Buying a home that copes with load-shedding

Think about more than electricity

Load-shedding comes and goes, but outages are a fact of life in many South African towns: scheduled load-shedding, local faults, cable theft, and in some areas water interruptions too. When you view a home, ask how it copes when the power or the water goes off, not only whether it has “solar”.

A resilient home usually combines a few things: backup electricity, a way to cook and heat water without Eskom, and a water supply that does not stop when the municipal supply does.

Backup electricity

The most common set-up is an inverter with a battery bank, often with solar panels to recharge the batteries during the day. The size of the inverter (kW) decides what you can run at once; the battery’s usable capacity (kWh) decides for how long. A system that runs lights, Wi-Fi, TV, fridge and the gate motor through an evening outage is very different from one that runs a kettle, geyser and oven.

Our guide to solar and backup power covers the parts of a system, the warranties and the paperwork in more detail. The single most important document is an electrical certificate of compliance that covers the installation.

Water: borehole and tanks

In areas with water interruptions, a home with its own water supply has a real advantage.

• Water tanks (often called JoJo tanks after the best-known brand) store municipal or rain water. Ask about the total capacity, whether a pump and pressure system feeds the house automatically, and whether the pump is on backup power.
• A borehole draws groundwater. Ask how deep it is, what it yields, whether the water has been tested and is safe to drink or only suitable for the garden, and whether it is registered or authorised with the Department of Water and Sanitation where that is required. A borehole pump needs electricity, so check that too.
• Some municipalities have rules about boreholes and rainwater tanks, including during water restrictions. Check locally.

Cooking and hot water

A gas hob lets you cook through an outage, and a gas geyser or a solar geyser (or a heat pump on backup) gives hot water. Gas installations must have a gas certificate of conformity from a registered installer; ask for it, and check where the gas bottles are stored. A solar geyser can be a quiet saving all year, not only during outages.

Questions to ask when you view

• What runs during an outage, and for how long? Ask the seller to show you the distribution board and which circuits are on backup.
• How old are the batteries, and when was the system last serviced?
• Is there a certificate of compliance covering the solar or inverter installation, and is a grid-tied system registered with the municipality?
• How does the gate motor, alarm and electric fence behave in an outage? Do they have their own batteries?
• Is there a gas certificate of conformity for the gas installation?
• For a borehole or tanks: capacity, water quality, the pump, and any registration.
• Which of these are included in the sale, and are they listed in the offer to purchase?

Price, valuation and the bond

A well-documented system can make a home more attractive, but whether a bank valuer gives it full credit varies. Do not overpay for a large system that has no paperwork or ageing batteries. If the home you want has nothing, compare the cost of adding a system with the price difference to a similar home that has one; the bond calculator shows what a bigger bond would cost each month.

This is general information, not technical or financial advice. Ask a registered electrician or accredited installer to inspect any system before you rely on it.