I would like to explore what options we have to coexist with the new Eskom Regulations. I will ask a few furtyer questions as I go.

We are two pensioners, not too well off, and have a very small house in a complex. We have made what is a huge investment to us to install a 5kVa hybrid inverter, 8 panels and 3 batteries totalling 11 kWh. We thought we were helping the situation by reducing our usage of Eskom who appeared to be struggling to keep the lights on.

As we are based in Cape Town we are pretty much off grid for 8 months, but during the winter months need the grid to maintain battery charge. We are connected to Eskom on the HomeLight, prepaid tariff.

if we are forced to register and switch to the HomeFlex rate, we will be paying about 8 times what we are currently paying. It’s going to be a huge burden for us, having spent so much of our savings on the solar kit.

So .. my first question is, if we switch to an off grid installation for the inverter, and rewire our house to leave only the lights on Eskom, putting the rest onto the inverter which will not be connected to the grid in any way - would this be enough to avoid being required to register? Totally separate distribution board and wiring?

(I will get onto the batteries and the requirement to charge them during winter later. I have some ideas in this regard I would like to explore in further questions in the comments later).

4 hours ago, DesRamsay said:

So .. my first question is, if we switch to an off grid installation for the inverter, and rewire our house to leave only the lights on Eskom

Unfortunately the lights don't count for much. Go for the house on solar and wire the geyser to change over between solar in summer and Eskom in winter.

Otherwise, go off grid and install a seperate charger on your battery.

How much extra do you use from Eskom in winter? Does it make financial sense to have a small generator that charges the batteries alone. Need more info on how much you use from Eskom in winter. Is everything switched to gas? Is your geyser on a heat pump? Gas geyser?

I said elsewhere that the tariffs are where the utilities need to concede (hey!). If I don't want to export then I shouldn't be forced onto a reseller's tariff. The utility then gives me a regular meter that will run up a bigger bill & punish me if I try to force the meter back. If I tell them I do wish to export then they can install a bidirectional meter and move me to the appropriate tariff.

Edited August 15, 2025Aug 15 by Bobster.

18 hours ago, frivan said:

Unfortunately the lights don't count for much. Go for the house on solar and wire the geyser to change over between solar in summer and Eskom in winter.

---

All I am trying to establish with this question is whether or not one is allowed to have an off grid setup on the same property as a totally separately wired grid connection, without having to register.

4 hours ago, DesRamsay said:

All I am trying to establish with this question is whether or not one is allowed to have an off grid setup on the same property as a totally separately wired grid connection, without having to register.

Let us assume Eskom says no. They then discriminate against you for doing something with the sunshine that falls on your property... I perceive the risk of not having solar greater than being complaint with Eskom's latest laws.

15 hours ago, DesRamsay said:

All I am trying to establish with this question is whether or not one is allowed to have an off grid setup on the same property as a totally separately wired grid connection, without having to register.

Caveat: We are just laypersons having a chat here, not lawyers or engineers. As I read the reports around the registration process it seems that you might get away with this, but the onus would be on you to demonstrate that there is no connection between the inverter and the grid.

You would have some challenges (for you, not for Eskom). One is to have a way of charging the battery on overcast days. If you don't intend to use the grid for that then what?

Since you're in a complex and are proposing to make significant changes to the wiring of your home you should probably check with the body corporate.

You have a 5kva inverter. You need to be sure that the draw on that inverter can never exceed 5kW. EG what if the geyser is heating at the same time you turn on the kettle and the microwave? I know you said you are "pretty much off grid" for 8 months, but "pretty much" is not good enough for what you're proposing. If you demand more than your battery or your inverter can deliver then something has to give.

How reliable is your power now? It might be a better financial bet to remove the system and sell the components. If you think that the supply is going to be reliable.

