Civil society group Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has welcomed the indefinite extension of Eskom’s rooftop solar registration fee waiver.

The charge has been waived, but the legal requirement to register the system remains.

Eskom says it needs to know what generation is connected to its network to manage the grid safely and protect workers and equipment.

However, OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage argues that Eskom has no legitimate grounds to force mandatory registration.

“The concern is that they’ve extended this … it’s a 3rd extension, and there’s no deadline for this extension. So, there’s always a deadline. So, now it becomes a bit of an open-ended issue, and our concern is we’ve said to Eskom: if less than 20% of your solar users, Eskom’s direct customers, have heeded your call over the last year, what are you doing about it? Because people are not complying. This is a déjà vu of the eToll matter, quite frankly. If this is law, we are saying, on what basis, because we cannot see the law that forces or compels people to register, which is why nobody is registering,” he says.

Source link