Hefty fines for unregistered solar users

Luis

Luis

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Fines between R6,000 and R30,000 looming for people with unregistered solar panels

Eskom's grace period for direct customers to register residential rooftop solar power systems is ending in two months, after which the power utility is expected to begin a compliance crackdown.

Just Property CEO Paul Stevens previously warned that municipalities can impose administrative charges and penalties ranging from about R6,000 to R30,000 for unregistered systems.
 
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One of my customers registered their system in 2023. I supplied a COC. A MECER 5kW inverter was used, supplied by VOLTEX

In Feb 2026 CoCT fitted a new electric meter. Their tech declared the installation invalid as a MECER is not approved. VOLTEX said it was. In May a R7000 fine was added to their rates account. Now VOLTEX were not interested

R16000 for a SunSynk inverter. VOLTEX are providing several excuses why their inverter was declared invalid and will not accept liability
 
chrisc said:
One of my customers registered their system in 2023. I supplied a COC. A MECER 5kW inverter was used, supplied by VOLTEX

In Feb 2026 CoCT fitted a new electric meter. Their tech declared the installation invalid as a MECER is not approved. VOLTEX said it was. In May a R7000 fine was added to their rates account. Now VOLTEX were not interested

R16000 for a SunSynk inverter. VOLTEX are providing several excuses why their inverter was declared invalid and will not accept liability
Click to expand...
@Next Thing. See when I said there is a lot of installations that were registered with non-nrs approved inverters. You are right that they arent legal though.
 
Luis said:
Fines between R6,000 and R30,000 looming for people with unregistered solar panels

Eskom's grace period for direct customers to register residential rooftop solar power systems is ending in two months, after which the power utility is expected to begin a compliance crackdown.

Just Property CEO Paul Stevens previously warned that municipalities can impose administrative charges and penalties ranging from about R6,000 to R30,000 for unregistered systems.
Click to expand...
What does Eskom's grace period for direct customers have to do with municipalities?
 
chrisc said:
One of my customers registered their system in 2023. I supplied a COC. A MECER 5kW inverter was used, supplied by VOLTEX

In Feb 2026 CoCT fitted a new electric meter. Their tech declared the installation invalid as a MECER is not approved. VOLTEX said it was. In May a R7000 fine was added to their rates account. Now VOLTEX were not interested

R16000 for a SunSynk inverter. VOLTEX are providing several excuses why their inverter was declared invalid and will not accept liability
Click to expand...
You could have installed a luxpower:
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Next Thing said:
Wasn't debating people have coc's for non nrs inverters. I know there are a lot of them. Those coc's are invalid affecting a lot of things including insurance
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People better pay close attention to the little details on their insurance. One can pay for years and if anything happens they might be surprised to see insurance pays out nothing coz of an inverter that is non NRS approved. Its probably worthwhile for most to change out their inverters at the bare minimum.

Not sure in an offgrid scenario if that matters though. Grid tied definitely.
 
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