Paul Said:
"Don't think I've come across the single-width RCBO devices. The regular double-width bolt-on types have been fine."
I’ve covered some of this before in a previous thread, but in South Africa the panel mounted GFCIs are all two pole and I think (it’s been some time) earth both poles on the load side when tripped. The panel is laid out with a main two pole breaker (usually 60A – I’ll come back to this), 40A CB for the stove, 30A for the water heater (both of these have two pole isolators near the equipment) and at least two 10A circuits for the lights. The feed is then through the GFCI (capacity 60A but no trip on overload) to the 20A CBs feeding all of the power sockets in the house and the supply to the garage.
Coming on to supply amperage, my last municipality in South Africa based the basic charge component of the monthly bill on the capacity of the main breaker on the meter board. A 40A breaker in a brand new and damp townhouse proved insufficient to heat the place as well as cook and bath the baby and was soon up-rated to 60A. My basic charge nearly doubled for this privilege! However, it was a progressive “tax” because if you lived in a two room house and could get by on 30A it made the cost of electricity more affordable by having only a negligible basic charge. The unit cost per kWh also increased as certain monthly thresholds were exceeded. By making one pay for capacity they did not need to use other capping mechanisms common in other towns such as ripple control being used to turn off the water heater in times of high demand.