OUTA have challenged the Eskom registration procedure. So far the two parties have met, OUTA expressed certain concerns, Eskom are considering this. I doubt that the registration requirement is going to go away completely because Eskom are obliged (by NERSA) to maintain a register of SSEGs and because there are real safety and interconnectivity concerns. OTOH the matter of tariffs is a real concern for consumers. Eskom have listened to OUTA and are reviewing their position. Nobody has committed to anything, but there may be a change coming.

Edited August 17, 2025Aug 17 by Bobster.

Give this topic wheels and see how far it goes on legal grounds. A LA e-toll? SAPO that are the only way of sending letters?

22 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

Give this topic wheels and see how far it goes on legal grounds.

Ever more restrictive laws inside your cherished "Freedom and Democracy" and the majority actually believe this "Freedom" illusion.
They create ever more laws to steal your money. But hey, your intelligence undermining "X" mark surely has made all the difference 😉
How about this one?
https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/city-of-joburg-to-repeal-private-security-by-law/

1 hour ago, Bobster. said:

16 hours ago, DesRamsay said:

All I am trying to establish with this question is whether or not one is allowed to have an off grid setup on the same property as a totally separately wired grid connection, without having to register.

@DesRamsay
this in my opinion is actually quite simple...

And as @Bobster. mentions (Caveat: We are just laypersons having a chat here, not lawyers or engineers. As I read the reports around the registration process it seems that you might get away with this, but the onus would be on you to demonstrate that there is no connection between the inverter and the grid. )

Here is my opinion, understanding and methodology:

My Opinion from a bit of research
A) - eskom cannot dictate/INTERFERE with what happens after their meter, unless you have a grid tied system then they have LIMITED say over the installation extending as far as it is SAFE for your system to feed back and have the required safety mechanisms in place as they/eskom/municipality require (keeping within the gazetted regulations and laws).
B) - Most everything after their meter falls under other regulations and laws related to safety (sans, health and safety laws) and of course your insurance requirements and common sense.

My understanding for off-grid
Currently all you need to comply with are COC, sans etc...
As long as my system is physically isolated from eskom/municipality then they have NO SAY over how I setup and use my system other than sans, coc, safety, insurance and common sense.
There are no gazetted regulations or legal requirements to register such a self-use off-grid system with eskom or your municipality.

My Methodology from my understanding above
1 ) I have an eskom prepaid feed coming into my house to a regular eskom pre-paid meter, then goes into a regular DB with the normal standard earthing, incoming breaker, earth leakage device and 20amp circuit breaker for a single wall plug outlet, wired down to a normal sabs plug outlet socket below the DB. This can all have a coc and 100% fully complies are all applicable laws, regulations eskom requirements, insurance etc.
I now have a fully compliant eskom connection and they have no further say as to what happens in my house and how I use that single wall outlet. Note: As long as I use legally permitted appliances on that outlet.

2) I also have a full solar system (panels, inverter, batteries and DB with its own earthing system and circuits leading out to all sockets lights etc in my house)
This system has its own COC, and full complies with all safety regulations, sans, insurance, common sense etc.

3) THIS is the big one where all or some of the confusion comes in. How to use eskom/muni for your off-grid system when you have a run of no sunshine to keep your batteries going.
Actually very simple, you buy a 48/52 volt charger that has the correct safety specifications to be safely used as an appliance, and simply plugin it in to your wall outlet socket. This is now simply a normal legal appliance which eskom/muni has ZERO say over as you are by law allowed to use any legal appliance in your home and no law or regulation can prevent you from doing that and using it for it's intended purpose.

Conclusion: In my opinion, I now have a fully legal eskom/muni connection as well as a fully legal off-grid system.

Discuss...

Edited August 17, 2025Aug 17 by WannabeSolarSparky

1 hour ago, WannabeSolarSparky said:

A) - eskom cannot dictate/INTERFERE with what happens after their meter, unless you have a grid tied system then they have LIMITED say over the installation extending as far as it is SAFE for your system to feed back and have the required safety mechanisms in place as they/eskom/municipality require (keeping within the gazetted regulations and laws).
B) - Most everything after their meter falls under other regulations and laws related to safety (sans, health and safety laws) and of course your insurance requirements and common sense.

