Eskom waives solar registration fees for homeowners until 2026

Amid criticism over the costs associated with complying with requirements for homeowners who have installed or want to install rooftop solar, Eskom has waived registration fees for residential customers installing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems up to 50kVA.

The waiver, effective from April 2025 until March 2026, will save homeowners who plan to add a solar array on their rooftop at least R9,000.

The news follows consternation about the high costs and onerous procedures associated with complying with Eskom requirements for homeowners who have installed or want to install rooftop solar.

These requirements include a new meter, as well as a requirement that an accredited engineer sign off on installations, a potentially costly exercise.

Eskom’s small-scale embedded generator (SSEG) application information fact sheet explains that “before commissioning, all tests must be done according to the Embedded Generation Installation (EGI) compliance test report, and these must be signed off by a competent Engineering Council of South Africa (Ecsa) registered professional engineer or technologist”.

Read more: Solar registration fees will lead to more people permanently leaving Eskom

Accordingly, the waiver is an attempt to remove one of the disincentives to registration in the absence of any incentive.

The small-scale embedded generator section of Eskom’s website concedes: “There are no Eskom incentives [to encourage rooftop solar], but there are, however, benefits by using the grid as a battery. These are supported with tariff options for the surplus energy exported into the grid.”

It also notes, “Eskom is offering no financial incentives.”

Onicah Rantwane, chief adviser in Eskom’s electricity pricing department, said the waiver covered the standard tariff conversion fee, connection fees and smart meter installation, collectively valued at about R9,000.

It’s important to note that while Eskom’s registration fees relate to its direct customers, municipalities have their own rules for connection and associated costs.

The cost of an engineer

Professor Vally Padayachee from the Association of Municipal Electricity Utilities (AMEU), in a webinar on Monday, emphasised that registration was not just a bureaucratic measure but was “critical” for maintaining the safety and reliability of the national electricity grid.

Put differently, Eskom has a technical, engineering-based need to be informed of generators connecting to the national grid. Padayachee stressed that while South Africans were entitled to “non-discriminated access”, that did not mean they were entitled to “unfettered access” to the grid.

Rantwane said customers registering their solar installations must adopt Eskom’s mandatory Homeflex tariff, a time-of-use pricing model.

She explained that as of this month, the tariff delineates the various costs so customers can “now see exactly what they are paying for on their electricity bill”. Before this, network charges, ancillary services and retail costs were all bundled into one charge.

“Eskom does not discriminate between customers who got SSEG and those that don’t,” said Rantwane. “They will pay exactly the same fixed charge.”

The Homeflex tariff introduces time-based pricing to encourage users to shift their electricity usage away from peak periods, reducing strain on Eskom’s grid.

Eskom explains that a time-of-use tarriff refers to a tariff with energy charges that change during different time-of-use periods and seasons, where time-of-use periods mean time blocks based on the volume of electricity demand during high, mid and low demand periods and may differ per tariff.

The time-of-use periods typically are peak, standard and off-peak and differ in high- and low-demand seasons.

Read more: How Eskom’s 2025/26 electricity tariffs will affect residential customers

Padayachee also addressed public concerns around additional costs, particularly the professional engineer sign-off required for installations, highlighting the importance of ensuring safety and compliance, especially when dealing with electrical infrastructure.

“Underpinning all of these regulations and installation is safety. Now, how much value do you place on safety? We want to make sure that the infrastructure that's put on your rooftop is sound as per accepted norms to ensure that those installations are safe for society.”

Some reports have indicated that it could cost about R20,000 for sign-off by a professional engineer, which Daily Maverick has not confirmed.

“The cost element has to be addressed,” said Padayachee.

“I think the R30,000 and R20,000 … I’m not sure where such figures come from; I think a reasonable figure is R10,000 or less.”

“We as AMEU are also looking at coming up with a list of professionals that we could have on a panel that could be utilised by the industry. But the bottom line is safety … is absolutely critical.”

Surging solar

In recent years, rooftop solar uptake has surged in South Africa, driven by a combination of the yearslong load shedding crisis, rising electricity prices and falling solar panel prices. Between March 2022 and June 2023, South Africa’s installed rooftop solar capacity increased by 349%, from 983MW to 4,412MW.

To put that into perspective, from 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2024, 3,443MW of wind, 2,287MW of large-scale solar PV and 500MW of CSP (concentrated solar thermal power) became operational in South Africa under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, according to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR’s) latest utility-scale power generation statistics in South Africa report. This, however, refers to utility-scale generation.

Despite the rapid growth in solar installations, research by the CSIR also shows that affordability remains a barrier for lower-income households, especially in the absence of any incentives. According to the CSIR, rooftop solar is predominantly adopted by wealthier households, highlighting underlying issues of energy justice and accessibility.

One of the ways this is being tackled is the Free Basic Alternative Energy policy, which Stats SA explains “instructs municipalities to supply alternative sources of energy to poor households that are not connected to the grid”.

The map below shows where these services are provided.

“Of South Africa’s 257 municipalities, 21 municipalities across seven provinces supplied solar home systems to 149,919 households. This is up from 113,197 households in 2017,” according to Stats SA.



(Source: Stats SA)

Looking ahead, Eskom plans to review the waiver policy after March 2026, with Rantwane indicating changes would depend on uptake levels and policy outcomes.

‘Make the waiver permanent’

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Dr Dion George on Wednesday, however, called for the waiver to be made permanent.

A statement from the department notes: “While the current exemption, covering registration fees, smart meter costs, and connection charges until March 2026, is a positive measure — saving households with typical 16kVA systems up to R9,132 — it remains a temporary fix.

“We urge Eskom to make these benefits permanent for residential customers. The looming reinstatement of fees after March 2026 risks creating a financial barrier that could deter investment in solar PV and other renewable solutions, slowing progress when rapid, widespread adoption is essential to meet our commitments under the Paris Agreement and the Climate Change Act.

“We stand ready to collaborate with Eskom, and the private sector to deliver practical, long-term solutions that hasten this energy transition. A sustainable future is within reach, but it demands bold, consistent action — starting with the permanent removal of financial disincentives that hinder residential renewable energy adoption.” DM