Industry News

Eskom has announced a crack down on SSEG (small scale embedded generation 0-1MV) applications for residential solar plants.  Eskom is under an obligation to NERSA to ensure that customers meet NERSA's licensing and registration requirements.  Eskom and the Municipalities with a SSEG process will charge a fee per application (From 0-1MV system) as well as a once off cost for a grid impact study.  The SSEG (at this time) has to be signed off by a registered electrical engineer (at an additional cost, depending on the engineer).  Customers with solar systems will also no longer be allowed to be on a prepaid meter and will be forced onto postpaid, with the added cost of a three month deposit cost and cost of meter, with the added possibility that Eskom can levy huge fixed costs to users.  

The financial implications of the application has created a large push back with many consumers opting to leave Eskom or their Municipality Provider and move to an off grid position.  Regulatory bodies are not sure as to how Eskom is going to legally pursue this mandate and are also of the viewpoint, that solar is still under the ambit of the electricians, for sign off.  The frustrating reality is existing SSEG applications to Eskom have had little to no response from Eskom in over 2 years.