Cash for Power: Cape Town Buys Back Rooftop Solar

Once a power bill hits zero, the city pays the surplus out in cash. By 31 January 2025 just 1,842 customers were selling, and the City said the earnings were largely bill credits rather than cash.

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Cape Town runs its own electricity distribution across roughly 70% of the metro, and since 2023 it has bought surplus power back from customers on that network. Exports from authorised small-scale embedded generators, mostly rooftop solar, are credited to the municipal account at a feed-in rate approved by the national regulator NERSA, plus a 25c/kWh incentive the City adds itself. Once a bill reaches zero, remaining credit can be paid out as cash — a minimum of R1,000 for households, paid annually, or R5,000 for business, paid monthly. Sellers need an authorised installation and an approved bidirectional meter; in 2024 the City cut the single-phase meter to R6,043 including VAT, from R10,508 for the three-phase unit. The roughly 30% of the metro that Eskom supplies directly cannot take part, and applies to Eskom instead. Uptake stays narrow. The City reported 1,842 sellers at 31 January 2025, a small share of authorised rooftop installations, and said the headline earnings were largely municipal bill credits rather than cash. Selling requires a roof you own, capital for an array, and a City account — and a peer-reviewed national study published in 2025 found South African rooftop solar concentrated overwhelmingly in wealthy, historically white suburbs.