OceanWanderer

Hi Bobster Quite correct... I did apply some poetic licence! 😉

Yes, I saw this too and have often wondered around the legality of all of these requirements. I think Bobster nailed it, their network their rules.

OUTA recommends following the municipal bylaws for your own area. They only dealt with Eskom direct, not COJ or CP.

Hi Bobster Did COJ actually concert you to post paid after registration? David

Congratulations! Please keep us posted on the progress!

Hi Bobster My biggest loads are the pool and geyser. I invested in petrol appliances for all of my major garden equipment when we bought our house (8.5 years ago). There is definitely a premium to pay and of course servicing every year, but the joy of no cord is priceless. For my geyser, I am thinking of retro fitting a tube heater and seeing the difference that makes. The pool is 0.75kw motor and there dont seem to be any affordable options to replace so I will control this via the breaker on grey days. The overarching advice on this and another forum is to invest in more panels - the theory being a little from a lot on rainy days will keep the lights on and provide charge to the battery. I have seen this with my current array. To upgrade my system is currently R82k, registration is R6k. If the threat of a forced move to post paid (~R1400 per month) comes true then I will re-evaluate as the R1400 + consumption then comes in at R2150 so in four years the upgrade + registration would have been paid off. I also have the registration should I want to sell and, and, and.... Hope this helps! Cheers David

Hi Bobster Thank you so much! Denns detailed the process above, unfortunately, I have decided I am not ready and so I am going to register. David

Hi Denns Thank you so much for all of this information and congratulations on achieving electricity independence. My usage is slightly higher with a pool, geyser, appliances etc. (I have attached the generation stats for fun if you want to take a peek) I started in 2022 with a small system (10 x 450w panels, 7kw battery & 8kw inverter) with the intention being to scale when the time came which I thought was now! I posted the same question on a different forum and interestingly there was a very similar train of thought, invest in more energy generation via panels as opposed to a generator (a little bit from a lot makes enough). Funnily enough I noticed yesterday, that during the cloudy morning I was generating 10% of the potential, so if the maximum potential is 25kw at a 10% potential generation that is enough to charge batteries and run the office and fridge! Not sure if I am limited by my inverter as my maximum potential PV input on my inverter (SunSynk) is 10kw or perhaps I am I misunderstanding that and I can have 25kw connected but maximum draw is 10kw?, Fortunately I do have available roof space, facing West - my current panels face true North. Thank you once again for all of your input! Cheers David

Hi Denns Thank you so much, this is exactly the information I have been looking for! Greatly appreciated! Given the COJ disconnection challenge (I felt this when I applied for pre-paid - took 6 months; funnily enough going to CP directly got it sorted that afternoon), the process, time available and my own household readiness I have decided to pause on the upgrade. I agree with your sentiments with regards the registration and have asked my installer to add me to their registration list. I could not find definitive documentation that states off grid does not require registration in Joburg. All I could find was that in CoCT you dont register per se but notify. So, I figure this will need to be done now or at some future point if we ever wanted to sell and I also agree that to take advantage of the "amnesty" so to speak will save money in the long run. I am currently feeling like an "at conversion to post paid" risk individual once registered but time and the municipal process will tell. My take on this is if I can eek out enough months on my pre-paid account those count as non-post paid months and that will cover the registration cost. If you dont mind sharing, how are you going to deal with the possibility of 10 days worth of gloomy skies? My thoughts immediately jumped to retro-fitting the geyser with solar tubes and coupling a generator. Sadly my budget didnt allow for much more than a 3kw silent so that posed a challenge to charge the batteries as the genie would effectively run all day to charge the upgraded battery pack. Thanks again! David

Thanks all! Demo's comment is what worries me the most, as I have this from others, but getting rid of City Power very quickly would have paid for my solar upgrade within 3 years if the proposed forced change from pre-paid to post paid comes into effect. This then leaves me having to register, last quote I had was R6k for al of the documentation submission etc and waiting to see. My understanding is not registering may be playing with fire financially and not making use of the amnesty? David

Hi All I am in the final throws of planning my move to electricity self sufficiency and part of this would be disconnecting from City Power. I just need a little assistance with my understanding. The CoC will prove that the inverter has no incoming feed from City Power. I will use this to then request Disconnection from City Power and as such no solar registration is required as I have no potential to influence the grid. Is this correct? Thanks David

Wow! Thank you so much for the speedy feedback! In a recently released press statement, the date has moved from 31 December 2025 to 30 June 2026. Interestingly the press releases always seem to single out non-vending consumers as well as a change in which City Power are now responsible for the billing... I am guessing the non vending piece relates to folk who are not even needing to pay the R230 charge + some usage. I guess all of this, while related, does not detract from the SSEG registration requirement irrespective of motive or intent with regards what will be done with that data? In terms of the engineers sign off, which of the outlined steps require this? These items came from the SSEG booklet on the City Power website : https://citypower.co.za/customer-services/sseg I have the data sheet, NRS certificate. I ask as my installer now offers a turn key service for R6k, I was hoping I could register myself and save some money? Thank you! Cheers David

Hi All COJ was in the news again with regards solar users with prepaid meters and forcing them back to post paid. To my understanding this ups the minimum monthly charge from R230 to R998+VAT. Ignoring the virtues and legality of the above, should this come into effect it would make far more sense for me to (personally) bolster my existing solar panel array as well as batteries and potentially buy a generator for those continuously rainy days and go fully off grid. The questions I have are: 1. Have any former City Power/COJ solar users voluntarily gone off grid? Was the process simply to go to the municipal office and request it, settle any arrears and pay around R650? 2. Bar the subjective opinions on being able to sell again is an electricity connection a requirement to bond a property or was the user who posted this confused and they mixed this up with a CoC? 3. Probably a tough one but does anyone know if the reconnection fee is R12k if you voluntarily disconnected? I understand the costs if you stopped paying as these are well documented. Last question, not related to the above, has anybody registered since OUTA was able to have the electrical engineers sign off removed as a requirement? The process is now far less laborious, but, clearly a precursor to the above. The COJ has openly stated they are using drones to identify solar users and guess what was buzzing over head on Friday! Thank you in advance! Cheers David

Thank you so much! Fantastic!

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