Load shedding: Cape Town opens Cash for Power residential applications

(Media Release: Issued and provided by the City of Cape Town)

Cape Town has become the first city to enable residential households to earn cash for power from their solar PV generation systems. 

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced that a first round of applications is open until 8 March for households to earn actual cash from selling their excess solar power to the City, going beyond the existing automatic crediting of municipal bills.

Hill-Lewis was speaking at the launch of the City’s Energy Strategy at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 12 February. The strategy sets out a roadmap to 2050, including short-term plans to protect against the first four stages of Eskom load-shedding by 2026.  

'Today Cape Town becomes the first city with a formally adopted Energy Strategy, which clearly outlines how we plan to end load-shedding, as the most important action we can take for job-creating economic growth.

'In the short-term, we are planning for four stages of load-shedding protection by 2026, as we make the great transition from unreliable, costly and fossil fuel-based Eskom energy, to an increasingly decentralised supply of reliable, cost-effective, carbon neutral energy from a diverse range of suppliers," said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

Read the full statement here.