For years, South African homeowners planned their lives around load shedding schedules. Eskom has since reported more than 500 consecutive days without load shedding (as of October 2026), running since mid-May 2025. That is good news — but it is not the whole picture.
Load reduction, which targets specific high-risk areas, still affects a portion of customers, mostly in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and Eskom aims to eliminate it by March 2027. Municipal infrastructure faults, cable theft and storm damage also cause outages. A power-resilient home still makes sense — it simply needs to be planned properly.
1. Start with an energy audit
Before buying panels or batteries, list what you actually need to keep running: lights, Wi-Fi, fridge, security gate and alarm, borehole or booster pump. Many households find that a well-sized inverter and battery for essential circuits, plus a solar geyser or heat pump, delivers most of the benefit at a fraction of the cost of a full off-grid system.
2. Register rooftop solar before you install
If your system is connected to the grid in any way — even if it never exports power — it is a small-scale embedded generator (SSEG) and must be registered with your electricity distributor. For most Kempton Park homes that is the City of Ekurhuleni; for Eskom-direct customers, it is Eskom.
- Apply for approval before installation, not after.
- Use equipment and inverters that meet your distributor’s technical requirements.
- Installations must comply with SANS 10142-1 (the wiring code) and the relevant solar standards, and your installer must issue a Certificate of Compliance (CoC). Many municipalities also require sign-off by a registered professional.
- Even fully off-grid systems must still meet safety standards and municipal bylaws.
Unregistered systems can lead to fines, disconnection and problems with insurance claims or when you sell your home.
3. Keep your electrical CoC current
A valid electrical Certificate of Compliance is required when a property is sold, and a new one is needed whenever the installation is altered — which includes adding an inverter, new circuits or a DB board upgrade. Always use a registered electrical contractor.
4. Plan it into your build or renovation
If you are building or renovating, now is the cheapest time to future-proof: dedicated essential-load circuits, conduit and space for an inverter and batteries, a roof orientation that suits panels, and proper earthing and surge protection for Highveld lightning season.
How Omphu Investment can help
Our electrical works team handles residential installations, wiring, lighting, power points, DB upgrades and electrical work for new builds and renovations — within the appropriate technical scope and with the right compliance documentation.
Requirements and fees differ between municipalities and change over time. Confirm the current SSEG process with your distributor before you install.