Eskom won't fine residential customers for failing to register their solar systems by 30 September 2026

recre8 said:
Fyi, here is the tariff information for when you register your system. And you can’t go back to prepaid either. The average home will use Homeflex 1. The fixed monthly fees run R667 before any usage. I’d be perfectly ok with complying with registration if I could declare that I won’t be exporting power and be allowed to stay on Homelight tariff. Their arguments about safety don’t even make sense because you can run a backup inverter with no solar or a petrol generator connected to your inverter without needing to register. Its only when you have solar that they really threaten.
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ya same reason im not registering , plus im on prepaid
 
recre8 said:
Fyi, here is the tariff information for when you register your system. And you can’t go back to prepaid either. The average home will use Homeflex 1. The fixed monthly fees run R667 before any usage. I’d be perfectly ok with complying with registration if I could declare that I won’t be exporting power and be allowed to stay on Homelight tariff. Their arguments about safety don’t even make sense because you can run a backup inverter with no solar or a petrol generator connected to your inverter without needing to register. Its only when you have solar that they really threaten.
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Don’t you guys pay like 400 rand for fixed charges already? You could feed back if you registered so how many units to break even?
 
recre8 said:
They’ll find a way to just have a fixed monthly cost tariff which would make solar unattractive enough for new installations and completely invalidate and return-on-investment for existing users.
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I'm on postpaid (homepower standard) which is a nightmare because they're useless at accurate billing, even if you submit manual figures on time each month. They've already been hard at work for the past few years ramping up those fixed fees. Homepower standard, prior to 2025, was a two-tier system with higher per kWh rate over 600kWh. Fixed fees in 2023 when I got my system were around R300/month. Since then they've scrapped the tiering and charge flat rate on consumption while more than doubling the fixed fees. Current fixed fees are R691 for 30 days and are increasing beyond their advertised yearly increase percentage. I think this is already more than enough for the privilege of using grid when needed.
 
Nom Chompsky said:
Yes, the one good thing about South Africa and Africa more generally are that the governing classes are literally too incompetent to enforce nanny state nonsense. Even under Covid when the full power of the state was imposing ridiculous regulations, there was widespread non-compliance.
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A huge reason to be living here. Having been trained to live like a battery chicken for 20 years in Europe and then USA, I struggled to re-adapt when I came back. I'd joke that I had moved from the Old Wild West to the New Wild West.
 
Londo said:
A huge reason to be living here. Having been trained to live like a battery chicken for 20 years in Europe and then USA, I struggled to re-adapt when I came back. I'd joke that I had moved from the Old Wild West to the New Wild West.
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Londo said:
A huge reason to be living here. Having been trained to live like a battery chicken for 20 years in Europe and then USA, I struggled to re-adapt when I came back. I'd joke that I had moved from the Old Wild West to the New Wild West.
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SA has its perks. It might sound crazy but being able things like speed, install any inverter you want and do some “dodge” things you can easily get away with in SA.

Where I am you do a lane change without indicating or in an aggressive way there is a AI camera to catch you. You don’t just install an inverter here also. It’s regulated heavily.

But with a well governed place brings its own perks. I made no booking and walked straight into the Happiness Center for the RTA. That’s the licensing department equivalent. I applied for my drivers license conversion, took about 30 minutes. Took them 5 minutes to print the card and that’s it. I was out. They even offered me coffee, for free.

My ID also, in SA I collected my new ID to replace the book just before I left the country. It took me 5 hours to get it at HA in Roodepoort. To bloody collect! In UAE, I just went in. They took my fingerprints and photo. About 30 minutes. And walked out. ID was delivered in 2 days.

Going into gvt buildings here is a real pleasure. In SA I do everything in my power to avoid going. Even if it’s borderline illegal (like driving with expired license) all to avoid dealing with them.
 
denmendez65 said:
SA has its perks. It might sound crazy but being able things like speed, install any inverter you want and do some “dodge” things you can easily get away with in SA.

Where I am you do a lane change without indicating or in an aggressive way there is a AI camera to catch you. You don’t just install an inverter here also. It’s regulated heavily.

But with a well governed place brings its own perks. I made no booking and walked straight into the Happiness Center for the RTA. That’s the licensing department equivalent. I applied for my drivers license conversion, took about 30 minutes. Took them 5 minutes to print the card and that’s it. I was out. They even offered me coffee, for free.

My ID also, in SA I collected my new ID to replace the book just before I left the country. It took me 5 hours to get it at HA in Roodepoort. To bloody collect! In UAE, I just went in. They took my fingerprints and photo. About 30 minutes. And walked out. ID was delivered in 2 days.

Going into gvt buildings here is a real pleasure. In SA I do everything in my power to avoid going. Even if it’s borderline illegal (like driving with expired license) all to avoid dealing with them.
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I hear it also takes 30 mins to apply and get your ID in Thailand, don't know about the free coffee though.
 
Eskom and the municipalities are trying to squeeze and fleece maximum revenue under whatever feasible excuse they can use. The only thing that is really required is a uni directional meter to prevent any possible feed back for safety from electrocution (which should be standard anyway considering how anyone can hook in a portable petrol/diesel generator and create the same safety issue), and an optional elective by the owners for bidirectional meter for feed in.

recre8 said:
...and completely invalidate and return-on-investment for existing users.
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You forgot that the original reason for solar installations was to ensure availability for consistent electricity supply due to load shedding, not because of any cost savings. If cost savings were the main goal then solar installations would have been a standard feature on every house and business for at least the past two decades.
 
wingnut771 said:
I hear it also takes 30 mins to apply and get your ID in Thailand, don't know about the free coffee though.
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And thats probably a worse country than SA. Our Cadres just like making everything difficult. So much wasted potential.
 
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As I said in the other thread, the fact that Eskom is being threatened by people paying hundreds of thousands of rand to not use their tariffs means Eskom knows they cannot compete.

Which is actually hilarious. Fully paid off power stations, abundant coal and complete exemption from any sort of emissions control and Eskom is still worried about being outcompeted by some solar panels.

If Eskom was actually a power utility as opposed to an employment and welfare scheme, there is no-way it would ever be threatened by solar in any form. But all loyal cadres had to eat, they had to kick out their white staff because that is what the government said they must do, they had to give away all their electricity to people who don't pay for it and now we are here.
 
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