[This was total crap which the Blacks who run the failing Electricity company, ESKOM came up with. It is total insanity. We are ruled by malicious idiots. Jan]

Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena has reportedly confirmed that the utility won’t fine residential customers or cut their electricity supply for failing to register their solar systems by 30 September 2026.

This was revealed by EE Business Intelligence managing director and energy expert Chris Yelland, who said Mokwena had confirmed this to him and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA).

Yelland also spoke to PowerFM about the requirements after listening in on an interview with Mokwena, in which she said that solar registration was required to secure the grid and for safety reasons.

“As the energy advisor for OUTA, I and OUTA have a completely different view. It is our view that much of what Mokwena said is disingenuous, misleading, and one-sided,” Yelland said.

He highlighted that Eskom and some municipalities had threatened those with unregistered solar systems with fines of up to R30,000 and disconnection of supply.

“Eskom has no authority to issue fines. It is not a court, it is not a statutory authority, it doesn’t write the law, and there is no provision for Eskom to issue fines,” Yelland said.

“We believe that cut-offs are a threat, an empty threat, and that they have no basis in law, and they will be challenged if they start cutting off people who have not registered their solar system.”

He said OUTA’s view was that South African residents and businesses do not have to register a solar system of less than 100kW with the energy regulator or a local authority.

He added that the Electricity Regulation Act, which Mokwena also cited, does not apply to behind-the-meter installations, nor to solar or battery energy systems without a point of connection.

“All solar PV systems and battery energy systems on residential property do not have a point of connection with the municipal network,” Yelland said.

“Any citing of the Electricity Regulation Act as giving the authority to register is incorrect. Furthermore, the Act states very clearly the conditions by which a distributor may disconnect a customer.”

He added that according to the Act, failing to register a system is not one of the reasons that entitle Eskom to cut a customer’s supply.

Eskom’s reasons don’t hold water

Chris Yelland, EE Business Intelligence managing director
Yelland said the question at hand was: Why does Eskom want to register solar systems? He said the power utility has regularly cited two primary reasons.

“The first is to ensure safety on the customer’s premises and on the network, in other words, on the distributor side of the meter,” Yelland said.

“The second reason is to enable the system operator to know how much solar PV and battery energy storage is out there on customer premises behind the meter.”

Yelland said safety isn’t determined by registering with Eskom. Doing so does not enhance the safety of your system.

He said the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Electrical Installation Regulations, and the Certificate of Compliance (CoC) cover safety aspects and that the CoC is legal proof of a safe system.

“If you have a lawful Certificate of Compliance, your system is safe not only to people on your premises itself, but to the customer’s side of the grid,” Yelland said.

“The suggestion that a solar PV system causes safety issues on the utility side of the meter is simply not true.”

Yelland described Eskom’s reasoning that the system operator must be able to know how much solar is out there as absolute nonsense.

“Eskom knows how much solar PV is out there already without needing to register. They publish how much solar PV is out there on their website every single week,” he said.

“You do not need to register the system to know how much is out there and, in any case, the vast majority of such systems are not registered with Eskom.”

Yelland said Eskom has far more accurate ways of knowing how much residential solar generation is in South Africa.

“There are satellite surveillance methods, so the reasons that Eskom give for this are spurious,” he stated.

Source: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/662147-eskom-backs-down-on-r30000-fines-for-people-with-unregistered-solar-panels.html