latest regulations and requirements for City Power PV instalation

[keithh]

Good Morning

I have been on the forum for some time now and the current load shedding has caused me to look more seriously into having a system installed at my home.

I have seen many topics on this but, some are dated and I was wondering if there has been any changes to this. I am trying to find out more information on the requirements for installing a PV system in Johannesburg (City Power)

What documents are required for this and are these examples of these that one can use?

Have the regulations for this changed at all with regards to the size of inverters than can be installed with a grid tired system?

[Bobster.]

Confusion reigns. Can I suggest that you contact City Power and/or your ward councilor. Keep copies of the correspondence - it may be helpful at some point to show that you did ask the question and what the responses were.

We should expect that a proper spec and a certification process will be imposed at some point. City Power can't allow just any old hardware to be connected to their grid. It's not an unreasonable requirement, but it would be very helpful if policy was clearly communicated. I have had City Power at my place at least twice, checking to see if I have bypassed my meter. I've shown them the panels on my roof, they've inspected my meter, I can show them a large credit on the pre-paid meter. The staff sent out to investigate just shrug - which doesn't help anybody.

I also suggest that you don't try to feed surplus PV back into the grid. The official way to do this involves a reseller's tariff, and I struggle to see how anybody with a domestic PV system can do anything bar lose money on that tariff (which may be the point). Also some meters can't tell which way the energy is flowing, or don't take kindly to current flowing anyway but from the grid to your DB.

[madness_za]

There are no official regs for Johannesburg/Gauteng

[keithh]

17 hours ago, Bobster. said:

Confusion reigns. Can I suggest that you contact City Power and/or your ward councilor. Keep copies of the correspondence - it may be helpful at some point to show that you did ask the question and what the responses were.

We should expect that a proper spec and a certification process will be imposed at some point. City Power can't allow just any old hardware to be connected to their grid. It's not an unreasonable requirement, but it would be very helpful if policy was clearly communicated. I have had City Power at my place at least twice, checking to see if I have bypassed my meter. I've shown them the panels on my roof, they've inspected my meter, I can show them a large credit on the pre-paid meter. The staff sent out to investigate just shrug - which doesn't help anybody.

I also suggest that you don't try to feed surplus PV back into the grid. The official way to do this involves a reseller's tariff, and I struggle to see how anybody with a domestic PV system can do anything bar lose money on that tariff (which may be the point). Also some meters can't tell which way the energy is flowing, or don't take kindly to current flowing anyway but from the grid to your DB.

Good Morning Bobster

Thank you for the feedback. What forms did you complete for this?

It is my intention to install an inverter that will comply with the regulations, I have seen it is on the CoCT list so I am hoping that it will be on the approved list when City Power publish one. I agree that it is not worthwhile to sell my surplus PV to City Power, all I want to do is provide for my own needs and try to cover the load shedding periods.

[Bobster.]

41 minutes ago, keithh said:

Good Morning Bobster

Thank you for the feedback. What forms did you complete for this?

It is my intention to install an inverter that will comply with the regulations, I have seen it is on the CoCT list so I am hoping that it will be on the approved list when City Power publish one. I agree that it is not worthwhile to sell my surplus PV to City Power, all I want to do is provide for my own needs and try to cover the load shedding periods.

I didn't fill in any forms. My point is that the process, if there is one, is well hidden. As I said, I've had inspectors at my property, because they see a drastic slowdown of movement on my meter, but nobody I've spoken to (including the elected representative for this area) seems to know what I should do. 

[GoodweYES]

Maybe old.....

City-Power-Embedded-PV-Generation-Application-Form-V2.pdf City_Power_Install_Standards.pdf

[GoodweYES]

Some interesting reading from SSEG.org.za

https://www.sseg.org.za/municipality/city-of-johannesburg-metropolitan/

[Eugenevz]

Does anyone know if the rules surrounding solar registrations have changed in jhb. Ie are you required to register your solar powered system yet?

[Sc00bs]

I am personally not filling in any forms voluntarily, there is talk of them wanting to have a network connection fee for solar power owners.

I will go totally off-grid if they try to charge me a network connection rate as my bill now is so small it would not make sense to be paying them R700 a month to connect to Citypower when my bill is R200-300 a month.  

 

 

[madness_za]

9 hours ago, Eugenevz said:

Does anyone know if the rules surrounding solar registrations have changed in jhb. Ie are you required to register your solar powered system yet?

