acid load-shedding. 1 KVA may not be
router.
powerful/fast enough to recharge
batteries for additional load-shedding
R13 000 - R17 000 Lead Wifi router, DSTV and LED stages. These are typically plug-and-
2.2. Plug-and-play 2.4 100 12X2 2.4 480W 240W play trolley solutions.
(package deal) acid TV.

Appliances listed in 2.2 +

Lead Options from 3.1 onwards,
3.1. Key appliances R20 000 - R30 000 3 200 12X2 4.8 960W 480W some lights and fridge/
acid generally are not portable and
freezer.
require a qualified electrician’s
approval for the electrical
installation. Lithium is usually more
Lithium Can power slightly less than expensive than lead acid batteries
3.2. Key appliances R20 000 - R30 000 3 200 12 2.4 816W 408W
-based 3.1 above. but has a longer lifespan.

For systems at this price or above, it

Can power a typical
Lithium is generally preferred to consider
4. Average home R50 000 - R75 000 5 100 48 4.8 1632W 816W 2-bedroom home, excluding
-based lithium-based batteries due to their
high power devices.
longer lifespan.

Can power a larger home; This system has 9.6kWh of stored

Lithium
5. Large home R90 000 - R105 000 5 100 48X2 9.6 3264W 1632W still best to exclude high energy so will cover multiple stages
-based
power appliances. of load-shedding depending on load.

SOLAR PV AND BATTERIES Some basics about energy

and sizing your backup
The table below includes a summary of Grid-tied Hybrid solar PV options. system:
All solar PV systems connected to the building’s wiring must use approved 1. Kilowatt (kW) is an instantaneous
inverters and be authorised by the City of Cape Town as per CCT SSEG power rating often used for
Requirements. inverter and solar PV sizing. For
estimation purposes kVA
(kilovolt-ampere) and kW are used
See ‘key notes’ for additional details and useful tips. The systems proposed interchangeably in this guide.

here assume all solar PV energy is either consumed or stored by the 2. Kilowatt hour (kWh) and Ampere
customer’s battery, hence no export or feed-in values are factored into the hour (Ah) refer to energy and are
metrics used to measure battery
payback period. capacity. Remember kWh = Ah x
Voltage, it is important to look at
both when buying a battery.
Please note, a grid-tied solar PV system without batteries is designed to
turn off when there is no power on the grid so will not protect you from
load-shedding.

Payback
Option Price Inverter Battery Solar Energy saved Appliances and notes
period

Energy Energy saved Minimum

kVA Type Total kWp Typical appliances (over 2.5hrs)
(kWh) at R2.62/kWh years

Saves approx.  
6. Average home backup Lithium Can supply a typical 2-3 bedroom home,
R80 000 - R100 000 5 4.8 2.7kWp R10 000 per 11 1632W
and some solar PV -based excl. high power devices.
year
Saves approx.  
7. Average home backup Lithium Can supply a typical 2-3 bedroom home,
R115 000 - R140 000 8 4.8 5.9kWp R24 000 per 7 1632W
and larger solar PV -based excl. high power devices.
year

Will comfortably supply a large home.

Saves approx.  
8. Large home backup and Lithium However, the payback period is increased
R150 000 - R185 000 10 9.6 5.9kWp R24 000 per 10 3246W
larger solar PV -based as the example used the same size solar but
year
larger batteries.

KEY NOTES
1. All prices are high-level estimates for indicative budgetary purposes only.

2. All option’s components and design serve as a guideline and will differ depending on customer preferences
and load requirements.

3. Total costs provided here exclude labour, design, installation and certificate of compliance (CoC) or ECSA
registered persons sign-off fees. Refer to CCT SSEG Requirements here for more authorisation details.

4. Battery lifespan will typically depend on number of battery cycles (how often it charges and discharges) and
depth of discharge. Typical lifespan of lithium-based batteries are 8-12 years while lead acid (LA) is 2-4 years
under frequent load-shedding conditions.

5. The solar PV examples (options 6-8) make use of monocrystalline panels; these are more efficient and require
less roof space than polycrystalline to achieve similar performance. SANS/IEC 61215 compliance is
recommended.

6. Solar energy production values provided are based on a specific production value of 1600 kWh/kWp per
annum. Actual solar power produced will be influenced by location, system design, shading, roof angle, panel
orientation and other factors.

7. The estimated savings for solar PV installations in options 6-8 are based on the CCT 22 / 23 Home User Block 1
Energy Charge Tariff at 262.84c/kWh. Energy costs saved and consequent pay periods will be dependent on
user tariff.

8. Estimated payback periods provided do not account for electricity price inflation, replacement, maintenance
and AMI meter costs, amongst others.

9. Payback periods are calculated with a conservative 15% markup to account for design, installation, balance of
systems and sign-off fees. However this value is likely to increase depending on, for example, the installation
complexity.

10. Proposed design options do not include cost variations for those who would like to feed excess energy into the
CCT grid and assumes all solar energy produced will either be consumed or stored in batteries. The payback
periods for the solar battery hybrid options will vary if energy feed-in (export) is considered. For more
information on AMI meter installation, service fees, and the CCT feed in tariff and feed-in incentives, see here.

11. Where applicable, your inverter size must comply with CCT SSEG Requirements. See Residential SSEG
Generation Size Limits in section 3.1 here.

PLEASE NOTE:
All electrical generation and storage equipment connected
to the wiring of your house must be authorised by the
City of Cape Town prior to installation. This includes solar
PV with or without batteries as well as standalone battery
systems with inverters connected to the house’s wiring.

Connecting without approval is illegal and dangerous as

it could compromise the safety of those in the building,
the grid and those working on the grid. Standby systems
must also be authorised so that it can be verified that they
are not connected to the grid and so they are not mistaken
for grid-tied systems.

Visit www.capetown.gov.za/solarPV for more information.

To ensure that your PV installation is safe and legal, the City
of Cape Town has developed a guideline to help you through
the process.

Visit www.savingelectricity.org.za for tips on how to become energy

efficient and for more information on solar PV.