Tax breaks for rooftop solar in South Africa come with a big catch

For private households, individuals who install rooftop solar panels from 1 March 2023 will be able to claim a rebate of 25% of the cost of the panels, up to a maximum of R15,000.
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While this is nice for anybody installing a system in the next year or two, I doubt this is going to have a big change in the current rate of installations. Basically R10k-R15k discount on a R150k to R200k investment. Definitely helps but doesn't really make it more affordable.

Excluding batteries is also strange, as that could help shift the peak usage to different times with smart meters.

Also don't see anything about letting you sell electricity to the grid, which would actually improve the business case for solar.
 
If you run a business. Great. If you're a home owner looking to protect yourself from Eskom's collapse, not so much.

Looks like the ANC govt didn't want to put the final nail in Eskom's coffin and let us be free. They want to keep us in chains.
 
The rebate is only available for solar PV panels, and not inverters or batteries, to focus on the promotion of additional generation.
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This makes no sense. Surely storing the sun to help with the evening peak would be a huge help to everyone, not just the ones with the solar.
 
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twaatie said:
Love the part of rebate for panels but not the inverter …. Except one needs the inverter if you want any panels installed
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This... why just the panels?

The entire install is necessary to make this useful in terms of taking load off the grid. That means the inverter and the batteries too. By all means make it a caveat that the install has to include solar panels to qualify. Quite happy with that.

No VAT, no import duties, AND massive tax rebates. Then we're talking. This is pathetic.
 
Creag said:
Agree. It is not a big incentive, but given the country is not flush with cash, this will help a little.
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Implementing solar feedback into the grid would be a much bigger help, and wouldn't cost them anything. Cape Town is already busy with it and pay just over R1/kWh. Only issue there is the R10k for the smart meter. So rather subsidise that, and force all municipalities and Eskom to allow solar feedback to the grid (with the correct inverter and installation etc) and more people would be able to do this. Making sure the smart meter can do time of day etc allows people to run off their batteries during peak times and even feed back to the grid from batteries if they want. This reduces the overall load on the system and thus level of load shedding needed.
 
twaatie said:
Love the part of rebate for panels but not the inverter …. Except one needs the inverter if you want any panels installed
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Indeed. Getting R15k back on a system is hardly to be sniffed at, but getting that back means a spend of R150k + and that is not helping the vast majority of the country. It’s more or less a nice wee handshake for those who can afford it in the first place.
 
It is obvious why only panels....

Batteries make blackouts worse. Inverters are needed for batteries only too, but only panels are good to help with blackouts.
 
Benedict A55h0le said:
It is obvious why only panels....

Batteries make blackouts worse. Inverters are needed for batteries only too, but only panels are good to help with blackouts.
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Batteries only make it worse if you don’t have solar to charge them.
 
Spizz said:
Batteries only make it worse if you don’t have solar to charge them.
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Or when it`s cloudy, or when you use more than what the panels provide. So they treat batteries in a blanket way for worst case usage.

I agree it`s dumb, but that is how they view it, and there is truth that batteries in general make LS worse.

Many people have inverters and batteries with no panels to avoid the registration and solar police nonsense, and because they don`t have a sunny roof.
 
Benedict A55h0le said:
It is obvious why only panels....

Batteries make blackouts worse. Inverters are needed for batteries only too, but only panels are good to help with blackouts.
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Make the tax break conditional on also installing solar panels, but make the break apply to the entire install.

There... fixed.

It's not obvious, it's stupid.
 
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Spizz said:
Indeed. Getting R15k back on a system is hardly to be sniffed at, but getting that back means a spend of R150k + and that is not helping the vast majority of the country. It’s more or less a nice wee handshake for those who can afford it in the first place.
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Its not R15k back, your taxable income gets reduced by R15k.
R15k on a bar annual package will get you R6k back in pocket
 
Benedict A55h0le said:
Or when it`s cloudy, or when you use more than what the panels provide. So they treat batteries in a blanket way for worst case usage.
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I’m not getting your point. If you use more than what the panels provide you use the grid. But even then I had 4 rain and cloudy days last week and still managed to use less from the grid than I would have without solar and batteries. There is still some generation and hence less demand on the grid.

And in days like today, normal summer days, my batteries were charged by lunchtime and will take me though most of the night. Reducing the impact on the grid. These is no losing scenario.
 
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