R25 million paid to consumers in Cash for Power scheme

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says Cape Town businesses and households have collectively earned over R25 million under the City’s Cash for Power programme since the start of the 2022/23 financial year.

The City recently became the first metro to buy excess solar PV power from small-scale generators in exchange for municipal bill credits and cash.

Hill-Lewis says they are putting cash back into consumers’ pockets, while buying power at a cheaper rate than Eskom can provide.

As at 1 February 2024, there are 1 461 sellers benefiting from Cape Town’s Cash for Power scheme as part of the City’s broader plans to end load-shedding over time.

Of these sellers, 869 are residential and 592 are commercial/industrial.

Hill-Lewis says the City is transitioning 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. The most exciting part is that residents and businesses are going to play a crucial role in helping us to end load-shedding by working together as Team Cape Town.

In the 2022/2023 financial year, the City paid more than R10,5 million to Capetonians for their power, and in the current financial year they’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 R6,4m when including the 25c per kWh incentive added to encourage participation.

I consider this some of the best money we’ve ever spent and cannot wait to see how this programme expands even more over time. Not only are we adding crucial kilowatts to our grid at a cheaper cost than Eskom’s supply, we are also putting money back in the pockets of Capetonians. That is how you democratise energy and truly put power in the hands of the people.

Municipal bills are credited automatically, 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 a first applications window open until 8 March for residents to now also earn cash.

A snapshot of how the City plans to end loadshedding

Overall, Cape Town is supply to end load-shedding in the city over time, with the first 650MW of this within five years, including enough to protect against four Eskom load-shedding stages by 2026.

Short-term load-shedding mitigation up to 2026 will be achieved largely through a mix of the following:

Steenbras Hydro Plant (1 – 2 stages);
500MW of dispatchable energy (up to four stages from 06:00 – 22:00 daily where possible);
Demand management programmes such as Power Heroes and Large Power Users (LPUs) curtailment.

How to apply to get Cash for Power

Cash for Power applications are open for all residential customers on the home user tariff with an approved grid-tied SSEG system and bi-directional AMI meter to feed power back into the grid. For more information click HERE.

Interested parties are required to first be registered as a service provider on both the City Supplier Database and the National Treasury Web Based Central Supplier Database (CSD), accessible from the links below:

Any submissions received after the first round closes on 8 March 2024 will be kept for the next round, with the date to be announced.