Pay As You Save® (PAYS®)

The document introduces Pay As You Save (PAYS) as a financing model to accelerate the transition from diesel to electric buses in South Africa. By shifting the cost of batteries and charging infrastructure from the bus operator's balance sheet to a municipality-managed on-bill tariff, PAYS removes the primary barrier of high upfront capital costs. The model benefits bus service providers through immediate operational savings, utilities through increased electricity revenue and secure cost recovery, and capital providers through reduced risk by lending to creditworthy municipalities.

• Electric buses are identified as the most effective business case for the electrification of road transport due to their space, emissions, and energy efficiency, although they face barriers regarding cost and range.
• The PAYS financing model removes the high upfront cost of electric buses by allowing the operator to pay only the equivalent of a diesel bus, while the municipality finances the battery and charging infrastructure.
• Under the PAYS mechanism, the municipality recovers costs via a fixed 'PAYS tariff' added to the bus operator's electricity bill, which ensures operational savings for the operator and a return for the funder.
• The PAYS model provides specific advantages to stakeholders: bus operators move capital expenditure to operating expenses; utilities gain new electricity revenue and secure payment through the ability to disconnect service; and capital providers reduce risk by dealing with creditworthy municipalities rather than individual operators.
• In a scenario for Cape Town, financing 100 electric buses could reduce carbon emissions by 30% (6,000 tons) if using the national grid, or up to 70% (19,200 tons) if using renewable energy, while generating 86.4GWh in additional electricity sales.

APA

Kumalo, K. (2018). Pay As You Save® (PAYS®). GreenCape. https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/PAYS-INDUSTRY-BRIEF-OPTION-Final.pdf

Chicago

Kumalo, Khanyiselo. Pay As You Save® (PAYS®). GreenCape, 2018. https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/PAYS-INDUSTRY-BRIEF-OPTION-Final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kumalo |first1=Khanyiselo |title=Pay As You Save® (PAYS®) |publisher=GreenCape |date=April 2018 |url=https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/PAYS-INDUSTRY-BRIEF-OPTION-Final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kumalo2018pay, author = {Kumalo, Khanyiselo}, title = {{Pay As You Save® (PAYS®)}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2018}, month = apr, url = {https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/PAYS-INDUSTRY-BRIEF-OPTION-Final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }