The Truth About Solar Compliance

The Rise of Solar in South Africa: Navigating the “Solar Boom”

The year 2022 marked a pivotal moment for South Africans. As load-shedding escalated, plunging homes and businesses into darkness, a nationwide search for a reliable solution began. For us at Lunar Solar, this period wasn’t just a business opportunity—it was the beginning of what history now calls the South African Solar Boom.

This sudden surge in demand created a frenzy. Anyone who could afford to, from middle-class households to small businesses and guesthouses, scrambled to either finance or purchase a solar solution. The market was then flooded with solar panels, inverters, and batteries from multiple supply chains and installers.

The Challenge of Rapid Growth and Broken Promises

With demand skyrocketing, the industry saw an explosive increase in the number of solar installers. At the time, we estimated there were over 5,000 registered installers nationwide, with countless others operating without proper credentials. This rapid growth, while a sign of a strong market, also came with a significant challenge: the rise of “solar cowboys.”

These unvetted installers, often driven by the desire for a quick profit, capitalized on the public’s desperation, offering cut-rate installations that often resulted in subpar quality, unsafe setups, and a lack of proper after-sales support. This left many homeowners with faulty systems and a deep sense of frustration, tainted by broken promises and systems installed by unqualified “electricians.”

At Lunar Solar we have focused on building an aftersales department to assist clients with their non-compliant, faulty, and problematic installations, to restore compliance and safety within their homes and businesses.

A system not installed as per regulation can be extremely dangerous and it’s important to have your system reviewed for compliance and yearly maintenance.

The Media, Eskom, and the Rise of Energy Independence

During this time, the media rode the wave, instilling fear by reporting on everything from South Africa’s deteriorating carbon footprint to the country’s need to act immediately to meet global emissions targets. Some even advanced a compelling, if unproven, narrative: that a cash-strapped Eskom, facing billions in debt, was forced to push society towards renewables to reduce its own financial and carbon footprint.

While a great conspiracy theory, this narrative ultimately failed. It instead ignited a wildfire of energy independence, leaving Eskom’s long-standing monopoly in jeopardy. In the aftermath of the solar boom, there is less dependence on Eskom, which has in turn worsened the utility’s already precarious financial situation. It is now fascinating to see a shift in the media’s focus. The same platforms that once instilled a fear of carbon emissions are now seemingly using scare tactics to discourage the very energy independence they helped create, often focusing on the perceived hurdles of small-scale embedded generation (SSEG).

The Reality of SSEG: A System Not Built for the People

The truth is, the SSEG process, originally modelled on the commercial sector, has proven to be a poor fit for the high volume of residential and small business applications. This system, with its paper-based application forms, countless tedious checkboxes, and multiple parties involved, has created a near-impossible task for installers and clients alike.

In our nearly four years of operation, we have installed over 1000 systems. Managing a compliance department under a system designed with so much red tape and moving parts has been a monumental challenge. The frustration is compounded by the fact that municipalities are severely understaffed, with only one or two people allocated to handle thousands of SSEG applications. Email inboxes are overflowing, and after years of follow-ups, many emails remain unopened. Our clients, who have paid good money for a compliant installation, understandably blame us for the lack of “successful registration.”

The Real Cost of Compliance

The current process is costly and frustrating for everyone involved. The burden of single-line drawings, expensive AMI installations, and new meters with significant upfront costs are passed directly to our clients. And when our team must trench and repair damage to a client’s property to install a new meter line, the municipality’s stance is that we, the installer, must bear the cost.

In an industry crying out for a standardized, streamlined process, we are instead forced to contend with a different set of rules for every municipality, creating chaos and frustration.

Navigating a Broken System

This broken system is having real consequences for homeowners. We are now seeing that the City of Cape Town issue contravention notices and harass clients whose systems have not yet been registered.