And they get a say in the tariffs. For me the big issue. I get that they have a right to be concerned about folks feeding in to try to reduce their bill, but if I declare that I have no interest in exporting power then surely they can take me at my word and fit a meter that either can't differentiate between what I consume and what I export, or that trips when I try to export. Problem solved, and since I declared to them that I will not be exporting I don't have much of a leg to stand on if I do export and I don't get a credit.

IMO there needs to be good information supplied about this. Some people may want to take advantage of such a tariff. But now they're on a drive to register systems they would do us a favour and probably save themselves some hassle if they say these are the tariffs and the types of meters. This is what will happen if you tell us you won't be exporting, here's the tariff that is applicable if you do export. Then a body can make their mind up before filing their application.

I think the technical side is more complex than you describe, in terms of getting a COC for the whole property, but maybe that's none of Eskom's beeswax. Unless they are entitled to ask for a COC for the regular 230 V AC wiring before agreeing to supply you. IDK what the regulations say here.

NB. I say "Eskom" above. Maybe I should just say "the utility" as I have a grid connection, but it's not provided by Eskom.

43 minutes ago, Bobster. said:

And they get a say in the tariffs. For me the big issue. I get that they have a right to be concerned about folks feeding in to try to reduce their bill, but if I declare that I have no interest in exporting power then surely they can take me at my word and fit a meter that either can't differentiate between what I consume and what I export, or that trips when I try to export. Problem solved, and since I declared to them that I will not be exporting I don't have much of a leg to stand on if I do export and I don't get a credit.

IMO there needs to be good information supplied about this. Some people may want to take advantage of such a tariff. But now they're on a drive to register systems they would do us a favour and probably save themselves some hassle if they say these are the tariffs and the types of meters. This is what will happen if you tell us you won't be exporting, here's the tariff that is applicable if you do export. Then a body can make their mind up before filing their application.

I think the technical side is more complex than you describe, in terms of getting a COC for the whole property, but maybe that's none of Eskom's beeswax. Unless they are entitled to ask for a COC for the regular 230 V AC wiring before agreeing to supply you. IDK what the regulations say here.

NB. I say "Eskom" above. Maybe I should just say "the utility" as I have a grid connection, but it's not provided by Eskom.

I think Eskom/Utility should essentially not continually charge at a higher scale monthly or however time frame they deem at a higher scale. Given that if an inverter "accidentally exports" to the Utility/Eskom this may cause grid instability as happened in Europe when there was a huge power outage across multiple nations, they should ensure that if one chooses the option NOT TO EXPORT, there must definitely be a meter that ensures exporting does not happen and this may come at the cost to the installer/home of a once-off cost for that meter. This thing of wanting to make investments punitive by the Utility/Eskom is just not on.

36 minutes ago, Moffat said:

they should ensure that if one chooses the option NOT TO EXPORT, there must definitely be a meter that ensures exporting does not happen and this may come at the cost to the installer/home of a once-off cost for that meter.

@Moffat I would agree that if your system is in any way whatsoever physically connected to the grid then they (eskom/muni) can and probably should make rules to a degree especially on the safety and technical side to protect network integrity. But they should not be overstepping their boundaries.

I also think this is where a lot of confusion comes in...
The definition of grid-tie and partially off-Grid and full off-grid systems.

There are several types of solar connections/systems
1 - No solar - only an eskom connection on it's own DB - Needs COC
2 - Pure grid tie system (e.g. solis grid-tie inverters and or microinverters with no batteries e.g. Solis S6-GR1P ) - Needs COC
3 - Grid tie hybrid systems (e.g. sunsynk, deye, solis S6 etc) those that can grid-tie and have batteries and can run with grid outages) - Needs COC
4 - Semi off-grid systems e.g. (growatt es5000spf) connected to the main DB that's connected to eskom/muni with bypass and feeding power to the inverter from the eskom/muni circuits. - Needs COC
5 - Full off-grid systems (can be any inverter types) that is Physically NOT CONNECTED AT ALL to grid/eskom/muni and has its own COC and Earthing system.

