No need for the City’s heavy-handed approach on solar panels
27 November 2018
The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry can understand why the Cape Town electricity department needs to know about rooftop solar panels that are tied to the grid but says there is no reason for the City’s heavy-handed approach and threat of huge fines.
“People who invest in solar tend to be informed and responsible citizens and they should be treated as such,” said Ms Janine Myburgh, President on the Chamber. “The City is not dealing with delinquents.”
Fines of more than R6 000 unless the panels were registered by the end of February were excessive and should not be necessary while the threat to disconnect supplies was ‘over the top’.
“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,” Ms 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,” Ms Myburgh said.
The fine was excessive just as the proposed charges for water during the drought had been. “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.”
Issued by Dean Le Grange, Media and Digital Co-ordinator, Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 28 November 2018
