Big questions over Eskom crackdown on people with solar panels WRITTEN By Myles Illidge

Solar industry players, the Association for Renewable Energy Practitioners (Arep), and installer AWPower have raised concerns over a lack of clarity regarding Eskom’s crackdown on households and businesses with solar panels.

In December 2024, Eskom staff began visiting the utility’s direct customers to demand that those with grid-tied solar systems install additional equipment and obtain new approvals to be considered compliant.

It warned that customers who failed would face hefty fines.

Arep president Carel Ballack says the organisation has been fielding queries from concerned customers about the registration requirements, prompting the organisation to seek a meeting with Eskom.

Ballack said the issue was that Eskom’s requirements aren’t identical to those of some municipal power providers, adding that Eskom’s communication on the matter had been uncoordinated, leading to frustration among customers.

“We know that there’s a compulsory R2,500 registration fee that will be paid by anyone with the small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) system installed,” the Sunday Times quoted Ballack as saying.

He said Eskom had indicated that it wouldn’t impose penalties for non-compliant customers for at least the next year.

AWPower marketing manager Del-Mari Roberts warned that all grid-tied solar systems must be registered, regardless of whether they export energy.

She said there are currently more questions than answers about the registration process, adding that it would be less frustrating if it were clearly communicated and simplified.

Eskom says all unregistered grid-tied solar systems connected to its network are “illegal”. Moreover, it says the typical certificate of compliance from qualified technicians is insufficient.

A MyBroadband forum member informed us about the change in December last year. His community had been invited to a meeting hosted by Eskom under the guise of explaining SSEG rules.

“It was mentioned on multiple occasions that connecting a power plant to the national grid is a violation of the law, irrespective of whether you have configured it to feed back or not,” they said.

“Their point is it is capable of feeding into the grid, and so needs to comply with their standards.”

Hefty quotes to legalise systems

The Eskom customer relations officer who hosted the meeting requested that community members fill out the Application Form for SSEG. They said customers would be contacted for a quote to get their system compliant.

They also said applicants would be charged a deposit for a new bidirectional meter and a conversion fee to migrate them to the new Homeflex time-of-use tariff.

“We shall fit you with a new smart meter, which has the additional benefit of providing at least ten amps supply during load-shedding at stages one to four, and credit you with units generated from your generator,” they said.

Eskom’s quotes for customers to become compliant can be fairly hefty.

The MyBroadband forum customer was quoted R27,000 to comply with Eskom’s requirements, while a neighbour had to pay R50,000.

The power utility issued a “friendly warning” to its direct residential customers with grid-tied solar in mid-February 2025, saying they had roughly a year to register or they would face higher registration fees in future.

It also explained that residential customers with SSEG installations up to 50kWp production could qualify for an exemption from registration-related fees until March 2026.

These include the SSEG, connection, and tariff conversion fees.

“This initiative was launched during severe load-shedding periods when Eskom decided to waive connection charges for residential rooftop solar installations,” said Eskom.

“This decision was in response to the Energy Action Plan and supported incentives such as the tax rebate for solar installations.”

SOURCE:Big questions over Eskom crackdown on people with solar panels – MyBroadband