Sustainability has long been championed by both the private and public sectors. The private sector values sustainability because it lowers costs — especially the costs of externalities — improves its image among stakeholders, and enhances corporate profiles. Government followed suit, with departments fully staffed to conduct research, develop policy, and draft legislation. There have even been efforts to incorporate sustainability in practice, such as energy-efficient buildings in Pretoria. But now, things seem to have shifted.
The utility Eskom is requiring solar panel users to register and is introducing what many see as punitive fees. Municipalities, such as City Power in Johannesburg, appear to be on a witch hunt for solar users, penalising them with hefty charges of over R1,000 per month. It’s outrageous.
This is what happens when bureaucracy loses sight of technology and innovation. The focus becomes revenue. It’s short-term thinking. And while it may sound crude, there’s also an element of job protection at play, because solar power represents decentralised power. For those who believe in sustainability, decentralised power is the future. Energy control cannot rest solely in the hands of government structures.
Now, the organisation that strongly protested the iniquitous toll road schemes, particularly in the Johannesburg area, has come out advising solar panel owners not to register with Eskom or any municipality, including City Power in Johannesburg.
Advocacy groups are challenging the rush to register private solar installations, arguing that homeowners are being unfairly pressured into a bureaucratic process that lacks a clear legal mandate for systems that do not feed electricity back into the grid. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has specifically advised South Africans to pause their registration efforts with Eskom or local municipalities, characterising the current threats of fines and disconnections as “irrational and impractical.” They maintain that as long as a system is installed by a qualified contractor and has a valid Certificate of Compliance (CoC), it meets the necessary safety standards under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, making further administrative hurdles redundant for systems intended purely for self-consumption.
This pushback comes as the March 2026 deadline approaches — the date the national utility has set as the cut-off for free registration. While the utility has eased some of the more prohibitive costs, such as dropping the requirement for expensive professional engineer sign-offs, it continues to insist that all grid-tied systems must be recorded to ensure worker safety and grid stability. Critics argue that these registration drives often serve as a precursor to new fixed monthly charges, effectively penalising those who have invested their own capital to shield themselves from an unreliable national power supply.
In conversations with residents, some believe certain community groups are being targeted. This may not be the case, but it raises a question worth considering: who are the people most able to afford solar power?
