New rooftop solar tax breaks come with a huge catch

BusinessTech said:
New rooftop solar tax breaks come with a huge catch

Municipalities warn parliament of the negative implications of the new solar tax incentive announced during the Budget Speech in February.
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Why doesn't SALGA comment on the utterly atrocious Municipal Finance results of each municipality?
Why doesn't SALGA ensure they clean house on the corrupt and inept municipal performance of each municipality before they moan about the consequences of law-abiding citizens creating their own services?
 
Mista_Mobsta said:
Why doesn't SALGA comment on the utterly atrocious Municipal Finance results of each municipality?
Why doesn't SALGA ensure they clean house on the corrupt and inept municipal performance of each municipality before they moan about the consequences of law-abiding citizens creating their own services?
Click to expand...
Because you can’t blame that on the upper-middle class.
 
Mista_Mobsta said:
Why doesn't SALGA comment on the utterly atrocious Municipal Finance results of each municipality?
Why doesn't SALGA ensure they clean house on the corrupt and inept municipal performance of each municipality before they moan about the consequences of law-abiding citizens creating their own services?
Click to expand...
So I mean those are problems, but the steady erosion of the revenue base is also a problem.

Even if your municipality is squeaky-clean in its financial affairs, if you take away all the people who *can* pay and are only left with people who *can't*...

So my (serious) question is, how does one actually become part of the solution here? It seems (w.r.t. solar, even not considering the tax breaks) as though you're damned if you do, damned if you don't at this point.
 
Yeah shame SALGA.

It would be easy for the municipality to use this "incentive" to their advantage... Provide those stable paying tax payers the ability to feed back into the grid at values that make sense and step up the debt collection processes to reduce the delinquent payer problem.
 
newby_investor said:
So I mean those are problems, but the steady erosion of the revenue base is also a problem.

Even if your municipality is squeaky-clean in its financial affairs, if you take away all the people who *can* pay and are only left with people who *can't*...

So my (serious) question is, how does one actually become part of the solution here? It seems (w.r.t. solar, even not considering the tax breaks) as though you're damned if you do, damned if you don't at this point.
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Government doesn't want you to be part of the solution - our government wants you to pay as much as you can whilst you receive the bare minimum for your money. If they were truly serious about sorting out the electricity crisis, they would come up with some proper incentives for the private sector, including private households.

Government has long ago forgotten what their role and mandate is to the public of SA - all they want is 'their time to eat'
 
BusinessTech said:
"According to Salga specialist in municipal infrastructure finance James Matsie, the R15,000 tax incentive for rooftop solar installations will only benefit the middle class – high energy consumers who can afford to install backup utilities."
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Yes a tax rebate benefits those who actually pay income and corporate tax. The ones have to wipe the arses of all of you waiting around for handouts and welfare checks.
 
The policy of giving free electricity to the poor has never been sustainable in any case. If a person cannot afford electricity, he should not be given access to it. All it does is create expectations which the government cannot satisfy.
The ANC is now running out of other people's money and they will have to adjust their thinking.
 
Cry me a river. Why must we pay for those who don't and get rubbish service delivery in the process?
 
ToxicBunny said:
Yeah shame SALGA.

It would be easy for the municipality to use this "incentive" to their advantage... Provide those stable paying tax payers the ability to feed back into the grid at values that make sense
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We're probably nowhere near there, but at some point the value that makes sense could be negative:
www.abc.net.au

Australians with rooftop solar panels could soon be charged for exporting electricity into the grid

In a move predicted to lower most people's power bills, the Australian Energy Market Commission is recommending a current ban on charging people for exporting energy into the grid be removed. But not everyone is happy.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

Stonemason said:
The policy of giving free electricity to the poor has never been sustainable in any case. If a person cannot afford electricity, he should not be given access to it. All it does is create expectations which the government cannot satisfy.
The ANC is now running out of other people's money and they will have to adjust their thinking.
Click to expand...
I don't actually have a problem with this policy if there are actual plans to lift the poor out of poverty, get them jobs, etc.

So far, I don't see that happening. The poor are just staying poor.
 
Stonemason said:
The policy of giving free electricity to the poor has never been sustainable in any case. If a person cannot afford electricity, he should not be given access to it. All it does is create expectations which the government cannot satisfy.
The ANC is now running out of other people's money and they will have to adjust their thinking.
Click to expand...
Look, the free allotment was something minor like 8kw or so if I recall which is really really little BUT the poor don't want 8kw. They want to to run tons of fridges and stoves and expect it all for free, that's a problem.
 
Also if households are selling back into the local grid, then the muni is not paying Eskom either so there should be a better supply all-round.
 
Kosmik said:
Also if households are selling back into the local grid, then the muni is not paying Eskom either so there should be a better supply all-round.
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Precisely my logic on this front...

If the municipality can source power locally from within its own grid, that is power that doesn't need to be sourced from Eskom for periods, so contracts can be altered to take that into account. Yes the overall spend from the municipality would likely stay within the same boundaries, but it won't all go to a single entity.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Precisely my logic on this front...

If the municipality can source power locally from within its own grid, that is power that doesn't need to be sourced from Eskom for periods, so contracts can be altered to take that into account. Yes the overall spend from the municipality would likely stay within the same boundaries, but it won't all go to a single entity.
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I think thats the way Cape Town is handling it currently if I'm not mistaken.

Its makes you wonder, maybe the extra load shedding is not just breakdowns but so they can cut those who are drawing less ie: Cpts claim of Stage 1 when country is Stage 2.
 
How it is going to pan out remains to be seen. In the end if it leads to less income than required they'll simply shift the shortfall to rates or fixed charges.
 
Kosmik said:
I think thats the way Cape Town is handling it currently if I'm not mistaken.

Its makes you wonder, maybe the extra load shedding is not just breakdowns but so they can cut those who are drawing less ie: Cpts claim of Stage 1 when country is Stage 2.
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Cape Town usually uses pumped storage at Steenbras dam, though the latest news is that they're going out to tender to procure more dispatchable power, which will allow them to "shield" from more levels of load-shedding.
 
How is it a problem for municipalities? They get to buy power for <R1.00 and sell it to someone else for R2,R3,R5. In fact, PV energy from their own residents is cheaper than Eskom power.

Electricity should not be a cash cow to fund any other municipal services. Rates and taxes are there for that purpose.
 
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