 so much for joining us for today's web words. My name is Portia Ledabe. I'm the head of product at Apsa Home Loans. We are really excited to be sharing some of the industry insights in relation to solar installations. We're going to unpack a couple of topics that are very topical in the market today and hope you enjoy today's session. In this session, we would like to equip you, property practitioners, to have sufficient information so that when you talk to your potential buyers and your customers, you have sufficient information to help them navigate the space of solar solutions. Home owners are finding it very difficult to make a decision when it comes to solar installation. There is a lot of information out there, social media, newspaper articles, news articles, a lot of content and a lot of people who claim to know what is happening from a solar installation perspective, who claim to be experienced from a solar installation perspective, a lot of products that are being positioned, a lot of jargon that is being positioned. And homeowners are really left in a situation where they don't know who to trust. What we've seen in the market is they're starting to become a lot more information that is available for consumers to access. Certain banks' websites have also started putting content together in order to enable their customers to make the right decision. We've seen from an industry perspective partnerships being formed to ensure that customers are protected, at least from an installation perspective, where certain industry partners are looking at partnering with installers who are accredited to ensure that the quality of the product is sufficient from a safety perspective as well. So it is important that consumers take on the journey of doing research, find content from accredited and trustworthy partners in order to make the right decisions where installations are concerned. There are a lot of options out there that consumers and householders can take into account when they're looking for solutions from a load-sharing perspective. Now, what one needs to take into account is where am I as an individual? Let's say for argument's sake, you are renting. You would most likely not want to take up a solution that is quite pricey because from an investment perspective, you wouldn't want to be spending a lot of money in a property that you are not necessarily owning. Therefore, what we've seen in the market is people who are renting their properties are looking for much more easier products that they can quickly plug on and they can remove it if they leave the property. As an example, we are finding that customers are looking at UPSs, battery backup solutions that are available from different retailers and from different partners that we've seen across the industry. Those are not that expensive and you can pay for those perhaps using a personal loan as an example or pay cash towards it. Now, if you are a homeowner, you would most likely start thinking of a much bigger investment. There are a couple of options that are available and we'll talk about which one is most popular that we're seeing in the industry currently. There is what we call a grid tide solution. A grid tide solution is your solar panels that are on top of your roof as well as an inverter that enables the household to use electricity during the day when there's enough sunlight. As the solar panels generate electricity, the household can consume the electricity during the day. However, this solution doesn't have a battery, meaning that in the evening when there's no sun and there's load shedding, the house is load shedded like every other house that doesn't have a solar solution, which then brings me into what is the most popular product that we see in the market. In the market, what we see now is the hybrid solution. A hybrid solution is your solar panels on your roof. You've got an inverter which is connected to your system that converts your direct current into alternative current that can be used in terms of your household from an appliance perspective. Then lastly, there's a battery that is connected to this installation. What happens then is that during the day when the power is energy is generated from your solar panels, that excess energy that the household is not using during the day is stored in your batteries. Therefore, in the evening when there's load shedding, the house keeps the lights on. You are able to continue as if there's no load shedding. That's the most popular solution. It's because we find ourselves here as the South Africans that we have to use a hybrid solution. A lot of consumers and households are starting to talk about going off-grid. Now off-grid means that you do not have any access to SCOMs, electricity as an example. Now, it means that you generate your own electricity. You're not bothered whether there's load shedding or not. However, the limitation of off-grid is that you have to start thinking about what other alternative sources of energy do you want to plug onto your system. As an example, you may have to start thinking about either a solar geyser or a gas geyser. You may have to start thinking about a gas stove as an example because you have no reliance whatsoever on the grid. A lot of customers also have to take into account that if there's no sun as an example for an entire week, there's rain and we're not generating enough sun for your solar system to generate energy and store it in the various batteries, you have to think about what is the alternative power that you're going to think about which could be a generator as an example. It's not the most popular. I think as South Africans we are more inclined towards your hybrid solution because it does give us that flexibility that if there's no sun, I can still consume energy from the grid. Now let's talk about the benefits of installing a solar solution on your property. I think there's two things that one needs to take into account. The first one is the quality of life, the fact that you don't have to worry about when there's going to be load shedding, when is the right time to be cooking, etc. Now what we've also seen is that there's been a lot of pressure in the market, interest rates going up, etc. The need to reduce the cost from electricity perspective has become even more important. That's why solar panels have become even more critical for households to be able to reduce their energy costs as well. I think lastly one of the things that we don't always talk about is security. In an environment where we live in a country where crime is one of the things that we struggle with the most, it's always important for a household to have sufficient lighting, especially in the evening. Now when there's load shedding, a property is left exposed because it is dark everywhere. Now where property has got a solar installed, solar system installed, there's sufficient light around the property, it also protects the household from a security perspective as well. Now that we've spoken about the different solar solutions that are available for our customers, we have to start thinking about how does one get access to funding in terms of the investment that one wants to put towards their household. Now I think what's really exciting about this industry is that it has actually encouraged innovation within the industry. Different partners, different banks, different service providers are looking for ways and means to help our households have access to solar installations. So let me talk about existing customers for a second. Now if a customer has got an existing home loan with a bank and they've had their home loan for quite a while, they are most likely going to have some equity sitting in their property. Now household homeowners can start thinking about accessing equity in their property through either a re-advance or a further advance. That is the most easiest, I think, in terms of accessing funds from a solar installation perspective. We have seen a lot of innovative products coming through in the market where there are products that are available from an unsecured lending perspective, which is not necessarily linked to the home loan itself from a security