Solar panel customers will finally be able to sell excess electricity into the SA grid

President Ramaphosa made the announcement in his weekly newsletter on Monday. 

“Work will soon be completed on a pricing structure that will allow customers to sell surplus electricity from rooftop solar panels into the grid,” Ramaphosa said. 

This is a policy decision that is as welcome as it is overdue, appearing on the long list of relatively simple reforms that should have been implemented long ago. 

While hardly a panacea, the announcement comes against the backdrop of Eskom’s worsening woes, with rolling blackouts now in effect a permanent feature of South African life, wreaking havoc on households and businesses alike, big and small. 

One of the consequences has been robust demand for solar panels. 

Solana Energy, a solar provider, said in December last year that South African households had imported over R2.2-billion worth of solar panels in the first five months of 2022, according to a report in BusinessTech. 

One can only imagine that such demand is currently surging – anecdotal evidence points to a proliferation of solar panels on rooftops in middle-class suburbs. They are appearing like mushrooms after a heavy rain in this correspondent’s Johannesburg neighborhood. 

But so far, the only incentive on this front has been the rising intensity of load shedding and the consequent disruptions to daily life. It is a slow-motion privatisation of power generation that mirrors other trends of consumers who can absorb the costs of providing essentials for themselves in the face of South Africa’s failing state. Healthcare, education and security come to mind. 

Workers install solar panels at the Karoo Fresh Produce (Pty) Ltd farm in Groenfontein, South Africa, on 24 August 2022. (Photo: Guillem Sartorio / Bloomberg via Getty Images)