{"id":858355,"date":"2026-04-29T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=858355"},"modified":"2026-04-29T06:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T04:39:57","slug":"new-solar-rules-in-south-africa-could-end-up-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/858355\/new-solar-rules-in-south-africa-could-end-up-in-court\/","title":{"rendered":"New solar rules in South Africa could end up in court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The government is making it harder for South Africans wanting to escape unreliable electricity supply and rocketing prices by going solar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) argued that authorities claim to support alternative energy, but in practice, they\u2019re turning the process into an administrative nightmare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage warned that the constant changes to rules discourage households and businesses from investing in alternative energy, which alleviates pressure on the fragile grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OUTA\u2019s criticisms follow City Power’s new six-step application process<\/a> for Small Scale Embedded Generation (SSEG) installations in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the new rules, applicants must first obtain an electricity supply application notification number, then submit a formal Solar PV application. This is followed by a site inspection conducted by City Power before installation can begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the system is installed, customers must then submit a Certificate of Compliance along with a PV commissioning form, after which they must await both pre-approval and final approval letters from the utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe city is wrapping private energy solutions in so much paperwork that it’s punishing the very residents and businesses trying to reduce pressure on a failing grid,\u201d Duvenage said in a recent interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also questioned the rationale behind the changes. Duvenage said thousands of solar installations have already been completed without harming the grid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve had so many tens of thousands of solar installations up to now without this process, and it hasn\u2019t damaged the grid. It also hasn\u2019t put safety issues into question. So why now? What are they actually trying to do?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have an unreliable power supply, especially in Joburg, with all the challenges that City Power has. We have rocketing costs, and I don\u2019t think government, especially at the local government level, are realising what they\u2019re doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He warned that increased bureaucracy could push more consumers to disconnect entirely. \u201cThey\u2019re creating a spiral now where more and more people are saying, well, now I\u2019m going off-grid.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re saying I\u2019m not going to pay the fixed fees that you\u2019re already getting from me\u2014and that\u2019s a dangerous place because it starts to impact the financial model of cities and municipalities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More costs for South Africans wanting solar <\/h2>\n\n\n
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OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Duvenage also highlighted the cost implications of the rules, particularly for prepaid customers. \u201cIf you\u2019re on prepaid and you want to fit solar, now you\u2019ve got to switch over to a postpaid system,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople on prepaid are paying about R230 a month in fixed fees, and postpaid are paying R1,200. That\u2019s going to push your fixed fee up straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that municipalities should not interfere with installations on the consumer side of the meter, provided proper compliance standards are met. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo long as you have a certificate of compliance, the city should not be getting involved\u2014and neither should Eskom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duvenage added that the policy could undermine confidence in the growing private energy sector, and noted that installers are already feeling the strain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that these draconian and administrative processes are slowing things down. When you put inefficiencies and policies like this in the way of business, you start to damage the economy and the industry as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While OUTA is not yet taking legal action, Duvenage said the organisation is considering its options. He indicated that a court challenge could follow if residents are penalised for installing solar without prior approval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf anybody\u2019s electricity is turned off on the basis that they didn\u2019t have the city\u2019s permission and they had a certificate of compliance, then that will trigger the litigation process,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government is making it harder for South African households and businesses to go solar, and it could end up in court. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":858364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[7376,18308,853],"class_list":["post-858355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-city-power","tag-organisation-undoing-tax-abuse-outa","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858355","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=858355"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":858662,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858355\/revisions\/858662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}