At last; after one year in Stanford we found a reliable supplier/installer (SolarMax in Kleinmond) for a solar heating system. A week ago they installed the panel etc. and despite the merely cloudy/rainy weather we only needed 8.5 hrs of electricity from the grid for heating the water during the first 7 days. If the sun shines between 10 AM and 2 PM we don’t need any electricity to heat the water. And this in the South African Winter.  We expect a return on investment within 4 years at the most but more probably within 2-3 yrs. As soon as Eskom (South African power supplier) opens the grid for ‘two-way power traffic’ we’ll invest in photovoltaic panels.