One Energy’s national South African footprint allows us to facilitate national renewable energy projects for companies who want a standardised installation and national roll out across all their operations.
Beyond the requirements for uninterrupted power supply in terms of business operations and productivity, there is a crucial need for businesses to make the green transition to more sustainable energy solutions like solar and radically reduce their carbon footprint in line with ESG demands. For many businesses and industries, this is an imperative if you want to improve your green credentials and ensure access for your products to global markets – where the drive to nett zero is an overwhelming factor in trade decisions.
We provide solar and battery back-up solutions for businesses of all sizes, from SMEs to retail stores and shopping centres, commercial offices, medical practices, warehouses, manufacturing workshops, food processing facilities, educational institutions, working farms and many more.
It’s evident that the rapidly escalating electricity prices are simply unsustainable and unaffordable for many businesses. One of the keyways in which commercial and industrial energy users are looking to ease their electricity costs, secure their energy supply and make a difference in so far as the environmental impact of their production processes go is through photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation.
Many businesses also use solar PV in conjunction with other power sources like diesel generators to provide a continuous source of power during blackouts or load shedding. Depending on your electricity usage and size of your PV system, most will amortise their costs within five to seven years.
Residents and businesses in major metros across South Africa face above-inflation increases in municipal tariffs every year. Since load shedding started in 2008, electricity tariffs have increased by a shocking 450%, drastically outstripping CPI by 352%, with inflation recorded at 98% over the same period. Furthermore, the steep financial slide of South Africa’s local government sector is continuing unabated and, in the absence of a dramatic improvement in most municipalities’ approach to financial management, is likely to worsen further. You are going to be paying through your teeth for service delivery, and that includes the cost of electricity.
The lull in loadshedding should also not fool anyone as to the state of Eskom, its ability to supply, and the long-term prognosis of Eskom’s inevitable death spiral as private generation takes over. One only has to look at the continued deterioration in the Energy Availability Factor (EAF) to know that Eskom is in trouble, while private generation is ramping up at pace.
As electricity customers respond by moving to self-generation and alternative energy sources, including rooftop solar PV, battery energy storage, gas for cooking, solar hot water geysers, energy efficiency, there’s a general reduction in demand for grid electricity. The pipeline of big renewable energy and battery energy storage plants coming onto the grid has also been a key reason for the lower levels of loadshedding. This grid defection has massive implications for the cost of grid-supplied electricity and Eskom’s viability as a going concern.
The cost of Eskom’s electricity supply will continue to escalate at massive above inflationary increments as more users defect from the grid to solar, as Eskom tries to make up for the declining sales volumes with higher costs to recover its massive fixed costs and debt-burden – putting Eskom in an irreversible death spiral.
The reality is that the electricity prices from solar decrease year-on-year while Eskom prices increase by double digits, and in fact, it is already much cheaper to generate electricity from solar PV than it is from Eskom. The cost of electricity generated by solar is now under R1.00/kW fixed for the next 20 years, while the average business and property owner is currently shelling out around R3,30/kW for grid electricity along with double digit annual increases – when its available.
Now more than ever, you need to take a considered view of how to get your business as close to grid independence as possible, for the long term. Load shedding is not the primary motivator – why continue to shell out R3,30/kW from Eskom, with double-digit price increases year on year, while you can generate your own power with solar for around R1.00/kW, fixed for 20+ years?
Based on the confirmed increases effective 1 April 2025, your electricity cost trajectory is summarised below – this also does not factor in any increases that councils may levy over and above this. In three years, your bill will increase by a cumulative 25%. Households and businesses have faced steeply rising electricity tariffs since 2010. While inflation saw prices increase by 196% over the period, electricity tariffs rocketed by 408%. This is an average of about 15% a year.
| Current Electricity Bill | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | 2027/28 | 2028/29 | 2029/30 | Total spend over 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R 10 000,00 | R 11 270,00 | R 11 874,00 | R 12 609,75 | R 13 389,58 | R 14 218,39 | R 760 333,00 |
| R 15 000,00 | R 16 905,00 | R 17 811,00 | R 18 913,00 | R 20 084,00 | R 21 327,00 | R 1 140 500,00 |
| R 18 500,00 | R 20 849,00 | R 21 967,00 | R 23 327,00 | R 24 770,00 | R 26 304,00 | R 1 406 616,00 |
| R 20 000,00 | R 22 540,00 | R 23 478,00 | R 25 220,00 | R 26 780,00 | R 28 436,00 | R1 520 666,00 |
| R 30 000,00 | R 33 810,00 | R 35 622,00 | R 37 827,00 | R 40 170,00 | R 42 655,00 | R 2 281 000,00 |
| R 40 000,00 | R 45 080,00 | R 47 500,00 | R 50 450,00 | R 53 560,00 | R 56 880,00 | R 3 041 333,00 |
| R 50 000,00 | R 56 350,00 | R 59 370,00,00 | R 63 100,00 | R 66 950,00 | R 71 100,00 | R 3 801 660,00 |
| R 60 000,00 | R 67 620,00 | R 71 250,00 | R 75 655,00 | R 80 338,00 | R 85 310,00 | R 4 562 000,00 |
| R 80 000,00 | R 90 200,00 | R 94 995,00 | R 100 900,00 | R 107 200,00 | R 114 000,00 | R 6 082 700,00 |
| R 90 000,00 | R 101 430,00 | R 106 900,00 | R 113 500,00 | R 120 500,00 | R 128 000,00 | R 6 843 000,00 |
| R 100 000,00 | R 113 000,00 | R 119 000,00 | R 126 000,00 | R 134 000,00 | R 142 200,00 | R 7 603 334,00 |
Consider the following commercial example of a small business with current electricity bill of R18 500 (around 5000kW per month) based on tariff of R3,70/kWh).
It’s absolutely the most bottom-line boosting move you can make to redirect the money you would be spending on grid electricity to your own solar PV system for your business.