There is a difference between choosing to Export or NOT EXPORT or choosing to be Semi off-grid or Full off-grid physically from eskom/muni.

For the least hassle I personally would choose a combination of (Option1 AND Option 4 physically separated from each other) if you do not want any of the eskom/muni hassles and still be within the safety regulations and laws.

1 hour ago, Moffat said:

I think Eskom/Utility should essentially not continually charge at a higher scale monthly or however time frame they deem at a higher scale. Given that if an inverter "accidentally exports" to the Utility/Eskom this may cause grid instability as happened in Europe when there was a huge power outage across multiple nations, they should ensure that if one chooses the option NOT TO EXPORT, there must definitely be a meter that ensures exporting does not happen and this may come at the cost to the installer/home of a once-off cost for that meter. This thing of wanting to make investments punitive by the Utility/Eskom is just not on.

My system is registered. As part of the inspection process City Power did check that the system islands correctly. They didn't check for what you describe here, but my understanding is that the meters City Power installs these days trip if you export more than a tiny amount at a time. I am told that some meters do not trip but also do not give a credit, may even bill you for all electricity that passes through it, irrespective of direction. I don't think it's unreasonable to require folks who export to have a bidirectional meter and to be on the appropriate tariff. Also to have a smart meter so that the utility can stop exporting if it needs to.

But this should be a choice that they offer the consumer (sorry, prosumer). Just making an arbitrary decision to change tariffs and the type of meter is too much. I don't want to export power and I have indicated this to the city. They are entitled to put in place measures to stop me exporting since I told them that I have no intention of doing that.

This creates a bit of a problem if City Power revise their tariffs and make exporting more attractive and I decide that now I fancy a bit of that action. But that will be my problem, not City Power's.

1 minute ago, Bobster. said:

As part of the inspection process City Power did check that the system islands correctly.

"Correctly" in this case means that when power is restored after an outage, then the inverter must wait at least a minute before reconnecting to the grid. AIUI approved inverters are programmed such that they will all wait a random time (with a minimum of 60 seconds) before reconnecting. This is to prevent lots of inverters connecting and (potentially) demanding power at the same time and helps to reduce surging on restoration.

Edited August 17, 2025Aug 17 by Bobster.

Legal Framework in South Africa.

The law governing electrical installations is the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and specifically the Electrical Installation Regulations (EIR), 2009. These regulations require that any electrical work must comply with SANS 10142 and must be covered by a valid Certificate of Compliance (CoC) issued by a registered person. By law, that is sufficient proof that the installation is safe and compliant. BUT

Where Eskom Comes In

Eskom (and municipal distributors) are licensed distributors under the Electricity Regulation Act (ERA), 2006. As distributors, they are allowed to set grid-connection requirements for embedded generation (like solar PV) to protect their network, provided these requirements do not contradict national law. For embedded generation, NERSA (the regulator) has approved frameworks that include Eskom’s “standard” for grid connection, which often demands additional sign-off by a professional engineer (Pr. Eng.), especially for systems above a certain size (typically >100 kVA, but sometimes smaller in practice). Eskom is worried about grid stability, safety, and liability. Many CoCs are unfortunately issued without proper inspection, so Eskom does not always trust them as sole proof of safety. They require an engineer’s design review and sign-off for embedded generation so that fault levels, protection coordination, anti-islanding, and network impact studies are properly checked.

Their argument: a CoC covers safety of the installation on your property, but it doesn’t prove that your system won’t destabilize their grid. Technically, Eskom cannot make “laws” – but they can enforce conditions of supply. If you want to connect to their network, you must meet those conditions. It’s similar to how a body corporate can add rules on top of municipal by-laws – they can’t override the law, but they can set extra requirements for you to use their infrastructure. If you don’t comply, they can legally refuse grid connection,but they cannot stop you from running a completely off-grid system.