Still nothing as far as I am aware

[Bobster.]

9 hours ago, Sc00bs said:

I am personally not filling in any forms voluntarily, there is talk of them wanting to have a network connection fee for solar power owners.

I will go totally off-grid if they try to charge me a network connection rate as my bill now is so small it would not make sense to be paying them R700 a month to connect to Citypower when my bill is R200-300 a month.  

There are three possibilities in terms of domestic tariffs if you have PV. 

1) post-paid

2) pre-paid (which I have and which I assume you have) 

3) reseller's tariff. 

If you are on (1), which is the default, and you get PV, you will still be liable for the fixed fees each month. 

(3) is what you opt for if you want to sell your excess production to City Power. That tariff has the same fixed fees as (1).

The current grey area is if you have PV and pre-paid. 

I had pre-paid before I had PV. City Power noticed the drop off on my meter and came to take a look. They know that I have PV. Nothing has happened. 

A relative has had PV installed and now wishes to convert to pre-paid. I shall try to monitor that situation. 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Bobster.

[Sc00bs]

Correct @Bobster.  I am on prepaid with City Power so there is no network connection fee. At the moment there is a large disparity between the electricity costs for post-paid vs prepaid with post-paid users subsidising the prepaid users.

They have been trying to sort the charges out for the last 7 years but no politician has had the stomach for it as yet. Herman Mashaba wanted to have a R200 network fee in 2019 but quickly wound back that idea when the voters voiced their outrage at the idea. 

I believe that they will probably try to institute a "solar" surcharge for middle class people with solar systems connected to the power network, which will help them avoid trying to charge the lower income groups.

There was talk of having no connection fee for households with a 20A breaker so I might convert to a 20A breaker if that makes sense. 

My personal feeling is that now that I have been using solar power for the last three years my energy consumption is pretty easy to forecast and to work out what is going to be the cheapest solution.  If they try to charge me too much to connect to the network I will just disconnect and use my generator/put up more panels. 

My concern is that they try to do with solar what they are busy doing to the farmers with the water rights. Get everyone to fill in forms with their consumption and then when they have all the data, work out some way to extract money with a "solar" tax of some sorts. 

[Bobster.]

9 hours ago, Sc00bs said:

Correct @Bobster.  I am on prepaid with City Power so there is no network connection fee. At the moment there is a large disparity between the electricity costs for post-paid vs prepaid with post-paid users subsidising the prepaid users.

I dispute that! Not so much with you, but I would with the council if the need arose. Prepaid users pay for something they haven't used yet. Post paid users are paying 60 days later. Prepaid users pay more per unit, and spare the city the cost of having to administer an account. All that is worth something. Businesses should always give a consideration to customers who pay early.

9 hours ago, Sc00bs said:

They have been trying to sort the charges out for the last 7 years but no politician has had the stomach for it as yet. Herman Mashaba wanted to have a R200 network fee in 2019 but quickly wound back that idea when the voters voiced their outrage at the idea. 

I believe that they will probably try to institute a "solar" surcharge for middle class people with solar systems connected to the power network, which will help them avoid trying to charge the lower income groups.

There was talk of having no connection fee for households with a 20A breaker so I might convert to a 20A breaker if that makes sense. 

There was talk of that last year. The initial proposal included real relief for the poorest residents of the city, and the R200 surcharge for prepaid users. In the end they just left everything as it was and whacked the unit price up by 18% - which, of course, put more pressure on the poor.

9 hours ago, Sc00bs said:

My personal feeling is that now that I have been using solar power for the last three years my energy consumption is pretty easy to forecast and to work out what is going to be the cheapest solution.  If they try to charge me too much to connect to the network I will just disconnect and use my generator/put up more panels. 

My concern is that they try to do with solar what they are busy doing to the farmers with the water rights. Get everyone to fill in forms with their consumption and then when they have all the data, work out some way to extract money with a "solar" tax of some sorts. 

They already know what you use. There's not many properties in Johannesburg with a legal connection but no smart meter. Plenty of my neighbours have a smart meter inside their property, get billed every month, yet nobody comes to read the meter. Or they've done the sums and gone to prepaid. 

Right now, in Johannesburg, prepaid is a no-brainer.

My guess is that they will eventually require all PV equipped households to go on to the reseller's tariff.