Are your business’s monthly electricity costs feeling harder and harder to stomach in the wake of the most recent spate of load shedding and the prospect of further massive tariff hikes? Did you know that it is possible to pay less for the electricity you use while also reducing your reliance on Eskom? In this post, we’ll show you how much Decentral Energy customers have saved on their electricity bills in their first year of operation thanks to our competitive solar tariffs.
These eleven Decentral solar PV sites represent a range of properties, from shopping centres to housing estates and industrial sites. Each has completed at least one year of operation and pays significantly less for their solar power than the municipal tariff.
Decentral Energy solar power purchase agreements offer targeted savings of 5 to 50% on customers’ current electricity costs, and require no capital expenditure. That means you get cheaper, cleaner energy without having to pay a cent to install, operate, or maintain your solar PV system.
Electricity savings are calculated by comparing the respective solar tariff (kWh) cost with the municipal energy tariff for each site. Solar generation, tariffs, and savings depend on several factors particular to each site, such as its solar yield and energy usage profile.
Shopping centres, outlets and strip malls are ideal sites for solar power. This is because their peak energy usage is during the day, when the sun is shining and solar panels are generating electricity. In addition, they tend to have large areas of unused roof space that are perfect for the installation of PV panels.
The following six retail properties in Gauteng and the Western Cape pay between 5 and 20% less for their solar-generated electricity when compared to the municipal rate, thanks to their rooftop solar installations and Decentral Energy PPAs.
Housing estates, including retirement villages, are another great fit for solar power. The daytime electricity that the solar PV system generates reduces the amount of energy that each estate or complex purchases from the grid. Because they pay less for solar power than the grid tariff, this results in considerable savings.
The industrial sector has historically been slow to turn to solar power, in part due to concerns around expense and energy storage. However, PPAs and technological advances are increasingly removing these barriers, and many in the industrial sector are finding ways to incorporate solar power into their operations. The benefits are clear: with their Decentral Energy PPA-backed solar installations, these two industrial properties in Gauteng and the Western Cape have saved hundreds of thousands of rands on their electricity bills in a year.
