I want to disconnect from the national electricity grid

mmmmikey

RRatchet said:

A relative is doing this. This involves a farm steading that has a 3 phase supply that is no longer needed as they no longer mill/mix. The associated farm house has it's own supply and was sold off a good while ago.  The standing charge for the steading is astronomical and the only electricity used is for led lighting. If any milling/mixing were to be done in the future it would be pto driven off the tractor. Buying a hefty generator to use occasionally, for say welding, would be paid for in a couple of years. I wish I could remember the figures but at the time we were discussing it, it was a no brainer. The other thing to bear in mind is that "they" seem to really not want you to disconnect and seem to make the process as costly, long/drawn out and difficult as possible.

Hi - we get a fair number of posts here from folks that get a bee in their bonnet about standing charges, have a naive view of the practicalities / costs and decide they want to go off grid with very limited understanding of the implications. As such, putting checks and balances in the system and making the potential off-gridders pay the full economic cost of the disconnection and ensuring they aware of the reconnection costs is probably a good thing, even if it slows the process down and makes it a bit tortuous. The industry would arguably failing in it's duty of care if it simply responded to every casual request to go off grid without going through a rigorous process first.

Of course, there are a small number of occasions where going off grid makes sense and the one you identify is a good example. Makes perfect sense to disconnect the farmstead if the energy is only used for LED lighting.