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- Businesses and households have earned R25.8 million in feed-in-tariffs and incentives for selling their excess power to the City of Cape Town.
- The City first credits customers' utility bills for the power sold, and then pays out cash after their accounts are credited to zero.
- There are currently 1 461 customers benefitting from the City's scheme.
- For climate change news and analysis, go to News24 Climate Future.
Businesses and households have earned R25.8 million in feed-in-tariffs and incentives for selling their excess power to the City of Cape Town.
The City of Cape Town, in a statement issued on Monday, indicated that the amounts have been paid out since the start of the 2022/23 financial year.
"In the 2022/2023 financial year, we paid more than R10.5 million to Capetonians for their power, and in the current financial year, we've already paid over R8.8 million. That's a total of R19.4 million just on the feed-in tariff alone, plus a further R6.4 million when including the 25c per kWh incentive we've added to encourage participation," Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said.
The feed-in tariff is 87c/kWh, while the incentive is 25c/kWh.
The Cape Town metro is the first in the country to buy excess power generated from rooftop solar PV owned by businesses and households.
The R25.8 million takes into account both the credits and cash paid out to customers. The City first credits the consumer's municipal bill for the power sold. Once the utility bill is credited to zero, the City starts paying out cash - but customers need to apply in order to benefit.
The City first allowed businesses to earn cash for their power in June 2023. The metro recently announced residents can apply to earn cash after their bills are credited to zero. The first phase of residential applications is due on 8 March.
"The City will buy as much solar power as households and businesses can sell to us under the Cash-for-Power programme, with 25 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) already bought as at 1 February this year," said Hill-Lewis.
He added:
As of 1 February, there were 1 461 sellers benefitting from this arrangement – made up of 869 residents and 592 businesses.
Hill-Lewis said that residents and businesses are going to play a "crucial role" in helping the City end load shedding.
The initiative is part of the City's undertaking to reduce reliance on Eskom and limit load shedding by four stages by the year 2026.
READ | Cape Town residents can now register to sell power back to the city
"We are transitioning this City's energy mix to a far more decentralised supply of reliable, cost-effective and increasingly carbon-neutral energy that will come from a diverse range of suppliers. That must be the future for our country too, and Cape Town is showing the way," said Hill-Lewis.
The City plans to add 1GW of independent power supply – the first 650MW of which is targeted within five years.
It is also implementing demand management programmes, whereby customers voluntarily cut down on power consumption from appliances like geysers and pool pumps.
