African Energy
13
New SESSA solar quote
portal assists plumbers
SESSA, the non-profit Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa
(since 1974), has launched an online quote portal.
By James Green, CEO of Ubersolar and member of the SESSA Council
At its simplest, this enables anyone to visit
SESSA and obtain quotes from multiple
suppliers and installers for solar water
heaters. Customer details are collected
online, submitted to those members that
have expressed an interest in quoting, and
then suppliers will quote directly to
the customer.
Although online aggregators have existed
before, they have represented only a few brands.
SESSA will enable any SESSA member to quote,
which at least in theory should provide more
information and competition to benefit the
consumer in price and in choice.
It will then be up to the consumers to make the
decision as to which system they want.
As SESSA is a non-profit society and will not earn
any fees from the online portal or recommend
any one product over another, it removes conflicts
of interest and creates a level playing field for all
solar suppliers. Other aggregating internet sites
only carry their preferred brands.
An additional benefit to the consumer or plumber
using the portal is that SESSA requires abidance
to a code of conduct from all its members.
An independent ombudsman can protect the
consumer in the event of a dispute over product
or installation. Hundreds of cases have been
settled over the years. The service is free of
charge to the public.
If a consumer had bought a solar system from
a non-SESSA member and then experiences a
problem, the consumer would need to pursue their
case through the Consumer Protection Act, which
is difficult, time consuming, and can be expensive.
SESSA is planning to launch another new tool in
the near future: a search facility that will enable
the consumer to look at results of solar system
costs and performance in tabular form.
A variety of search commands will enable
prioritising of those areas considered most
important by the customer. Similar in many ways
to the information at the back of a car magazine,
this will assist the customer in making an
informed decision and avoid making
costly mistakes.
In view of solar water heaters (and many parties
within the industry) not having the best of
reputations, SESSA believes that this transparency
will greatly improve solar’s standing.
Over time, it is expected that more and more
systems will be competing for the homeowner’s
business, the result of which will be greater
savings for the consumer.
Visit www.sessa.org.za for more information. PA
Why is solar water heating
a failure in SA?
The biggest problem is money.
By James Green, CEO of Ubersolar and member of the SESSA Council
With over eight million electric geysers,
an almost perfect climate for solar, a huge
solar product range to choose from, and
rising electricity prices, how is it possible
that South Africa has achieved less than 2%
conversion to solar water heating?
Perhaps equally important questions are why is
the government hell-bent on going nuclear when
water heating consumes 18% of Eskom’s power
output and even more during the evening peak
periods? When removing power off the grid is
far cheaper, more efficient, has greater socio-
economic uplift, more job creation opportunities,
and can be one of the biggest contributors to
saving carbons and climate change mitigation?
These are some big questions, which, while
there are several contributing factors to the
answer, all boil down to one key area: money.
Continued on page 15 >>
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
June 2017 Volume 23 I Number 4