FNB vs Takealot vs Incredible — Cheapest shops to buy load-shedding backup power

While the prices of many energy products offered on FNB’s eBucks Shop compare fairly well to other stores, its solar systems seem exorbitantly expensive, a MyBroadband analysis found.

In addition to solar energy loans, FNB recently launched the ability to buy various backup power systems for load-shedding on its mobile banking app.

This includes a handful of power stations and uninterrupted power supplies (UPSes) on 24-month FNB Connect contracts. However, most of the options are available on the eBucks Shop.

In the FNB eBucks shop, customers can buy using their bank accounts, credit cards, or eBucks.

The load-shedding products on offer include lithium-ion power stations, lead-acid power trolleys, UPSes, generators, inverters, solar systems, and flashlights.

We compared the prices that FNB asks with those of prominent retailers offering similar products to see how competitive it was.

We found its prices for products under R50,000 generally aligned with those of Takealot, Incredible, and GeeWiz. Often FNB’s listings were the cheapest.

One product line where FNB was regularly cheaper was generators.

The table below compares the prices of energy products on the FNB eBucks Shop with those of competing online stores.

The lowest price for each product is bold and green.

Conducting a like-for-like pricing comparison of FNB’s solar system products with other solar power providers proved a bit more challenging.

FNB offers several Erinite-branded systems, each of which includes several PV solar panels, an inverter, and batteries.

The modest entry-level package boasts two solar panels, a 3kW inverter, and 1.5kWh battery storage, priced at R44,849 without installation.

While we could not find a similar pre-configured package from a reputable solar installer, we could build one with similar capacities using only products from GeeWiz for R24,980.

The second-most affordable option from FNB comes with four 455W PV solar panels, a 3kW inverter, and a 4.8kWh battery, available for R108,119 without installation.

For R95,150, Solar Advice offers a package with six 455W PV solar panels, a 5kW inverter, and a 5.1kWh battery.

The same was the case for the higher-end, with Solar Advice offering larger systems at significantly lower prices than FNB.

There is one type of customer for which it might be much better to shop from FNB.

Those who have amassed a lot of eBucks and are at a high reward level can get substantial discounts on products bought through the eBucks Shop.

The eBucks Reward Level and associated discount on the eBucks Shop are as follows:

• Level 1 — 5%
• Level 2 — 10%
• Level 3 — 20%
• Level 4 — 30%
• Level 5 — 40%

The major caveat to the above is that you will have to be able to pay for the entire purchase using eBucks to get the discount.

In addition, FNB states that “selected” products qualify for this offer, so it is unclear if it will apply to high-value products like solar power systems.

If it does apply, a customer on Reward Level 5 could pay nearly R98,000 less for the top-end Enirite system, making it substantially more affordable.

Doing so, however, will require at least 2,445,090 eBucks — a tall order even for the biggest eBucks devotees.

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