Off the grid and Country living

Check your bills information, it will show you if you have an electricity and water surplus. In my expirience, you need A LOT of solar panles/wind turbines/generators, especially if you have a lot of electronics.

Also make sure to select to store your energy surplus in the bills information.
I just tested in my game and with enough solar panels and after a few in game minutes passed I could cook again.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions, I have fixed my bills to store my energy, but it hasn't helped so far. I am working on upgrading my fridge and stove now. I can add that I am currently using no lights ( because rags to riches ) so it is only stove and fridge atm

"mikamakimon;c-17942899" wrote:
I'm also playing off grid, and it's been hit and miss. I bought the fridge and stove that came with the Cottage Living pack (I don't have EL). For the most part, as long as I have the ingredients, I can make the dishes in the off-grid, canning, and animal treat categories without any issue. I once tried a dish from City Living. My sim was able to do the prep part, but can't seem to finish cooking the dish on the stove.
Once in a while I'd also get the message that there is no power off-grid, and nearly all the cooking options are grayed out, but then it comes back again. I haven't figured out yet how the power works and how to get a surplus. Auto lights are also hit and miss. One time I was able to select auto lights, another time I couldn't. Without EL I don't really know how to get a surplus of power? Is it just a matter of waiting it out? The only things I'm aware of that uses power on the lot are the fridge, stove, maybe the lights/candles.
So far I've only gotten a message for using up all the water, but that is easily fixed by getting water from the fishing spot. Also, I think I've gotten a pop up that gives an option to turn off utilities, but I thought I'd keep it for a bit more of a challenge. For a small house on an off grid lot, with only a stove, a fridge and small bathroom, is $400/bill a lot or reasonable? I do have one chicken coop and one animal shed.

Previously, off the grid means no bills. Something is amiss, I'm thinking. I rarely play off the grid, but the little lot near the waterfalls is off the grid, and where I intend to have my very young couple live for a little while. I'll just have to persevere. They didn't have power in the 18th century so, that's why they had their big meal (called Dinner) in the middle of the day, so that they could effectively clean up the mess during the daylight. Supper was served cold, and it was leftovers from Dinner, for the most part.

Best of luck, I hope you sort it out.

"kiwi84;c-17943548" wrote:
Thank you everyone for the suggestions, I have fixed my bills to store my energy, but it hasn't helped so far. I am working on upgrading my fridge and stove now. I can add that I am currently using no lights ( because rags to riches ) so it is only stove and fridge atm

Some suggested to me in another thread that you have to store up a bit of surplus power from your turbines & solar panels before you can effectively run things like appliances and that you may have to have a few of each thing to generate enough power depending on how man electrical dependent items you have. I am planning to keep trying with off the grid and I am planning to read up on it again in case maybe there’s something I’m missing because I went through a two month period where I couldn’t play at all so I am a bit rusty.

OTG doesn't remove lot taxes, it only means you get no power or water bills, and you get a discount on lot taxes.

A good advice would be to upgrade your appliances to energy-efficient devices (can be done on most electronics if you have Eco Lifestyle pack), and having the Geothermal lot trait (no idea from which pack) will give you a nice supply of energy - it may be well enough unless you have a bunch of slaves in the basement that are on computer most of the day writing books or something.

My next bill just went up just to under 800 simoleons, which is nearly double what my last bill was. Aside from having a few more animals and produce in my inventory, nothing has changed on my lot. Something seems off. The last time I played off the grid was in Sulani, but that may have been before the change to the billing system and I didn't pay anything then. Unless the amount gets too ridiculous, I think I'll stick with it and see what happens. I'll think of it as taxes rather than utilities. If it gets out of control, I'll just cheat some money back to my sims.

"mikamakimon;c-17943898" wrote:
My next bill just went up just to under 800 simoleons, which is nearly double what my last bill was. Aside from having a few more animals and produce in my inventory, nothing has changed on my lot. Something seems off. The last time I played off the grid was in Sulani, but that may have been before the change to the billing system and I didn't pay anything then. Unless the amount gets too ridiculous, I think I'll stick with it and see what happens. I'll think of it as taxes rather than utilities. If it gets out of control, I'll just cheat some money back to my sims.

Actually produce can hugely impact your sim's bills. If you have a quantity of vegetables, even if individually they are cheap and not good quality, I think the game counts the whole amount as part of your sim's wealth. When I've played with gardens I always made my sim sell most vegetables and fruits right away, which can be quite lucrative as well. Now if you're playing the Simple Living Lot Challenge you will have to keep a few for ingredients, probably. But the point is produce, and anything n your inventory, can directly impact your bills if you are not careful (so can minerals and elements as well).

Thanks for tip! I was hoarding some of the produce as it was nearing the end of spring in my game, and I was still trying to decide how much of the spring produce to keep. I just sold a whole bunch to the grocer, so hopefully that helped in lowering the bill.

Just checking if you have all the required ingredients for the new recipes?