By:Businesstech

Power utility Eskom has warned solar users in South Africa that they have only until March 2026 to avoid hefty registration fees for their systems.

Failing to do so could see costs shoot up to over R50,000 to meet the utility’s installation and registration requirements.

The utility has launched a new campaign to help residential owners of SmallScale Embedded Generation (SSEG) systems—including photovoltaic (PV) installation systems—become compliant with national regulations.

National regulator Nersa requires that all SSEG owners register with Eskom or their local municipality, depending on who supplies the area.

Since March 2023, Eskom has not charged any registration fees or the cost of a bidirectional Smart Meter for households with installations of up to 50kVA.

Larger installations above 50kVA have a different fee structure. The group noted that the typical size for most residential PV installations is up to 16kVA.

Once registered, customers will be converted to the Homeflex tariff. The SSEG and non-SSEG residential customers will pay the same fixed charges.

SSEG residential customers can also benefit from Homeflex tariff credits for energy exports, it said.

Eskom stressed that customers with installations below 50kVA have been exempted from connection charges and tariff conversion fees, which typically cover costs such as quotations, physical connections, and meter installations.

However, these exemptions will only remain in place for eligible households until March 2026, including those who have not yet installed PV systems, it said.

Eskom added that the fee exemptions do not exempt owners from having to register the system.