Why some inverters are “not allowed”

The City of Cape Town (CoCT), Eskom, and other municipalities maintain an Approved Inverter List. Only inverters that pass NRS 097-2-1 testing and certification are allowed to be connected to the grid. NRS 097-2-1 is the South African embedded generation standard, which sets out requirements for Anti-islanding protection (system disconnects immediately if grid fails).Harmonic distortion limits.Voltage & frequency ride-through behaviour. Disconnection integrity (the famous DDS – double disconnect switch). If an inverter hasn’t been tested to NRS 097-2-1 by an accredited lab, it cannot legally be grid-tied, regardless of whether it works in practice.

The DDS (Double Disconnect Switch) issue

South Africa requires two independent means of disconnecting the inverter from the grid. Many cheaper “Voltronic-type” inverters (Axpert, Mecer, Kodak OG, etc.) only have a single internal relay for disconnection. If that relay fails closed, the inverter could continue feeding into the grid during an outage – which is a huge lineworker safety risk. NRS 097-2-1 demands a second, independent disconnection device (often a mechanical contactor + the relay).

That’s why Voltronic and similar OEMs don’t appear on CoCT’s or Eskom’s approved list for grid-tied mode.

5 hours ago, WannabeSolarSparky said:

3) THIS is the big one where all or some of the confusion comes in. How to use eskom/muni for your off-grid system when you have a run of no sunshine to keep your batteries going.
Actually very simple, you buy a 48/52 volt charger that has the correct safety specifications to be safely used as an appliance, and simply plugin it in to your wall outlet socket. This is now simply a normal legal appliance which eskom/muni has ZERO say over as you are by law allowed to use any legal appliance in your home and no law or regulation can prevent you from doing that and using it for it's intended purpose.

Conclusion: In my opinion, I now have a fully legal eskom/muni connection as well as a fully legal off-grid system.

Discuss...

Yes a loophole. Many installers use this exact method for off-grid houses where the client still wants Eskom/municipal supply as a safety net. Often it’s set up so that. Solar + battery supply everything.If SOC drops below a threshold, an AC charger or genset automatically kicks in to recharge.From a legal perspective Eskom sees only a load (the charger), never a generator.

1 hour ago, TaliaB said:

Yes a loophole. Many installers use this exact method for off-grid houses where the client still wants Eskom/municipal supply as a safety net. Often it’s set up so that. Solar + battery supply everything.If SOC drops below a threshold, an AC charger or genset automatically kicks in to recharge.From a legal perspective Eskom sees only a load (the charger), never a generator.

@TaliaB and a very difficult one for them to close as they would need to "re-write" quite a few laws and regulations to close it.

Unfortunately the Utilities (Eskom and others) want to have their cake and eat it and have the choice to bill on the higher scale, whilst taking away choice from the end-user. The rightful thing is to re-write laws to incorporate different rules/needs of consumers in conjunction with the involvement of end-users or installers to ensure their side (Eskom/Utility) of the system is not compromised and also that customers are not prejudiced. However, that is always wishful thinking, sadly.

Edited August 18, 2025Aug 18 by Moffat

There are two main objections on the table at the moment
1) You shouldn't need to involve an engineer, an electrician should be able to sign off
2) The tariffs and the cost of a bi-directional meter

I'm not sure that (2) is a law, other than in the sense that right to determine tariff might be a matter of by-laws in some jurisdictions. But I would bet that the law simply grants the utility the right to determine the tariff.

(2) is the big sticking point IMO - as I've already said here. I don't think this need be insurmountable. It is true that the utilities will get less income if we can have PV and opt to not have a reseller's tariff. The utilities will earn less if we have that option, but they will recover that income either via increased per unit fees or via a fixed fee per account.

To me this smells of poorly considered or out dated regulations, rather than malice. When those regulations were put in place there was a lot less PV around. I want to say that utilities should update their regulations to fit the current reality. How quickly can they do this? Eskom have met with OUTA and have said they will consider OUTA's objections. What they decide may have ramifications for the municipalities who supply electricity.

