Eskom’s position on the 30 September solar registration deadline
Households with rooftop solar have been told they will not be fined by Eskom for missing next month’s deadline. Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena confirmed to energy adviser Chris Yelland and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse that the utility will not impose fines or cut electricity supply because a residential solar system has not been registered by 30 September 2026.
The confirmation was made public by Yelland, managing director of EE Business Intelligence and energy adviser to OUTA, and has not been issued by Eskom as a written public statement.
It follows months of warnings that unregistered installations could attract penalties of up to R30,000 and possible disconnection.
Yelland has disputed Eskom’s legal standing throughout. “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,” he said. He described cut-off threats as an empty threat with no basis in law, and said OUTA would challenge disconnections if they were carried out.
Eskom’s stated reason for registration is different. The utility has said registration is necessary for safety and to give the system operator a clearer picture of how much rooftop solar and battery storage sits behind customer meters.
What this changes for your household, and what it does not
The distinction that matters is who supplies your electricity. Eskom’s position covers Eskom-supplied customers. It does not cover municipalities, which set and enforce their own penalties under their own by-laws.
Penalties for an unregistered grid-tied system are set at municipal level and in 2026 typically run from about R6,000 to R30,000 depending on the municipality. The City of Cape Town, which normally charges R6,043 for registration and the bidirectional meter, has waived those household fees until 30 September 2026.
The 30 September date is also being misread. OUTA chief executive Wayne Duvenage said the deadline applies to the fee waiver and is not the registration deadline itself.
That waiver carries real money. Eskom has waived all registration and connection fees, up to R10,000 for urban or residential customers and up to R36,000 for rural customers, until 30 September 2026 for systems up to 50kW. A household that registers before the date submits a certificate of compliance, an inverter test certificate and an installation test report, and pays nothing.
Registering after the date means those fees return. Eskom’s standard registration fee has been reported at R2,400, frequently coupled with a bidirectional meter costing R10,000 or more before installation.
Safety compliance is separate from all of this and still applies. Yelland pointed out that safety is governed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Electrical Installation Regulations, saying that a system with a lawful certificate of compliance is safe.
The costs, the deadline and the dispute in numbers
| Item | Amount or detail |
|---|---|
| Eskom fee waiver value, urban or residential | Up to R10,000 |
| Eskom fee waiver value, rural | Up to R36,000 |
| Waiver applies to systems up to | 50kW |
| Original waiver deadline | 31 March 2026 |
| Extended waiver deadline | 30 September 2026 |
| Eskom standard registration fee | About R2,400 |
| Bidirectional meter cost | R10,000 or more |
| Cape Town household registration and meter fee | R6,043, waived until 30 September |
| Typical municipal penalties for non-registration | About R6,000 to R30,000 |
Eskom extended the waiver from 31 March to 30 September after poor uptake and concerns about the registration process. It has also dropped an earlier requirement for certain systems to be signed off by an Engineering Council of South Africa registered professional, with a registered electrician now able to issue the required certificate of compliance where applicable.
The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association welcomed the extension and called on municipal distributors to streamline their own small-scale embedded generation processes.
The legal disagreement remains live. OUTA’s position is that residents and businesses do not have to register a solar system of less than 100kW with the energy regulator or a local authority, and that the Electricity Regulation Act does not apply to behind-the-meter installations or to systems without a point of connection. Eskom has cited the same Act in support of registration.
Yelland has also questioned the commercial motive, saying Eskom wants customers on its home flex tariff, which carries a high fixed monthly charge and time-of-use pricing.
What solar owners should watch before 30 September
Several points are unresolved. Eskom has not published a written statement confirming the no-fine position, the confirmation reaching the public through Yelland and OUTA rather than through a media release. The legal dispute over registration obligations has not been tested in court. Municipal rules differ across South Africa’s electricity distributors, and Eskom’s assurance does not bind any of them.
Solar owners should establish which distributor supplies their property and which registration and compliance requirements apply to their specific installation, since the answer differs between an Eskom-supplied home, a Cape Town property and a system that does not feed back into the grid.
The next fixed markers are the expiry of the fee waiver on 30 September 2026, any formal Eskom statement clarifying its enforcement position, and municipal enforcement decisions in the metros that have set their own penalties.
