Tipping Point Reached This Year That It Would Be Cheaper To Finance A Solar Installation Over 5 Years Than Pay For Electricity.
This is one of those good feel stories that people have being saying I told you so for over 5 years now and is now being proved correct. Over the last few weeks I have been talking and discussing all things solar due to the latest monthly billing I received which fortunately makes no sense and will be addressed with the power supplier.
Eskom who is the SOE (State Owned Enterprise) and national supplier of electricity and by the way the only supplier as there is no competition allowed. One can imagine if there was competition on equal terms Eskom would not be around.
Load shedding stated back in 2007 and this is when electricity is turned off in certain regions for planned shut downs. Everyone around the country takes their turns including key places like hospitals and airports which creates total chaos and is very depressing. This rotational load shedding went on for 18 years peaking with months at a time in 2024. These days they say there is no load shedding but it is hard to believe there can be so many system failures or cable theft with power being lost multiple times every week.
Businesses and homes that could afford to do so looked elsewhere to solve the lack of electricity supply. Many originally opted for back up supply because the local propaganda was that this was all under control and this would all be resolved. They lied and what did not help they managed to blow up an entire brand new power station that was about to solve the load shedding crisis.
Fast forward to January 2026 and the January figures for Eskom are in and the figures tell a story that they will not want to read. The Eskom revenue is dropping at an alarming rate which is actually good news for anyone who hates all things government.
The figures for January 1st-25th January 2026 shows a drop in demand of 11,399 gigawatt-hours (GWh) which represents a drop of around 11.3% for the same time period as 2025. For the same time periods for 2023 and 2024 which also registered a decrease in demand the good news on what side pf the fence you are sitting is these drops in electricity demand are increasing significantly. Between 2023 and 2024 the drop in demand was only 971GWh so this shows a massive drop off being 10,428 GWh. Peak demand was also down by 2,000MW so these figures are telling the same story with the power demand in decline.
Last week Eskom had surplus energy of 48% to 70.3% which is unused energy on stand by in case of peak demand. Eskom apparently plans to hold back 15% operating back up stored power as their ideal window of profitability. Having as much as 70% in reserve and not being required must have them shaking in their boots and this is karma for how they have treated their customers for 19 years.
Many people have had to look at how they use their energy and it is the small things that add up like replacing light bulbs to LED lighting. Using air fryers instead of stoves, gas cookers and geysers replacing by the power hungry electric versions. Charging power batteries during the morning ready to replace peak more expensive electricity in the evening. The annual multiple increases have made the public very weary on what things cost and people have been forced to change their lifestyles accordingly. This is over and above people moving to solar.
One person mentioned that with this annual increase later this year set for April which will be somewhere between 15 and 20% it is now financially viable to finance solar. A solar installation financed over 5 years would see you break even on this years new pricing structure and this is the tipping point that Eskom is going to finally see the number of customers abandoning their services.
What I find great timing is yesterday the head of Eskom talked about lowering their tariffs due to having excess power. This is way too late and the exodus is already taking place far quicker than we think which is fantastic news unless you are an Eskom employee which by the way there are too many.