BUSINESS NEWS - Government’s solar panel incentive window is getting narrower by the day.
National Treasury introduced the solar panel rebate in February last year to encourage households to invest in renewable energy – and ease the pressure on the country’s power grid.
However, there’s a catch – the incentive only applies to solar PV panels that are “brought into use for the first time” within the period from 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024. This means the solar panels must be installed and a Certificate of Compliance issued by a master electrician before the deadline.
The home solar tax incentive allows households to claim a rebate of 25% on the cost of their new and unused solar panels, up to a maximum of R15 000.
No extensions, says Treasury
In October, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said his department was advocating for the solar tax incentive to be extended beyond the February 2024 deadline and be expanded to include rebates on other solar system components such as inverters and batteries.
Unfortunately, his plea was unsuccessful with National Treasury telling Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance that the timeline will not be changed as the intention of the rebate was to incentivise solar installations on an urgent basis and extending the deadline would have implications for the fiscus.
As for expanding the rebate to include batteries and inverters, National Treasury once again pushed back noting that these elements could be used in such a way as to increase the pressure on the grid.
Read more on Caxton publication, The Citizen
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