The City of Cape Town is gearing up to invest more than R4bn in electricity grid upgrades and maintenance over the next three years in a bid to become South Africa’s first city to end load-shedding. This ambitious plan is part of the City’s proposed Building for Jobs Budget for 2024/25, aimed at ensuring the grid can handle a dynamic, decentralised energy future.
According to the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Councillor Beverley van Reenen, the investment is crucial for Cape Town to transition from an Eskom monopoly to a system with thousands of different power sellers, including individuals selling excess solar power to the City, commercial entities trading electricity, and independent power producers contributing to the grid.
The R4bn grid investment is seen as a necessary step to combat high levels of vandalism, theft, and load-shedding damage that have plagued the city. By making the infrastructure more resilient, the City hopes to reduce the scope for vandalism over time and protect against the first four stages of Eskom’s load-shedding by 2026.
The Building for Jobs budget reflects the City’s commitment to reinvesting income from electricity sales into the economy and job creation. The public is encouraged to provide feedback on the budget before the comment period ends on 30 April 2024. To view the budget and submit comments, visit www.capetown.gov.za/budget or contact Budget.Comments@capetown.gov.za. Phone assistance is also available for those who wish to provide verbal inputs in English, Afrikaans, or isiXhosa. For social support related to rates and services relief, visit www.capetown.gov.za/socialsupport.