I registered my system with City Power. There is nothing at application time to tell you what tariff you will go on to. This information should be given at application time. But then we are supposed to apply before installing. Too many genies are out of the bottle now.

2 hours ago, Bobster. said:

1) You shouldn't need to involve an engineer, an electrician should be able to sign off

For me in an ideal world you would have an engineer only involved at the point where an inverter is tested for adding to the municipality's list (CoCt) of approved inverters. That approval process should then include a standard wiring layout, and after that any electrician should be able to sign off that an installation conforms to that particular layout.

The problem I'd see is when there are unique designs, somebody has special requirements, tries special tweaks, and then I would not leave it in the hands of an electrician to design to those special needs.

On 2025/08/18 at 3:48 PM, Bobster. said:

There are two main objections on the table at the moment
1) You shouldn't need to involve an engineer, an electrician should be able to sign off
2) The tariffs and the cost of a bi-directional meter

I'm not sure that (2) is a law, other than in the sense that right to determine tariff might be a matter of by-laws in some jurisdictions. But I would bet that the law simply grants the utility the right to determine the tariff.

(2) is the big sticking point IMO - as I've already said here. I don't think this need be insurmountable. It is true that the utilities will get less income if we can have PV and opt to not have a reseller's tariff. The utilities will earn less if we have that option, but they will recover that income either via increased per unit fees or via a fixed fee per account.

To me this smells of poorly considered or out dated regulations, rather than malice. When those regulations were put in place there was a lot less PV around. I want to say that utilities should update their regulations to fit the current reality. How quickly can they do this? Eskom have met with OUTA and have said they will consider OUTA's objections. What they decide may have ramifications for the municipalities who supply electricity.

I registered my system with City Power. There is nothing at application time to tell you what tariff you will go on to. This information should be given at application time. But then we are supposed to apply before installing. Too many genies are out of the bottle now.

Of interest to me would be that when loadshedding began, I and other users were on the receiving negative end. Now that I have made a plan to ensure continued power, it's now being made punitive. Why always me and other users to make concessions, that are often half-baked? Was there ever an inclusive consultative process then, will there now be an inclusive consultative process or it will only involve the few that are influential and powerful?

On 2025/08/17 at 3:29 PM, TaliaB said:

Yes a loophole. Many installers use this exact method for off-grid houses where the client still wants Eskom/municipal supply as a safety net. Often it’s set up so that. Solar + battery supply everything.If SOC drops below a threshold, an AC charger or genset automatically kicks in to recharge.From a legal perspective Eskom sees only a load (the charger), never a generator.

@TaliaB and indeed what a huge loophole it is. To close it will inverters need only just software (firmware updates) or this may involve the need for hardware changes, meaning the approved inverter list may even need to change... who knows?

6 hours ago, Moffat said:

@TaliaB and indeed what a huge loophole it is. To close it will inverters need only just software (firmware updates) or this may involve the need for hardware changes, meaning the approved inverter list may even need to change... who knows?

There need to be hardware changes upgrade of safety device DDU added and Harmonic compliance with NRS. I see the Voltronic InfiniSolar 10k is on the Coct approved list so yes constantly updated latest edition July 2025.

8 hours ago, Moffat said:

Of interest to me would be that when loadshedding began, I and other users were on the receiving negative end. Now that I have made a plan to ensure continued power, it's now being made punitive. Why always me and other users to make concessions, that are often half-baked? Was there ever an inclusive consultative process then, will there now be an inclusive consultative process or it will only involve the few that are influential and powerful?

If these regulations were put in place after folks installed PV then maybe it's punitive. If they pre-existed then that's less likely to be the case.

I'm in COJ. My system was installed 6 years ago - 2019. I didn't think about regulations at the time, and the installer didn't mention them. When I started looking into the matter of regulations it was clear that the City had something in place, at least as regards tariffs & meters, by mid 2017.

I would argue that COJ are not good at raising awareness of regulations. But what are reasonable lengths fof them to go to? IDK.