Your solar panels vs Eskom

Eskom’s years of mismanagement, corruption and serious lack of accountability ultimately led to a complete collapse of South Africa’s power grid.

Loadshedding has been part of South Africans’ daily lives for years. Unfortunately, this loadshedding has hampered the operations of various businesses, farms and industries and put serious pressure on everyone.

True to the nature of South Africans, we did not sit back and relax but sought alternatives to reliable power supply such as batteries, generators, but in most cases – solar panels.

What does Eskom say about this now?

• Eskom has launched a campaign in early 2024 urging all its customers to register their solar panels.
• Customers must have their system approved by a professional engineer (a requirement that can cost you more than R20 000).
• However, after sustained pressure from AfriForum, Eskom changed this requirement so that an accredited electrician can sign off on the system.
• Eskom insists that registrations are mandatory.

What AfriForum says:

• Eskom does not have the necessary policies in place to enforce registrations.
• Although legislation allows Eskom to require registrations, Eskom must first have proper policies in place.
• Until Eskom has the necessary policies in place, they may not force consumers to register.
• There is no legal basis for Eskom to issue fines.
• Persons who do not get their power directly from Eskom should not register with Eskom at all.

What is AfriForum doing now?

• AfriForum maintains that Eskom does not have proper policies in place to force users to register.
• AfriForum previously wrote to Eskom to ask what policies they have to make registration mandatory. Eskom was unable to provide this information.
• AfriForum will continue to put pressure on Eskom and Nersa to ensure that they do not abuse their power to force people to do something for which they do not have proper policies in place.

Do I have to register my solar panels with Eskom?