What changed on Eskom solar registration, and when
Eskom solar registration charges have been waived until further notice, the utility announced on Wednesday, 1 October 2026.
The deadline that announcement replaced expired at midnight the night before. Anyone who registered in a rush on 30 September did so against a cut-off that was removed the following morning.
Eskom’s position is that the registration requirement itself has not changed. The utility said the extension “does not change the underlying regulatory requirement” for qualifying grid-connected generation facilities to be registered.
What has gone is the money and the date. No registration-related charge applies, and no new deadline has been set.
The deadline moved twice, then disappeared
This is the second extension. The original deadline was 31 March 2026. It moved to 30 September 2026. It has now been removed entirely.
That fits a pattern. Eskom’s position on rooftop solar has been dismantled piece by piece over the past year.
| Eskom’s earlier position | Where it stands now |
|---|---|
| Fines of up to R30 000 for unregistered grid-connected systems | Withdrawn |
| Disconnection of supply for failure to register | Withdrawn |
| Sign-off by an engineer registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa | No longer required |
| Registration fees running to thousands of rands | Waived until further notice |
| Registration deadline of 31 March 2026 | Moved to 30 September, then removed |
| Registration itself | Still required |
Eskom now accepts a Certificate of Compliance issued by a qualified installation electrician or electrical contractor registered with the Department of Employment and Labour, in place of the engineer sign-off it originally demanded.
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena confirmed in mid-August 2026 that the utility would not fine or disconnect customers who failed to register by the 30 September deadline, while maintaining that registration was required for grid security and safety.
Each of those changes followed pressure from solar owners, the solar industry and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse.
Municipal customers are not covered
This is the part that makes the headline framing wrong, and it affects more households than the waiver does.
The waiver applies only to qualifying customers supplied directly by Eskom. Customers billed by a municipality must contact their municipal redistributor about registration requirements and any charges that apply.
Most urban South African households buy electricity from a metro or local municipality, not from Eskom. For them, nothing announced this week changes anything. Each municipality sets its own position, and some have issued their own registration demands and threatened their own penalties.
If you pay your electricity account to the City of Tshwane, Johannesburg, Cape Town or eThekwini, this waiver is not yours. You need to ask your municipality directly.
That sits on top of the cost pressure that drove the solar rollout in the first place, including the Eskom tariff increase in April and borrowing costs that have stayed higher for longer.
Two positions on whether you must register at all
Eskom and its critics disagree on the legal obligation. Both positions are set out here as their holders put them. No court has ruled on the question.
| Question | Eskom’s position | OUTA and Chris Yelland’s position |
|---|---|---|
| Must you register? | Yes, for qualifying grid-connected systems up to 50 kVA on its distribution network | Not necessary below the threshold if you hold a lawful Certificate of Compliance |
| Is a CoC enough? | No. A CoC confirms electrical safety compliance, while registration records location, technology and installed capacity | Yes for safety purposes, and it prevents disconnection on safety grounds |
| Can Eskom fine you? | Fine threats have been withdrawn | Eskom has no authority to issue fines, as it is not a court or a statutory authority |
| Can Eskom cut you off? | Disconnection threats have been withdrawn | Cut-offs have no basis in law and would be challenged |
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse chief executive Wayne Duvenage, speaking to EE Business Intelligence managing director Chris Yelland, said that for an Eskom client with solar and a compliance certificate under the threshold, “we cannot see the reason and rationality for you to register”.
Yelland, who is also OUTA’s energy advisor, said he would not register his own system but would make sure he held a valid lawful Certificate of Compliance as proof of technical and safety compliance. He added that customers comfortable with the costs have no reason not to register.
He has argued that the Electricity Regulation Act does not apply to behind-the-meter installations or to solar and battery systems without a grid connection point, and that failure to register is not a ground for disconnection under that Act.
Eskom’s counter is that registration enables customer-owned generation to be integrated into a shared network, and lays the foundation for bidirectional smart metering, appropriate tariffs and credits, and future flexibility services.
Southafriworld is not a legal adviser and takes no position on which reading is correct. Anyone unsure of their obligation should take their own advice.
The threshold nobody has reconciled
There is one practical problem in all of this that neither side has cleared up.
Eskom states the requirement as applying to eligible customer-owned generation systems of up to 50 kVA connected directly to its distribution network. Yelland refers to a threshold of 100 kW, which is the maximum allowable without NERSA registration.
Those are different numbers in different units. Kilovolt-amperes and kilowatts are not interchangeable, and the two figures describe different regulatory regimes. A homeowner trying to work out whether their system falls inside or outside the requirement has no straightforward way to tell from the public statements.
Eskom says eligible customers can begin the process through its Small-Scale Embedded Generation registration platform.
Three things are now settled. There is no charge. There is no deadline. And there is still a stated requirement to register, which Eskom maintains and OUTA disputes, with no court ruling either way.
For solar owners, the more immediate risk this year has been physical rather than regulatory, with syndicates targeting installed panels and batteries at South African homes.
HOW WE REPORTED THIS CROSS-CHECKED
- This article was built from Eskom's announcement of 1 October 2026 extending its waiver of registration-related charges for small-scale embedded generation until further notice, and from the utility's own stated position that the waiver does not remove the underlying registration requirement.
- The announcement was placed against the deadline it replaced, which expired at midnight on 30 September 2026, and against the original deadline of 31 March 2026, so the sequence of two extensions and the final removal of the date could be set out plainly.
- The concessions Eskom has made over this process were compiled into a single table from its successive positions on fines, disconnection, engineer sign-off, fees and the deadline itself, because no account had assembled them and the pattern is what explains where the matter now stands.
- The restriction of the waiver to customers supplied directly by Eskom was given its own section, because most urban households buy electricity from a municipality rather than from Eskom and the waiver does not reach them.
- The competing legal positions of Eskom and of OUTA's energy advisor are set out side by side without this article ruling between them, because no court has decided the question and Southafriworld is not in a position to advise readers on a legal obligation. No comment was sought from any party.
- This article was drafted with AI assistance and the facts, figures and quotations were checked against the primary source by the editor before publication.
