A total of 432 Cape Town households have applied to earn cash from selling their excess solar power to the City and the applications will be assessed for eligibility. This follows the closure of the first window for residential seller applications in March. Cape Town is the first metro to buy excess solar PV power from small-scale generators in exchange for municipal bill credits and cash.
A power seller’s total municipal bill is first credited automatically down to zero, with the option to apply to earn cash beyond a zero balance. Businesses have been able to earn cash for power since June 2023, with this option now open for households to also earn cash.
Under the City’s Cash for Power programme, Cape Town businesses and households have already earned over R30,8m, largely in municipal bill credits, since the start of the 2022/23 financial year until 1 April 2024.
This figure includes R23,5m on the feed-in tariff, plus a further R7,3m when including the 25c per kWh incentive the City has added to encourage participation.
As at 1 April 2024, there are currently 1 537 sellers benefitting via their excess generation. Of these sellers, 910 are residential and 627 are commercial/industrial.
‘It is exciting to see hundreds of households applying to see if they are eligible to earn actual cash for selling their solar power to the City – a first for South Africa. Previously, sellers could only be credited against their electricity bill up to a zero balance, but we have made key policy changes to enable the total municipal bill to be credited as well as enabling cash payouts. We have also launched a new online portal to make registering your solar PV system easier than ever, and very soon we will share good news on the rollout of a cheaper bi-directional meter to feed power back into the grid.
‘The City will buy as much solar power as households and businesses can sell to us under the Cash for Power programme. Not only are we adding crucial kilowatts to our grid, we are also putting money back in the pockets of Capetonians,’ said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
‘We invite residential power sellers who expect to offset more than their municipal bill, to apply to the City if they wish to earn cash beyond their automatic municipal bill credits. While the first window closed in March, all applications received will be assessed in the second window, with the dates to be announced in due course.
‘It is important to note that customers wishing to only offset their electricity and rates accounts, do not need to apply and will automatically be compensated on authorisation of their grid-tied SSEG system with feed-in. If customers are interested to go above and beyond this, they can register and get cash for their power – where any remaining credit will accumulate until it reaches a certain amount and then the City will pay you out,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Councillor Beverley van Reenen.
How to authorise your solar PV system online
If you are an installer, a property owner or a service provider involved in solar PV installations, your first step is to register on e-Services and activate the “Energy Services” tile in order for you to access Energy Service Applications.
Register for e-services here: https://eservices.capetown.gov.za/
You can then apply to authorise your solar PV system via the easy-to-use online portal here: http://www.capetown.gov.za/ApplyForSSEG
How to apply to get Cash for Power
Customers with authorised grid-tied SSEG systems will automatically earn credits on their electricity and rates accounts by selling power back to the City.
If customers are interested to go above and beyond this to earn actual cash once their total municipal bill is credited down to zero, they can submit an application which will be assessed during the next window, with dates to be announced in due course.
Once a customer is registered, any remaining credit will accumulate until it reaches a certain amount and then the City will pay you out in cash.
For more information, visit: https://www.capetown.gov.za/cashforpower
