City of Cape Town energy budget set to enhance streetlight programmes, renewable energy and boost Steenbras pump hydro plant

• The City’s Energy Directorate’s budget for the next three years focuses on streetlighting enhancements, the multi-year refurbishment of the Steenbras power plant totalling more than R1,2 bn and the City’s solar PV programme and investment in own-build solar PV plants.

‘All income from rates and services are spent on enhanced service delivery. As the new tariffs for the year come into effect, we thank our customers and ratepayers for their contribution to maintaining quality services and investing in our future infrastructure. The Energy Directorate has a total budget of R71,2 billion for the next three years. Some of the investment will be in streetlighting, curbing energy theft and vandalism and to focus on load-shedding protection while investing in the growing energy needs of Cape Town. Our programme to upgrade and enhance the capacity of our Steenbras plant at an amount of more than R1,2 bn over the next three years is making significant progress and we are also taking great strides in our solar PV programmes.

‘This year, some R1,3 bn capital expenditure has been set aside including R75,5 m on our street and public lighting programme. In line with our energy efficiency strategy, we are expanding our LED streetlight replacement programme with a R160m injection over the next three years. We have also set aside a total project amount of R183 m for our pioneering small-scale embedded generation programme and some R57 m to enhance the power output capabilities of the soon-to-be completed Atlantis Solar plant with our first battery storage project.

‘We are also investing in various critical infrastructure upgrades across the metro such as Bellville, Grassy Park, Gugulethu, Oakdale, Melkbos, Paardevlei, Woodstock, Triangle and Monte Vista, among others. We are also looking at investments in the low voltage depots in Hout Bay and Noordhoek. The City continues its investment in new metering infrastructure with some R100 m in the 2025/26 financial year, topping more than R320 m for the programme in total over three years.

‘Over the next three years, we will continue to focus on energy security and diversification of electricity supply, protecting our electricity infrastructure and endorsing responsible tariff reforms, in alignment with the national treasury’s tariff reform programmes to realise our stated ambition of a future-fit, sustainable and resilient utility. The City is taking part in the treasury’s tariff reform strategies, to ensure the sustainability of our services and that of our services are cost reflective, while giving customers more control over the usage components of the tariffs. We can already see some of these changes reflected in our budget and tariff structures and we will see more of this in the years to come as all metros and utilities align their tariff structures in accordance with the proposed national treasury reforms.

‘Consistent with the necessary reforms, revenue for providing electricity services has been ringfenced from the rand per-unit revenue, resulting in fixed and usage tariff components. The City has done its utmost to keep costs as low as possible for our customers. Thus, for City-supplied customers the actual cost per unit for electricity is going down from 1 July 2025 for residents on the Home User Tariff to compensate for the increased service and wires charge. Domestic Tariff users will also pay less per unit on Energy Block 2, and relatively the same on Energy Block 1 as 2024/25 to compensate for the introduction of the service and wires charge. Lifeline customers using 600 units in a month, will still pay relatively the same in 2025/26 as they did three years ago in 2022/23. Noting also that the latter customers need to stay within the 450-unit monthly average over 12 months to remain on the Lifeline tariff,’ said the Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Alderman Xanthea Limberg.

Author: Bryan Groenendaal