The City of Cape Town compensates customers who supply electricity to the City's electricity grid.
- Businesses and households received R25.8 million in feed-in tariffs and incentives to sell surplus electricity to the City of Cape Town.
- The city first deposits the sold electricity into the customer's utility bill and pays cash after the amount in the account reaches zero.
- Currently, 1,461 customers are benefiting from the city's scheme.
- For climate change news and analysis, visit: News24 The future of climate.
Businesses and households received R25.8 million in feed-in tariffs and incentives to sell surplus electricity to the City of Cape Town.
The City of Cape Town said in a statement on Monday that this amount has been paid since the start of the 2022/23 financial year.
“In the 2022/2023 financial year, we paid Capetonians more than R10.5 million for that power, and in the current financial year we have already paid out more than R8.8 million, which brings us to a total of more than R19.4 million. “The feed-in tariff alone would be an additional R6.4 million, including the additional 25 cents per kWh incentive to encourage participation,” Mayor Jordyn Hill-Lewis said.
The feed-in tariff is 87 cents/kWh and the incentive is 25 cents/kWh.
Cape Town Metro has become the first in the country to purchase surplus electricity generated from rooftop solar power owned by businesses and households.
The R25.8 million takes into account both credit and cash paid to customers. The city first records the electricity sold on the consumer's city bill. The city will begin disbursing the cash once the utility bill reaches zero, but customers must apply to take advantage of the benefit.
The city first allowed businesses to receive cash revenue for electricity in June 2023. Metro recently announced that residents can apply for cash payments after their bills are zeroed out. The first phase of the housing application is scheduled for March 8th.
“The city will buy as much solar power as homes and businesses can sell under the Cash for Power program, and as of February 1 of this year, 25 million kilowatt hours (kWh) have already been purchased. '' Hill-Lewis said.
he added:
We believe this is some of the best money we've ever spent, and we can't wait to see how this program grows even more over time. Not only are we adding significant kilowatts to the grid at a lower cost than Eskom's supply, we are also putting money back into the pockets of Capetonians. In doing so, we can democratize energy and truly put power in the hands of the people.
As of February 1, there are 1,461 sellers benefiting from this arrangement, including 869 residents and 592 businesses.
Mr Hill-Lewis said residents and businesses would play a “vital role” in helping the city end load shedding.
The initiative is part of the city's efforts to reduce dependence on Eskom and cap load reductions in four stages by 2026.
Read | Cape Town residents can now register to sell their electricity back to the city
“We are moving the city's energy mix towards a more distributed supply of reliable, cost-effective and increasingly carbon-neutral energy from a variety of suppliers. .That must be the future of our country, and Cape Town is showing the way,'' Hill-Lewis said.
The city plans to add 1GW of independent power, of which the first 650MW is targeted within five years.
We also have a demand management program in place that allows customers to voluntarily reduce electricity consumption by equipment such as geysers and pool pumps.