Good news for solar users in Durban

The eThekwini Municipality’s electricity tariff schedule for the 2024/25 financial year has revealed a significant Ancillary Network Charge price cut for those wanting to sell power back to the grid.

The Ancillary Network Charge is billed monthly based on the installed inverter capacity. The new schedule shows that the fee has been slashed from R126.86 per kVA to R62.17 per kVA.

The change is coupled with a slight reduction in the feed-in energy rate to R1.41.

The Ancillary Network Charge will be consistent and appear as a debit on customer accounts, while the feed-in will vary based on the amount of electricity sold back to the grid.

It will appear as a credit on customer accounts.

However, many residents will still struggle to sell enough power back to the grid to cover this cost.

Prior to the publication of the new tariffs, MyBroadband reported on a reader and Durban North resident who would have to sell nearly 2,000kWh back to the grid each month to cover the Ancillary Network Charge.

Their solar system has 22kVA of inverter capacity. Before the changes, this would be equivalent to a monthly fixed charge of R2,791.

At the old buyback rate of R1.44 per kWh, they would have to sell roughly 1,960kWh back to the grid each month to cover this charge before receiving any credit on their account.

The changes make a marked difference, reducing the monthly fixed charge to R1,368.

At the new buyback rate of R1.41 per kWh, the reader must export 970kWh of electricity back to the grid each month.

They noted that their system generates a surplus of roughly 500kWh per month in summer, while they sometimes have to rely on grid power during winter.

MyBroadband calculated the monthly payment for eThekwini customers with varying inverter capacities and the energy they’d have to sell back to break even.

Those with smaller inverter capacities, such as 4.40kVA and 6.00kVA, will have to export 194kWh and 265kWh of electricity back to the grid, respectively, each month.

Homes with larger inverter capacities, such as 12.75kVA, will have to export 562kWh of electricity to the grid to cover the Ancillary Network Charge.

Unfortunately, this likely wouldn’t be possible for most solar setups unless they have a small inverter with many solar panels. However, this is uncommon.

This will also depend on the household’s energy consumption needs.

The table below compares the eThekwini Municipality’s ancillary network charge costs and the required feed-in sales to break even for various smaller inverter capacities.

The city with the best feed-in rates

MyBroadband compared solar energy buyback tariffs in South Africa’s major metros in March 2024.

The analysis revealed that Bloemfontein residents get the best solar feed-in rates compared to Cape Town, eThekwini, Tshwane, and Eskom Direct households.

Bloemfontein’s power distributor, Centlec, offers the best feed-in tariff of R1.62 per kWh in summer (low-demand season) and R2.11 in winter (high-demand season).

The summer feed-in tariff was almost double that of all other municipalities. However, the high-demand season rates are fairly similar to those of other metros.

Unlike the eThekwini Municipality, Centlec doesn’t charge any additional fixed charges for net metering.

However, while Centlec’s rates may appear to be the best on paper, they may not actually be available in practice.

Following our report comparing solar feed-in tariffs, Bloemfontein residents contacted MyBroadband to complain that they are unable to benefit from Centlec’s published tariffs.

The City of Tshwane is the last of the big metros to offer a feed-in tariff, but its rate is the lowest.