Rent to Own Solar South Africa
Rent to own commercial solar through Daisy's in-house finance arm. R0 deposit options, approval in 48 business hours, and cashflow positive typically in year one.
Solar & EnergyWhy SA businesses choose Daisy for Solar & Energy
Most South African businesses that should have solar do not have it for one reason: the capital. A commercial installation is a significant upfront number, and it competes for the same budget as stock, vehicles and staff. So the decision gets deferred, usually into next year's capital cycle, while the electricity bill keeps climbing.
Rent to own removes that barrier. You get the system installed now and pay for it monthly, out of operating expenditure rather than capital. Daisy funds these agreements in-house through DaisyFin, which is unusual in the South African market: most solar installers have to send you to a bank or a third-party financier, and most financiers do not understand solar.
A solar system should do more than look good on a sustainability report. It should make financial sense.
Jaques du Plessis, Solar Director, Daisy
Why this matters more every year
Electricity is now 177% more expensive than it was ten years ago. A business that has never lost a single hour to an outage is still losing money every month it stays fully grid dependent. The outage is the visible problem. The cost curve is the one almost nobody is building a strategy around, because the fix has historically required capital that was never going to be approved.
The payback maths
Cashflow positive in year one is the point worth sitting with. It means the monthly payment is lower than the electricity saving it produces, so the system pays for itself from the first month rather than after a payback period. Whether that holds for your site depends on your consumption, your tariff and your roof, which is what the assessment establishes.
How rent to own works
- 01
Energy assessment
We analyse your actual consumption, your tariff, your site constraints and what is most at risk during an outage. This is what determines whether the numbers work, before anything is quoted.
- 02
System design
The right combination of solar, battery and generator capacity for what actually needs protecting, sized to real consumption rather than to a package.
- 03
Finance structured in-house
DaisyFin handles credit and approval directly. No bank, no broker, no third-party lender. Decisions in 48 business hours with a clear term sheet.
- 04
Install and commission
Handled end to end by our team from procurement through commissioning, with a Certificate of Compliance issued under SANS 10142-1.
- 05
Monitor and maintain
Real-time production and consumption data, with maintenance included rather than billed as a separate call-out, for the life of the agreement.
What the agreement looks like
R0 deposit options
Deposit-free structures are available, so the system can go in without drawing on working capital at all.
Approval in 48 business hours
DaisyFin runs credit and approval in-house. There is no bank in the middle, which is why the turnaround is days rather than weeks.
From R15,000 upwards
The same finance facility covers technology, print, security and energy assets, so a solar agreement can sit alongside the rest of your infrastructure.
Off-balance-sheet structures
Rental structures can keep the asset off your balance sheet. How that applies to your reporting is a question for your auditors, not for us.
Maintenance included
Monitoring and maintenance are part of the offering rather than a separate call-out cost, so the monthly figure is the whole figure.
One invoice
If Daisy already supplies your connectivity, IT, print or security, the energy agreement consolidates onto the same monthly invoice.
Rent to own, or buy outright
Neither is automatically right. It depends on what your capital is worth to you.
Buying outright
Rent to own through DaisyFin
Full system cost committed upfront, competing with stock, vehicles and hiring
Paid monthly from operating expenditure, with R0 deposit options
Payback period of roughly 2 to 5 years before the investment is recovered
Typically cashflow positive within the first year, because the saving covers the payment
Capital tied up in an asset for a 25 year design life
Working capital stays available for the business
Maintenance and monitoring usually quoted separately
Maintenance and monitoring included in the agreement
Bank or third-party finance if you need to fund it, on their timeline
Funded in-house, decision in 48 business hours
Capital purchase
Full system cost committed upfront, competing with stock, vehicles and hiring
Monthly agreement
Paid monthly from operating expenditure, with R0 deposit options
Capital purchase
Payback period of roughly 2 to 5 years before the investment is recovered
Monthly agreement
Typically cashflow positive within the first year, because the saving covers the payment
Capital purchase
Capital tied up in an asset for a 25 year design life
Monthly agreement
Working capital stays available for the business
Capital purchase
Maintenance and monitoring usually quoted separately
Monthly agreement
Maintenance and monitoring included in the agreement
Capital purchase
Bank or third-party finance if you need to fund it, on their timeline
Monthly agreement
Funded in-house, decision in 48 business hours
Who this suits
Rent to own tends to make most sense for businesses that are absorbing real losses from rising electricity costs but cannot justify the capital outlay to fix it: manufacturers running multiple shifts, cold chain and food operations, agriculture, retail groups with many sites, and any operation where the tariff has become one of the larger lines on the income statement.
It suits multi-site operators particularly well, because each site can be assessed and structured on its own numbers rather than requiring one large capital decision across the whole estate.
Common questions
How long is the term?
The term is structured around the system size and what the site can support monthly, so it is set during the assessment rather than offered as a fixed product. Your term sheet states it in writing before you sign anything.
What happens at the end of the agreement?
That is set out in the term sheet. Because DaisyFin is the financier rather than a broker, the end-of-term arrangement is agreed directly with us rather than being dictated by a third party.
Do we need to own the building?
This is worth raising at the assessment. Roof ownership, lease length and landlord consent all affect how a solar agreement can be structured, and it is better to establish that at the start than after a design has been done.
Is this the same as a Power Purchase Agreement?
No. A PPA means you buy the electricity the system produces at an agreed rate. Rent to own means you are paying for the system itself. We structure both, and the assessment will tell you which fits your situation better.
What if we only need backup power, not full solar?
Then say so. The assessment establishes whether you are mainly solving for outage protection or for the cost of grid electricity. Often it is both, but it will tell you honestly which matters more rather than defaulting to the bigger sale.
Does the finance cover batteries and generators too?
Yes. The same facility covers the full installation, including battery backup, generator capacity and the Daisy CUBE, not just the panels.
Get the numbers for your site
There is nothing to quote until we understand your consumption and your tariff. Book an energy assessment and we will model what a rent to own agreement would actually cost you per month against what it would save, and tell you honestly if the numbers do not work for your site.
Related: Solar solutions · Generators · UPS and backup power · DaisyFin asset finance
“Great service from Katheleen Naidoo and Jono. They do constant follow ups and give prompt feedback. Turnaround times are impressive, highly recommend using Daisy Business Solutions.”
Bhavik Garach
Sandton
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