Three great reasons (and a bonus) why your community scheme should go solar
Achieving consensus about anything in a community scheme can be challenging. But when it comes to collectively adopting renewable energy, there should be no argument.
It stands to reason that in a community scheme such as a sectional title block of flats, for example, it’s not feasible for only some owners and not others to install solar panels and battery storage. It has to be a collective decision to do so; indeed, it is the very expression of ubuntu when a community scheme can do that.
But getting everyone to pull in the same direction, overcoming misapprehensions around costs or even obviating onerous bank financing requirements, can be difficult. Holdout occupants can, simply, deny everyone the enormous benefits of renewables.
The answer? Get expert help.
Here are three excellent reasons why community schemes, and the entities that manage them, should embrace renewable energy – and more importantly, enlist the services of a reputable provider.
Cost savings for your body corporate
The first thing to understand clearly is that installing solar panels and back-up batteries will certainly not mean yet another levy for occupants to cough up.
In essence, this is how it works: the provider scopes, designs and installs an appropriate solar-and-battery system for the property, at no cost to the residents. It owns, manages, monitors, maintains and insures the system, in return for which the occupants enter into a long-term power purchase agreement, or PPA.
The beauty of a PPA is that costs can be determined over its lifetime, providing residents with certainty and peace of mind about their energy bills – unlike the tariffs charged by Eskom, for which we pay an astonishing 500% more than we did in 2008. (With the latest 12.74% hike, effective from 1 April, we are paying almost precisely double what we did a mere five years ago, in April 2020.)
To summarise, not only do residents not have to pay up front or take out expensive loan funding for a renewable energy system, or its upkeep or insurance, they are immune over the long term from exponential increases in the cost of using only traditionally generated energy. The potential savings are huge.
Security of supply
Grid outages, be they because of load-shedding (which remains a risk, albeit less so than in recent years) or failing infrastructure (which is increasingly a risk), are a South African reality.
In some instances, outages can last for days at a time, making every aspect of our lives – from lighting, cooking and refrigeration to work and study – almost impossible. Becoming more energy self-sufficient drastically reduces these risks.
The environmental factor
More and more, this is a relevant reason for going renewable. While cost and convenience have always trumped climate change for why people choose to do so, global warming is becoming an all-too-real nightmare scenario. And like with community schemes, we’re in this together.
Just as separating out one’s trash is a lot more mainstream today than it was only a few years ago, and it may seem odder than before when people don’t do it, many of us are more actively doing our bit for our world. Cutting out fossil fuel-derived energy is one area where we can all make a substantive difference.
And a bonus reason … the legal stuff
If a community scheme goes it alone, installing and running its own renewable energy system, there are also legal hoops to jump through.
There’s technical compliance (the system must adhere to legal operating regulations), structural compliance (it must meet construction standards) and electrical compliance (it must be safe – both in terms of municipal regulation and for insurance purposes). A system must also achieve municipal registration and satisfy fire safety standards.
All of these onerous matters are the stock in trade of a renewable energy provider, and handling them is part of a good PPA.
As someone who has extensive experience working in this sector, and engaged with many people, I’ve heard just about every argument for not partnering with a reputable renewable energy provider.
These range from having to pay more for power (I can demonstrate savings as part of a PPA) to waiting for renewable energy infrastructure to get cheaper (versus what we pay in the meantime), to being able to do it on the cheap (beware the so-called “bakkie brigades”!)
Here’s the thing: a PPA is a long-term relationship (we’re talking 25 years), and it’s worth your while to partner with a provider that has as much of a stake as you do in making your scheme’s renewable energy asset work efficiently, safely and, above all, cost-effectively.
So choose your energy partner carefully. Not only will you enjoy a happy business relationship, you’ll be assured of secure, convenient, affordable energy supply, you’ll save yourself a lot of admin – and your property will be more desirable and valuable than ever.
Is your community scheme ready to switch and save? Reach out to our expert team today for your tailored solution!
