Cape Town – The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry City of Cape has slammed the city council's "heavy-handed approach" to rooftop solar panels and a threat of huge fines.
Janine Myburgh, president on the chamber, said on Wednesday that while it is understandable why the Cape Town electricity department needs to know about rooftop solar panels that are tied to the grid, fines of more than R6 000 – unless the panels were registered by the end of February – were excessive and should not be necessary. She added that the threat to disconnect supplies was "over the top".
Owners of solar panels must have them registered or face being fined R6 425.90. Regulations set out in an electricity supply by-law forces consumers to have their solar panels registered with and authorised by the City before February 2019.
Mayoral committee member for water and energy Xanthea Limberg said the City was legally required to ensure that the electricity distributed to all its customers complied with set quality standards.
Limberg said unauthorised PV systems could interfere with the electricity supply, electricity demand management and future network planning.
“People who invest in solar tend to be informed and responsible citizens and they should be treated as such,” said Myburgh, “the City is not dealing with delinquents.
“It’s time the City learnt that incentives work better than fines. It should be carrots first and the stick only if the incentives don’t work.”
She said the City had initially adopted an enlightened approach to solar and understood that the whole electricity industry was changing. Its policy was based on keeping consumers tied to the grid because it did not want to lose them as customers.
“That was good thinking but now we have warnings and threats. It is bad public relations and it is likely to anger many people. The result will be that many people will decide to go off-grid and the City will lose out,” Myburgh said.
Batteries were improving and becoming more affordable while electric appliances were becoming more efficient. LED lights, for example, used half as much electricity as fluorescent tubes and about 10% of the old incandescent globes.
People were increasingly turning to gas for cooking and heating. The result was that they used less electricity and going off grid had never been easier.
“People who use solar power are doing us all a favour because they make us less dependent on Eskom and that improves energy security for everyone,” Myburgh said.
Just as the proposed charges for water during the drought had been, the fines were also excessive, she added.
“It seems the City has learnt nothing from the angry reaction to its demands. Its answer to every problem seems to be to find new ways to extract money from its citizens. It is time it reversed this policy and found ways to reduce its own costs.”
Stop COCT founder Sandra Dickson told the Cape Argus the City was milking residents with all sorts of levies and penalty fines.
“We have seen this happen over and over. When the City made less money because people were saving more water, they introduced a water pipe levy.
"When the electricity income dropped, they came up with a fixed electricity surcharge of about R150. Here they want people to be less dependent on conventional energy and speak of greener energy, but they fine those who are not compliant almost R7 000.
"This is just wrong. All the City is doing is paying lip service to its residents, who are already struggling to make a living,” she said.
Dave Long, general secretary of South African Independent Power Producers Association, said the regulations were within the law but it was frustrating.
“It’s a source of major frustration. We also want the National Energy Regulator to exempt people with a 1 megawatt or less system. But this is still a matter of public participation.”
To start the registration process, visit www.capetown.gov.za/solarpv