FNB has entered into the Energy Bounce Back (EBB) Loan Guarantee Scheme announced by National Treasury and administered by the South African Reserve Bank to help customers mitigate the impact of power supply challenges. The scheme is designed to assist businesses and households through financial incentives for the installation of rooftop solar-generated energy and energy storage assets. It is currently available for commercial customers and will soon be extended to individual FNB and non-FNB customers.
Jacques Celliers, FNB CEO, says, “We are grateful for the opportunity to once again enable customers to invest in Solar equipment via the National Treasury EBB loan guarantee scheme as we did in the previous schemes. Energy security continues to be one of the key challenges for individual customers, families, and businesses. As a financial services partner, we want to help our customers meet their day-to-day requirements to enable them to thrive. While we have been supporting our customers with a range of solutions to build resilience against energy challenges, we believe that the Energy Bounce Back Loan Scheme adds significant value as it allows us to help many more.”
Criteria for commercial customers includes:
- The application is subject to FNB’s credit risk evaluation and processes.
- Businesses can access the scheme through FNB and WesBank asset-based finance.
- The loan options range from a minimum of R10 000 to a maximum of R10 million.
- Any business with a maximum turnover of R300 million per annum can apply.
- Customers can settle the loan early and pay no penalty fees.
- No deposit is required.
- Only one active Energy Bounce Back Loan can be allocated at a time.
- The loan cannot be used to pay back existing debt.
Criteria for individuals includes:
- The application is subject to FNB’s credit risk evaluation and processes.
- Apply for a personal loan at a personalised interest rate.
- After proof of use is verified, the interest rate is lowered to prime +1%, fixed for the term of personal loan.
- Individuals can take up a personal loan with a minimum of R3 000 up to R300 000.
- At least 90% of the funds must be used for solar panels and related expenses such as batteries, inverters.
- For individuals, back-up energy solutions won’t qualify for the benefit.
- Only one Energy Bounce Back loan can be taken by an individual customer.
“We are encouraged by the progress made with National Treasury and expect that we will soon be able to offer our individual customers access to the Energy Bounce Back Loan before the end of the year; our business clients can access the offer immediately off the back of the first bounce back offering. This will complement our current offerings, which include educational material, energy solutions, and finance, available under nav>> Energy on the FNB App. Our solutions start from as little as R129 per month for a range that includes UPS systems, power trolleys, lithium-ion power stations, standalone batteries, solar panels, inverters, generators, and heat pumps. These options, along with the Energy Bounce Back Loan Guarantee Scheme, will go a long way towards assisting customers with their energy requirements,” Celliers adds.
