The Power Purchase Product is an interim measure to provide immediate and alternative relief for small enterprises to mitigate against the effect of loadshedding.
(a) Funding for this relief will be sourced from various Small Business Development Portfolio’s (Department of Small Business Development [DSBD], the Small Enterprise Development Agency [Seda] and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency [sefa]) existing programmes as part of reprioritisation of funds.
(b)(i) The Minister of Small Business Development made a public announcement of the product in February 2023.
(b)(i)(aa) Following the Minister’s pronouncement, consultation with the ecosystem players continued.
(b)(i)(bb) Once the funding has been approved accordingly by National Treasury in terms of PFMA, another announcement will be made in terms of how the scheme is going to be accessed and the application procedures. Applications will be done through the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) and Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda)
(b)(ii) As part of the plan, the Department is working with various industry players to identify innovative ways to ensure the sustainability of the programme. The plan is to develop these ideas and eventually deploy them as part of the programme and to ensure the stimulation of the suppliers including the installers.