The City of Cape Town has recently unveiled a cheaper electricity meter for residents to ‘sell their excess solar power’ back to the City, which forms part of the ‘Cash for Power’ programme.
The new meter is available for single-phase power users and is roughly 40% cheaper than the three-phase option, according to a press statement released by the City.
The new meter costs R6 043 including VAT, compared to R10 508 for the old meter, which totals to the new meter being R4 465 cheaper.
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‘The City of Cape Town is now ready to rollout the long-awaited cheaper single-phase feed-in meter to enable many more Capetonians to sell their excess solar power to us. The team has successfully been able to procure, test and now launch this single-phase AMI meter for customers,’ said Geordin Hill-Lewis, mayor of Cape Town.
‘Residents can now place their meters orders, as well as sign up for our Cash for Power programme to earn cash back for the excess power they sell to the City. This in turn helps in our broader goal of ending load-shedding in Cape Town over time,’ he added.
So far, Cape Town is the first metro to buy excess solar photovoltaic (PV) power from small-scale generators in exchange for municipal bill credits and cash.
Since the start of the 2022/23 financial year until 1 April of this year, businesses and households have already earned over R30.8m, largely in 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’.
While businesses have been able to earn cash for power since June 2023, this option now open for households to make money.
From 1 April, there are currently 1 537 sellers benefitting via their excess generation, of which 910 are residential and 627 are commercial/industrial.
Sellers could only be previously credited against their electricity bill up to a zero balance, but key policy changes made by Cape Town now enables the total municipal bill to be credited, as well as cash payouts beyond this.
In addition, the City also recently launched a new online portal to make registering a solar PV system easier.
‘The City will buy as much solar power as households and businesses can sell to us under the Cash for Power programme,’ said Hill-Lewis.
‘Not only are we adding crucial kilowatts to our grid, we are also putting money back in the pockets of Capetonians,’ he added.
Residents can apply by submitting a Small-Scale Embedded Generation (SSEG) application through the City’s website, and the process to apply for a new single phase AMI meter will be automated.
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