perspective. We have seen certain banks also positioning the lives of their credit card options, personal loans as an example, to assist homeowners have access to solar. We have also seen instances where I think the players in the market from a solar installation perspective are also offering rentals, right? So some customers could feel that, you know what, I don't want to own this system. I really don't want to own it because I don't intend to live in this house for long. I want to stay in this house for the next two years. After two years, I want to move out. I don't want to own my own system. That's the rental options that some of the service providers are offering. Now, for customers who are buying their new property and they want to move into a property that has got a solar installation, there are options available as well across the industry, right? In some instances, what the banks do encourage is that a customer must register a higher bond when they purchase their property because when you come back for a further advance, let's say three months, six months later, and there's actually equity in your property because there are instances where there is equity. It doesn't take long for the customer to have access to the funds by waiting for the bond to register for that higher loan amount. So those are sort of the innovative products that we see in the market currently, exciting times. A lot of home owners are looking to use services of installers that they can trust, right? From a credibility perspective, from an accreditation perspective, and most don't know where to start. What is important is when a home owner is looking to work with an installer, they need to make sure that the installer has got the following. The first one, the installer needs to have a wireman's license because a wireman's license indicates that they are qualified electricians, that they can work with electricity, that the installation itself is going to be safe from a household perspective. Now, secondly, as an option, not all installers need to have this, but it adds that additional layer from a credibility perspective from an installer is that some installers have gone through the PV green card accreditation process with Sapvia. And if you just go to the Sapvia website under the PV green card section, you will be able to see a list of accredited installers that have gone through the process. So one can ask the installer if they do have a PV green card accreditation. And also what is important is when the home owner starts having a conversation with the installer is to ask questions around the experience of the installer. How many years have you been in the solar installation space? How many installations have you done from a residential market perspective? Do you have any referrals, people that you've done work for that I can call and get a sense of the of your service? The warranties that the installer is able to provide a from a component's perspective. So the solar panels should have their own warranty, the inverters should have their own warranty, the batteries must have their own warranties. And then also take into account that the installation itself, right? The installer also has to give a warranty on their work, meaning the fact that they've actually done the installation for you. What happens after within a year as an example? Something goes wrong. Will they be able to fix it at no cost to the home owner? What is also important is to make sure that when the installation has been concluded and is commissioned and handed now to the home owner, that the installer issues a certificate of compliance, a COC certificate, because that also gives comfort, especially for insurers, that the installation has been done correctly from a safety standards perspective. That is absolutely critical to ensure that the home owner receives at the end of the day. Just taking us back to that insurance discussion we've just had earlier, and we spoke about that COC certificate, certificate of compliance that is issued by the installer when they hand over the system back to you. The question that one would ask now is, how do I inform my insurer from a property insurance perspective that I've just had my property installed with a solar installation, a solar solution, and what does it mean from an insurance perspective? Now, the first thing that a household needs to do, a home owner needs to do as soon as the installation has been concluded is to inform the insurer that I have just done an installation in my property. Now, the insurers are most likely going to ask for two things. The first one is the COC certificate that I just spoke about because it gives them comfort that there's no risk from a fire perspective. They will also want to get a sense of how much is the value of the installation that was done, the solar installation that was done, and generally they will ask for, let's say an invoice or a quotation, etc., because they'd want to get a sense of how much is the cost of the installation that you've just done. What's going to then happen is that they're going to take that additional value that you've added onto your property onto your sum in short amount in order to determine if there's any impact from a premium perspective. Now, an insurer will also look at the type of solution that you've just installed. If your installation is connected to your DB board, as an example, we spoke about the grid type solution, we spoke about a hybrid solution, we spoke about an off-grid solution. Generally, those are integrated into your DB board. Those insurers generally see them as property insurance because it is linked to the structure of your property. However, if your solar solution is a quick battery backup that you just got off, one of the retailers you got home, you plugged it on as an appliance, as an example, that is most likely going to be seen as a contents insurance rather than your building insurance or your property insurance. A lot of home owners are asking this question, and I think a lot of industry players are also asking this question. Does the solar installation add value to the property itself? Now, what we have seen in the market is that a property that has got a solar solution installed is more attractive to the buyer. I think that's quite obvious because we're all looking for properties that can help us survive load shedding. Those properties tend to sell quicker, but they're also more marketable because of that added benefit or that added feature that the house comes with. What we have seen is sellers are able to secure three to four percent more than the market value of their property just because they've got a solar installation done on their properties, and buyers are willing to pay that little extra, three to four percent more for a property that comes with a solar installation included. Now, the industry is asking this question, and a lot of industry players are trying to find a solution to this question, and the question is, does a solar installation actually add value to a property? I think really this industry is still at its infancy stages, and different players in the industry are trying to find the answer. What we know today is that it does make the property more marketable. We will learn as we go along as an industry and we'll finally come to a conclusion on by how much the value of the property will increase by when there's a solar installation done. As someone who has been through this journey for a couple of years and have been watching the industry take shape and try and find solutions, innovative solutions to solve for solar installations and access to financing for a household, and also thinking about what really this means from a climate risk perspective because we don't always talk about the climate risk part. I'm really excited to see how we as the industry play a role in shaping this market and making sure that you enable household to get access to electricity, even in the times where we are struggling with access to electricity. Thank you again for joining us in today's webwords. We really hope that you enjoyed today's session and hope to see you again when we do the next one. Cheers.