Areas and Places News

City of Cape Town’s solar incentive, Cash for Power, gains momentum

Mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis.

A total of 432 Cape Town households have applied to earn cash from selling their excess solar power to the City of Cape Town following the closure of the first window for residential seller applications in March 2024.

Cape Town is the first metro to buy extra solar PV power from small-scale generators for municipal bill credits.

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 in the Mother City have been able to earn cash for power since June 2023 with this option now open to households too.

Under the City’s Cash for Power programme, Cape Town businesses and households have earned over R30.8 million, largely in municipal bill credits since the start of the 2022/2023 financial year until the 1st of April 2024. This figure includes R23.5 million on the feed-in tariff plus a further R7.3 million when including the 25c per kWh incentive that the municipality has added to encourage participation.

As at the 1st of April 2024, there are currently 1 537 sellers benefitting via their excess generation. Of these sellers, 910 are residential and 627 are commercial or industrial.

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 for you to access Energy Service Applications.

Register for e-services here.

You can then apply to authorise your solar PV system via the easy-to-use online portal here.

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 apply 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.