Organisations wanting to have Table Mountain floodlit for a particular occasion will pay close on R4 500 for a service fee and another R121.93 for every hour the lights stay on.
This is a big jump from the around R450 an hour flat rate in the past.
The increase is partly because of Eskom's electricity price hikes, but primarily because the city council has woken up to the fact that it has been "grossly undercharging" organisations which pay to light up the mountain.
Deputy mayor Ian Neilson said yesterday: "There are times when the city switches on the lights and times where private people can have them switched on for an event. There is an application process to be followed. But what we found was that we were drastically undercharging what it costs us to have the floodlights on."
Although Table Mountain is part of a national park, the floodlights were installed and are operated by the city council. All money charged to organisations for having the mountain floodlit goes to the city.
Some Capetonians may be puzzled as to the seemingly arbitrary times when the lights on the mountain are on or off. According to the city's policy on the use of the floodlights, the council tries to find a balance between the need to save electricity and cut its carbon footprint and the need to promote Cape Town.
The policy allows for the floodlights to be used at any time by the emergency services for search and rescue on the mountain. The city foots the bill in such cases.
The city council may also use the floodlights on the mountain over the Christmas holiday season, from December 16 to January 5, from sunset until 10pm on Sundays to Thursdays, and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
Anyone can apply to have the floodlights switched on for an event which has "particular cultural, historical or traditional significance for the people of Cape Town or South Africa".
They would have to buy wind energy from the Darling Wind Power project to do so, they can use the floodlights only outside peak demand periods and not during any period of high risk declared by Eskom. A request has to be filed 20 working days before the event.
Table Mountain National Park has also to approve such cases. Park head Paddy Gordon said he turned down all applications for use of the lights for commercial purposes or for use by any one segment of the Cape Town community.
"I have approved application only for awareness days that affect the entire community, such as World Aids Day, Diabetes Awareness Day, Heart Awareness Day," Gordon said.
The park would never allow laser images or messages, he said, as this degraded the mountain.
First prize would be to have the floodlights turned off permanently, because of the impact of the light on the daily rhythms of the plants, animals and insects, because of energy conservation and in the interests of cutting our carbon footprint, Gordon said.