As Zenobia our compliance officer continues:

“I am currently busy moving my clients over to the e-service portal, but this takes time. Clients in estates can’t even register on the portal as this must be done through the estate, and we are left to figure out these new requirements through trial and error. To make matters worse, the City is now responding to old emails, asking for supplementary contracts, and commissioning letters, only to tell us that the process has expired and must be re-submitted via the new portal.”

Real-World Client Experiences

Our clients’ feedback validates our experience:

“This has been one of the most confusing processes that I have experienced. Trying to be compliant to the expectations of the City of Cape Town was a shocker. Visiting the Municipality of Brackenfell, Bloemhof offices, and many phone calls led to absolutely nothing. I understand that there is a difference between the process of living in an Estate and those staying outside of estates, as the Municipality sees the Estate as one bulk meter. The HOA does not have the know-how to handle the process.

Zenobia really tried her utmost best to assist with everything. All in all, a frustrating process to comply.” — Anonymous Client.

Another client shared a similar, harrowing experience:

“Our experience of getting a City of Cape Town registration was pretty horrendous. Lunar Solar submitted the application well over a year ago, after they had installed our panels. I gather there was such a backlog that those applications bit the dust, and a new application had to be submitted. We then received an ugly, threatening letter from the City Council saying we would be subject to penalties if we did not secure a City of Cape Town registration.

It was only after Zenobia went the extra mile and personally came around to our house to enact this on her own computer that proxy was successfully completed. It took a long time, but the City of Cape Town registration did eventually come through. My overall conclusions: (1) It was a very frustrating experience. (2) The actions of Zenobia went way beyond the call-of-duty, and we are extremely grateful to her. (3) I think the City of Cape Town messed up badly and did not handle things at all well. They took on too much initially, and then instead of admitting this and developing a way of rolling over applications, they sent out threatening letters that raised the hackles and required re-submissions with additional checks of the system. I think they could have developed a more efficient response to the initial backlog.

Perhaps the most frustrating example comes from (Anonymous Client), who provides a detailed account of his four-month battle with the City of Cape Town’s system:

At the time of writing on 26th February 2025, I have been trying since 1st November 2024 to complete registration with the Cape Town City Council of the solar panels installed by Lunar Solar as required by the municipality, but without success. This process has been so frustrating and irritating due to the lack of response from and incompetence of municipal officials that I have just decided to give up.

My E-Services profile has indicated ‘Status: Submitted’ for four months because the City has not yet been able to review a simple change. When I try to add Lunar Solar as a proxy, there is ‘No data,’ so I can’t proceed.

I’ve made countless phone calls that were either unanswered or dropped. On one occasion I waited on hold for 45 minutes before giving up. After a lengthy email exchange with one official, I was referred to another email address and received an automated reply saying, ‘We are currently receiving a very high volume of applications and queries and appreciate your patience.’ That was three weeks ago, and I’m still waiting.

I even went in person to the Municipal Offices on the Foreshore. After a long wait, I was told by a clerk that he couldn’t help me. He eventually found one person who might be able to, but she wasn’t available. He took a half-hour to email her, promising me a response. It’s been another two weeks, and I’m still waiting. Outside the building, some municipal employees told me I was mad to even try to complete the SSEG registration, as it was an impossible task. This is an extremely abbreviated account of my many hours of wasted time trying to accomplish the simple but impossible task of SSEG registration.”

Our Commitment to Our Clients

For us as installers, it’s a source of constant stress and frustration. We are one of the few companies who have tried to lawfully comply, every step of the way with the information we had from the local municipalities.

At Lunar Solar, our mission remains the same: to provide the Western Cape with safe, efficient, and reliable solar solutions that stand the test of time, despite the challenging and ever-changing compliance landscape. We are on your side, and we will continue to fight for a fair and functional process for all homeowners who seek energy independence.

We understand and fully embody our client’s valid frustrations, we understand as we have worked this journey with each one of you, we have and will continue to do our best to service our clients to the best of our ability, demand information and assistance on our client’s behalf, and fight for their overall compliance.