Not The Onion

22456 readers

1479 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

Links to news stories from...
...credible sources, with...
...their original headlines, that...
...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Please also avoid duplicates.

Comments and post content must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, ableist, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

kescusay@lemmy.world

107

Eskom wants to charge solar users and other people for not using its electricity (mybroadband.co.za)

submitted 4 days ago by Melonpoly@lemmy.world to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] fratermus@piefed.social 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

if it was a cheap solution everyone would just install batteries but guess what?

I'd say it can be a cheap solution (see below) but folks don't want to decrease their power use to do it. Tiny Home dwellers and vanfolk can live offgrid indefinitely because they plan their use and electrical systems mindfully.

I lived off-grid for over 6 years with a power setup that cost about $1,350. And even then I was using a premium solar charge controller and semi-premium battery bank. If I were building out the same capacity today it'd cost about $850.

I personally haven’t ever heard of someone being “forced” to connect to the grid but if so that’s a sad thing.

I used to live in a tiny rural town, pop. ~700. Town council passed an ordinance that everyone had to be connected to the grid. This happened about a month after the mayor (and town plumber) stood on my porch and talked about how gummint should stay out of people's business.

[–] 6_Electrons@feddit.online 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You're actually correct on both accounts.... People could reduce their usage to make this more achievable and they won't ever do it lol

You're probably aware but efficiency improvements are always the best financial decision you could make to reduce energy... Way way cheaper then going solar. Unfortunately putting extra insulation and sealing your house just ain't as sexy as solar panels.

Out of curiosity what country do you live in? That's wild to force people to connect.

[–] fratermus@piefed.social 1 points 3 days ago

what country do you live in?

United States. This occurred in Rains County, TX.