Eskom solar rules lie
Contrary to Eskom’s claims, South Africa already has the necessary standards to allow for fully legally compliant and safe grid-tied solar power installations without an electrical engineer’s sign-off.
Eskom’s contentious small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) registration rules have been widely criticised over the past few months.
Solar power installers and civil society organisations, including Afriforum and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), have questioned the legality of Eskom’s rules.
The generally accepted practice is for a professional electrician to sign off on the system and provide customers with an electrical certificate of compliance (CoC).
However, Eskom requires that customers obtain an embedded generation compliance report signed by a member of the Engineering Council of South Africa (Ecsa) to register their systems.
It has defended the requirement as an “interim” solution, arguing that the current South African National Standards (SANS) did not provide the necessary technical and safety specifications for grid-tied systems.
According to the power utility, the existing SANS 10142-1 wiring of premises for low-voltage installations only applies to standby systems that function when the grid is unavailable, like during a power cut.
The power utility continues to insist it is awaiting the publication of SANS 10142-1-2, which will provide additional special requirements for grid-tied or hybrid low-voltage SSEG installations.
However, Outa energy advisor Chris Yelland previously told MyBroadband that the SABS had completely abandoned the SANS 10142-1-2 standard.
Despite this, Eskom recently told the media that the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) was “in the process of finalising low voltage regulations to address this gap”.
In addition, South Africa has also adopted an international standard for solar PV installations — the IEC 60349-7-712 standard, which was renamed SANS 60364-7-712 for local use.
The Electrical Contractors Association of South Africa (Ecasa) states that this standard is used by Installation Electricians and Master Electricians to ensure that SSEG systems are technically sound and safe.
Yelland recently told MyBroadband that well-placed sources at the relevant SABS working group have confirmed that the SANS 10142-1-2 standards have not been revived.
According to Yelland, the change that Eskom has alluded to in its recent feedback is likely the removal of a supplementary note in the SANS 10142-1, which had an exclusion for non-standby systems.
However, this note was not legally binding as it was not part of the gazetted standards. Therefore, Eskom has no legal grounds for excluding grid-tied or hybrid system installations from the adopted standards.
Guidelines rather than rules
Following discussions with the power utility in August 2025, Outa recommended that Eskom customers hold off on registration of their systems for the time being.
Afriforum previously also advised people to be wary of Eskom’s registration sugarcoating, including offers of free bidirectional meters, feed-in tariff upsides, and a temporary registration fee exemption.
The organisation is concerned that Eskom may use people’s data to apply special tariffs to solar users in the future.
According to Yelland, well-placed sources in the SABS working group have strong indications that Eskom is on the cusp of conceding this.
Yelland believes that Eskom and municipalities have resisted and contributed to delays of clear-cut rules on grid-tied systems for years because of the impact these systems have on their revenues.
He reiterated that the National Rationalised Specifications (NRS) that Eskom also uses to justify its requirements are not legally enforceable, but are guidelines.
The NRS specifications are aimed at parts of electricity networks up to the customer’s meter, which are under the jurisdiction of Eskom and power utilities.
Yelland said these are intended as guidelines for power distributors regarding technical aspects of the electricity network “before” the customer’s meter, which excludes a home solar power system.
These conditions may form part of the licensing conditions of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), but they are not intended or legally binding on households.
The only laws that are mandatory for home electrical installations are the Electrical Installation Regulations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. SANS 10142-1 forms part of those regulations.
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