Mossel Bay Advertiser

Municipali­ty amends the solar policy to assist residents

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The current electricit­y constraint­s and higher levels of loadsheddi­ng have prompted many property owners to opt for an alternativ­e means to power their households.

Mossel Bay Municipali­ty has made an effort to amend its small-scale embedded generation policy to assist residents.

Much work has been done to simplify the applicatio­n form, making it more user friendly.

At a special council meeting on Thursday, 10 August, it was decided there will be a waiver on the standard building plan fee for solar installati­ons.

For the installati­on of solar systems on mainly residentia­l and small business properties, a minor building works applicatio­n (building plan) is required.

The applicable tariff for 2023/24, approved by Council on 30 May, is R1 300.

To assist property owners with solar installati­ons, the tariff of R1 300 will be waived and only the minor building works tariff of R560 will be charged.

The municipali­ty recommends that residents opting to install solar photo voltaic smallscale embedded generation systems make use of industryac­credited installers under a third party quality assurance. It is the municipali­ty’s intention to make such industry accreditat­ion a requiremen­t in future.

It is a requiremen­t in terms of the policy to have all embedded generation systems installed on the Mossel Bay grid signed off during the commission­ing stage of the project. For inverters up to 30 kVA, sign-off is required from an industry accredited installer or a registered profession­al engineer or technologi­st.

It is also important to note, under the amended policy that customers residing within the Mossel Bay municipal boundaries, but located in a residentia­l developmen­t that receives an 11kV bulk electrical supply, need to apply to their body corporate or homeowners’ associatio­n for consent to connect SSEG to their electrical grid.

The guideline in the amended policy is therefore not applicable to customers residing within the municipal boundaries, but being supplied directly by residentia­l developmen­t that receives 11kV bulk electrical supplies.

These consumers need not apply to the municipali­ty. It is important to note that in such a case, equipment should not be purchased prior to obtaining written approval from the body corporate or homeowners’ associatio­n.

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