{"id":832446,"date":"2025-07-25T13:04:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T11:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=832446"},"modified":"2025-07-25T13:46:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T11:46:05","slug":"eskom-coming-after-south-africans-with-solar-panels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/832446\/eskom-coming-after-south-africans-with-solar-panels\/","title":{"rendered":"Eskom coming after South Africans with solar panels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eskom’s fixed charge on households, as well as those that have invested in rooftop solar but remain connected to the national grid is unfair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has criticised<\/a> this, calling it irrational and self-defeating and warning that it could backfire badly for both the power utility and the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Power and energy expert, Vally Padayachee, a former Eskom and City Power executive previously explained<\/a> that this fixed levy means that solar users who remain connected to the national grid will be charged a fixed network maintenance fee regardless of how much or how little electricity they draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, first they asked us to save power, then told us to get solar. Now they want to charge us for it,\u201d said Duvenage, voicing the growing frustration among South Africans who have made personal investments to reduce pressure on the grid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duvenage and other critics argue that it penalises proactive citizens helping stabilise the country\u2019s fragile electricity system.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duvenage explained that many solar users still rely on the grid to some extent, especially at night or during extended periods of cloud cover. However, an added fixed charge could push these users to make the final move off-grid entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s the case, they\u2019ll think: let me just get a loan for R20,000, pay it off over the next 20 months, and go off-grid fully,\u201d Duvenage said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are other technologies that will help people and businesses do that. All Eskom’s doing here is chasing away an element that brings them revenue. It\u2019s a self-defeating spiral in the wrong direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solar surcharge is a symptom of a bigger crisis<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Wayne Duvenage, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Experts have argued<\/a> that the grid still needs to be maintained, even for minimal users, and that the surcharge helps cover those infrastructure costs. However, Duvenage rejected this justification as inconsistent and unfairly targeted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat should apply to everyone, whether you\u2019re a minimal or a maximum user,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo what you\u2019re saying to people with solar is, we\u2019re going to charge you more because you\u2019ve reduced your reliance on Eskom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue also ties into the broader failure of infrastructure governance at the municipal level, where local governments collect surcharges from electricity users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duvenage said these funds are often misused instead of being reinvested in critical infrastructure upgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLocal government should be spending around 8% of its budget on maintaining and upgrading infrastructure. In Johannesburg, we spend less than 1%. The revenue doesn\u2019t go where it should,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believes the root of the problem lies in the lack of professionalism and expertise in local government. \u201cYou cannot have people in charge of complex portfolios who don\u2019t understand what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019d never run a private business like that. Yet we have municipalities with multi-billion-rand budgets being run by people who don\u2019t have the required financial or technical knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He cited examples such as municipalities without a Chief Financial Officer, or agencies lowering qualification standards for leadership positions to allow political appointees through the door. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe politics is overpowering the administration. That\u2019s the problem. You need to professionalise local government. It\u2019s that simple,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duvenage added that the fixed charge is another symptom of a bigger crisis in governance and public trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPunishing those trying to be part of the solution is hardly a sustainable fix. If Eskom and municipalities want to remain relevant and financially viable, they should enable the energy transition, not penalise it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eskom’s proposed fixed solar levy for households has been criticised as the beginning of a spiral in the wrong direction. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":798620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[1164,18308,853],"class_list":["post-832446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-eskom","tag-organisation-undoing-tax-abuse-outa","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832446"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833065,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832446\/revisions\/833065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}