Major South African solar provider stops trading, enters business rescue

Solar energy company Hohm Energy has entered business rescue and halted operations due to cash flow challenges and its inability to service existing debts.

The company has terminated the contracts of an undisclosed number of employees, and a business rescue practitioner will investigate Hohm Energy’s affairs to determine a course of action.

Spark Energy CEO Franc Gray told TechCabal that the company is working with legal counsel to understand its future better. However, he confirmed that Hohm Energy isn’t trading.

According to CIPC records, Hohm Energy entered business rescue on 31 July. Gray was added as a director on 2 August.

MyBroadband contacted Hohm Energy for comment, but it did not immediately respond.

We also contacted Hohm Energy CEO and co-founder Tim Ohlsen, who couldn’t immediately provide comment.

Calls to the phone number listed on Hohm Energy’s website are picked up by an answering system that delivers a welcome message and then drops the call.

Gray told MyBroadband that Hohm Energy is following the prescribed business rescue process.

“We still believe in the Hohm proposition and will consider how we could reposition the brand,” he said.

“In terms of Hohm’s customers, Spark is supporting the Hohm management team, who are working with a number of partners to ensure that there is as little disruption in service as possible during this time.”

Gray also lists himself as the founder and CEO of Glint, a subscription service launched by Hohm Energy.

Attempting to call the number listed on the Glint website directs callers to a Hohm Energy answering bot, which then drops the call.

Hohm Energy’s financial troubles may not be surprising to customers who have tried to get service from the company in recent months.

A MyBroadband reader and Hohm Energy customer recently told us about their frustration with the company regarding warranty issues.

They had their solar power system installed by Edge Solar roughly a year ago. However, in March 2024, the Wi-Fi dongle on their SunSynk inverter packed up.

“I contacted Hohm, and they arranged for it to be replaced under warranty. I was extremely grateful that only the communications board and Wi-Fi dongle were removed, not the whole inverter,” they said.

Edge Solar visited their property to remove the dongle and sent it to Sunsynk for repairs.

“This is where things went downhill fast. From the end of March to date, I have had excuse after excuse from Hohm Energy to have the repaired Wi-Fi dongle refitted,” the reader said.

They said they follow up with Hohm Energy weekly, only to be told that the issue will be resolved within a few weeks. Then, after a few weeks have passed, the process repeats.

They added that Hohm Energy hadn’t attended to other issues related to their solar installation, including small-scale embedded generation compliance and general maintenance.

The reader added that their most recent email to Hohm Energy had bounced and that the last person they had contacted at the company had declined to assist as they were leaving its employ.

Hohm Energy’s business rescue comes just months after the company raised $8 million (then R152.5 million) through a record seed-funding round in February.

Hohm Energy said the market had shifted from only affluent homeowners opting for solar to lower-income households being able to afford installations through financing options and other deals.

“We’ve seen a massive shift from solar being this high-end, hyper luxury, out-of-reach purchase for only the richest people in South Africa to now becoming accessible to the middle class,” Ohlsen.

“Everyone is now thinking about solar as a viable option.”

Ohlsen said the average cost of a solar installation had roughly halved from the equivalent of around $12,000 (R220,000) in 2022, with less affluent households now able to install solar panels.