Rooftop solar registration stays compulsory, and Eskom's charge for it stays waived.

An asset owner with rooftop solar connected directly to Eskom's distribution network must still register the installation, but will not pay Eskom's registration charges to do so. Eskom said on 30 September 2026 that the waiver of those charges, which was set to lapse that same day, now runs until further notice and covers eligible customer-owned systems rated up to 50kVA on its own network.

What moved is the fee, not the duty. Eskom was explicit that the obligation on qualifying grid-connected facilities to register is untouched, and it locates that obligation in the "Electricity Regulation Act of 2006, read with the applicable Exemption and Registration Notice".

Where a generator registers depends on size, and generating purely for self-consumption is no escape. On Eskom's account of the regulator's position, what triggers registration is a grid connection point together with installed capacity, so a plant whose output never leaves the property is still in scope. Capacity of 100kW or less is handled by the licensed distributor, either Eskom or the municipality; above that threshold it goes to NERSA itself; an installation with no connection point is outside the regime.

The relief is narrower than the rule it attaches to. Only customers supplied directly by Eskom sit inside the waiver, and an owner billed through a municipality must take the question of cost and paperwork to that licensed redistributor. Registration is also not the compliance certificate an electrician signs. One records where a generator sits, what technology it uses and how large it is; the other speaks to electrical safety, and in the regulator's reading the two do not substitute for each other.

For buyers across the South African electricity market, the municipal side is the part still carrying an unpriced charge, because each redistributor sets its own. The implication is that regularising has become free for one class of customer while the exposure of an unregistered installation is unchanged, and an open-ended waiver is one Eskom can close on its own timing.