On a clear Cape Town day, a well-sized solar system often makes more power than your home can use. You can let that surplus flow back into the City's grid and get credited for it, or set your system to keep every unit at home. Here's how selling solar power works in Cape Town for 2026/27, what it pays, and how to decide between export on and export off.
Export On or Off: The Two Options
The City of Cape Town lets homeowners connect solar in one of two ways. With export off (non-feed-in), your inverter blocks any power from flowing back to the grid, and you stay on your current electricity tariff. With export on (feed-in), surplus power goes onto the grid and the City credits you for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) it receives. Either way, your system must be registered with the City first. Our SSEG registration guide explains that step.
What the City Pays for Your Solar Power
According to the City's 2026/27 electricity tariff book, the residential feed-in tariff is 107.98c per kWh, plus a feed-in incentive of 25c per kWh, both excluding VAT. That's about R1.33 for every unit you export. The City only adds VAT to the feed-in tariff if you are a registered VAT vendor, so most households are credited the ex-VAT rate.
What You Pay on the Home User Tariff
To export, you move to (or stay on) the City's Home User tariff. For 2026/27 it has a fixed service and wires charge of R424.30 a month, and energy at 355.95c per kWh for the first 600 kWh and 469.06c per kWh after that, all including VAT. An AMI meter administration fee also applies. The key point: a unit you buy from the City costs roughly R3.56 to R4.69, while a unit you sell earns about R1.33.
Why Using Your Own Power Pays More
Because the City pays less than a third of what it charges, every kWh of solar you use yourself is worth far more than a kWh you export. That's why a battery usually adds more value than exporting: it stores the midday surplus for your evening peak, when you would otherwise buy from the grid. A Tesla Powerwall 3 or Sigenergy battery does this automatically. Our home battery size guide shows how to match storage to your usage. Export then becomes a bonus for whatever the battery can't hold.
The Meter You Need to Export
Exporting requires a bi-directional AMI smart meter, which the City supplies and installs at your cost. The City's rooftop solar PV brochure also says you must provide the metering box on your street-front property boundary. If you stay export off and have a credit meter under 100 A, the City replaces it with a split prepaid meter at its own cost, so the meter can't run backwards.
How Your Credits Are Paid
Feed-in credits are offset against your whole monthly municipal account, not only electricity, so they can reduce rates, water and refuse too. If your account is regularly fully offset, you can apply to the City's Cash for Power programme. Residential customers are paid once a year once the remaining credit exceeds R1,000. Businesses are paid monthly above R5,000, which is worth knowing if you're planning commercial solar.
Which Should You Choose?
- Export on suits homes with a large roof array, low daytime usage, or a small battery, where a lot of surplus would otherwise go to waste.
- Export off suits homes that use most of their solar during the day or store it in a battery, and keeps you on your current tariff without the Home User fixed charge.
- Compare the Home User fixed charge with what you expect to earn from exports. On a smaller system, the credits may not cover it.
See Both Options Before You Decide
Every MLT proposal lets you switch between export on and export off, so you can see the cost and savings of each for your own home. We handle the City application, metering requirements and compliance certificates on every installation. Explore our home solar and battery systems, send us your latest electricity bill or call 087 943 2299 for a free, fixed-price quote.
Ready to go solar?
Send us your latest electricity bill and we'll design a system and fixed price for your home or business.