FAQS

Most Elu Energy customers save on average around 10%-30% off their annual electricity bill from their municipality. Monthly savings will fluctuate due to weather, length of month, and the amount of energy used in your home.

Three factors impact how much you will save with our Solar Lease:

1) How many panels your home will qualify for;
2) How much electricity your household uses;
3) Your current municipal tariff.

With our Solar Lease you will pay a fixed monthly payment. If you are away on vacation one month your PV system won’t stop producing electricity, so you’ll be selling your excess power to the grid if you have opted to do so with your municipality.

Elu Energy is currently active in the City of Cape Town and the City of Johannesburg. Both areas allow you to feed back excess power into the grid at the feed-in tariffs mentioned below (the 2017-2018 published rates):

• City of Cape Town: R78.53/kWh
• City of Johannesburg: R42.79/kWh

The City of Cape Town is currently incentivizing homeowners to install solar by putting them on a new tariff for the power consumed that is below 600kWh per month. Before solar the 2017-2018 published rate is 192.80c/kWh and post solar is 126.53c/kWh, which is accompanied by a daily fixed charge of R13.03.

It is with Elu Energy. Elu Energy takes advantage of global procurement leverage through our installation partners, thereby bringing South African homeowners the most cost effective solar leases available. Not only does solar power often cost less than other forms of power generation, leasing a solar energy system means paying a locked-in fixed rate for your power over 20 years. Your savings go up when energy prices do. With no upfront costs with our lease, you can start saving immediately. Installing a solar system system is a relatively simple way to take your increasing electricity bills into your own hands.

You have a few options once your contract is up.

With our Solar Lease, customers can renew their contracts for an additional five years, purchase the solar system for fair market value, or request that the system be removed (at no additional cost).

When the sun is shining, rooftop solar panels collect energy from the sun.

The solar panels take that energy and convert it into usable electricity using inverters where it powers your home.

When your solar power system produces more power than you need, it feeds the power back into the electricity grid, and you get paid for the excess.

Yes, but performance may be affected. Solar panels produce more energy when the sun is shining.

In the mornings and evenings, when the sun is low in the sky, solar panels will generate less power than in the afternoon when they are receiving direct sun exposure.

Below are the key components of a solar power system:

• Solar Panels: Solar panels directly convert the sun’s rays into direct current (DC) electricity. These panels are made up of photovoltaic (PV) cells and are placed on a home’s roof in direct sunlight for optimal use.
• Inverter: The inverter converts the DC electricity from the solar panels into alternating current (AC) power. This is the electricity that powers your home.
• Electrical Distribution Board (DB): Once sent from the inverter, the AC power is sent to an DB, and into your home.
• Utility Meter: The utility meter helps consumers keep track of how much solar power is produced throughout the day. When you generate more power than you can use, the meter sends that power to the utility grid. Elu Energy can help you figure out if adopting a city meter from your local municipality makes sense for your home.
• Municipal Grid: Your household or business will still be connected to the municipal grid because it will need to draw power from it at night. However, the cost of using the grid’s electricity is offset by the amount of energy you put into it during the day if you elect to sell back to the grid.
• Monitoring system: The Elu Energy monitoring system continuously tracks your solar energy production and makes sure your entire system is running correctly. If a problem occurs, the system will automatically notify Elu Energy.

The amount of electricity a solar panel produces is not only proportional to the sun’s intensity, but also dependant on three factors: solar cell efficiency, solar panel size and the amount of sunlight directly hitting the panel.

Our typical solar panels produce between 325-360 watts of electricity based on the efficiency and size of what’s installed. As an example, if you install 12 panels producing 360 watts, you may have an output of about 4.32 kilowatts (kW).

Here are some examples of what we evaluate to make sure that solar is a good fit:

• Roof size, pitch and direction
• Shading of the roof caused by tree branches, other homes, etc
• Roof obstructions such as chimneys, pipes, etc.
• Roof stability and strength
• Electrical wiring
• Daily electricity consumption

Our installation partners are technical experts and will let you know if your home isn’t compatible with solar.

Getting permission to operate a system and start generating energy largely depends on your local municipality Generally we expect the permitting process to take 4-8 weeks.

How can I get the most benefit out of my Elu Energy solar PV system? In most homes, electric geysers are the single appliance that consumes the most amount of electricity.

We recommend putting a timer on your geyser(s) so that they start warming up from 10am every day. In addition, making sure you use your tumble dryer, washing machine, pool bumps and bore hole pumps during the day will also allow you to maximize your solar usage.

Elu Energy and its partners care about saving you money and limiting environmental damage in the process.

We want to transform the way South Africans consume and produce energy. Together we can make a difference in the lives of our families, friends and communities. We are investing in our collective futures.