Private homeowners who install rooftop solar panels will be able to claim a quarter of the cost of the panels from the government starting on 1 March 2023. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana made the announcement during his Budget 2023 speech on Wednesday afternoon.
Those who opt to go for it will be able to reduce their tax liability in the 23/24 tax year.
However, not all homeowners in South Africa qualify.
The 25% rebate on solar panels excludes sectional title properties. So people owning a property in a complex will not be able to benefit from the government incentive aimed at moving more people off Eskom’s coal-driven grid.
The rebate is also capped for solar panels priced up to R15 000 – which should be just big enough to keep your basics going during load shedding.
The incentive is available for interested parties for a year, so homeowners will have to produce proof of payment to indicate that they bought their panels from 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024 from an approved dealer.
As South Africa unofficially continues life under Stage 7 load shedding, Godongwana’s 2023 budget speech shed some light on government’s plans to get the country out of load shedding and eventually (hopefully) get Eskom out of its longstanding growing debt crisis.
National Treasury plans to “relieve” Eskom of its R400-billion ($22 billion) debt by taking over R254 billion – which will ultimately become part of government’s overall debt. This will be adding to government’s R5 trillion overall debt and repayment which currently consumes about 18% of its overall budget.
“We’re proposing a total debt-relief arrangement for Eskom of R254bn. This consists of two components. One is R184bn – which represents Eskom’s full debt settlement requirement in 3 tranches over the medium term. Second is a direct take-over of up to R70bn of Eskom’s loan portfolio,” said Godongwana during his Budget 2023 speech on Wednesday.
Read More: Budget 2023 to shed light Eskom’s debt amid Stage 7 load shedding, Mantashe’s takeover
The speech took place amid (officially) Stage 6 nationwide blackouts which, based on the actual total of megawatts taken off the grid, amounts to what is technically Stage 7 load shedding.
A day before the anticipated budget Speech, Eskom’s spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the utility had cut 7,045 megawatts from the grid.
#Budget2023 The Sources of Government Income in 2023/24. pic.twitter.com/K8MHBTWE0u
— National Treasury (@TreasuryRSA) February 22, 2023