---
title: "My City Power plan, from rechargeable lights to an inverter and now solar"
description: "SA’s unreliable electricity grid is pushing households towards solar, but this shift should be accelerated rather than be penalised. A consumer-focused solar strategy could modernise the grid, create jobs and help lower energy costs."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "JOBURG ENERGY"
author: "J Brooks Spector"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/jbrooksspector/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-21-my-city-power-plan-from-rechargeable-lights-to-an-inverter-and-now-solar/"
published: "2026-08-21T15:19:25"
updated: "2026-08-21T15:19:29"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 1941
---

# My City Power plan, from rechargeable lights to an inverter and now solar

> SA’s unreliable electricity grid is pushing households towards solar, but this shift should be accelerated rather than be penalised. A consumer-focused solar strategy could modernise the grid, create jobs and help lower energy costs.

By J Brooks Spector · Published 21 August 2026, 17:19 SAST · Updated 21 August 2026, 17:19 SAST

## Key points
- Chronic power cuts have pushed households into a DIY energy revolution – the author recounts the scramble during load‑shedding and installing an R85,000 home solar system that now cuts reliance on the grid.
- Instead of penalising innovators, South Africa needs a consumer‑first solar strategy to modernise the grid, create jobs and bring down energy bills – but Eskom and municipalities are resisting that shift.
- The piece outlines seven practical policy moves – mandatory solar on new builds, large urban and desert farms, retrofit financing, regulatory support, local manufacturing and training – to scale a clean‑energy future.
- However, many councils slap homeowners with registration fines, monthly “solar” fees and punitive charges that actively discourage uptake.

## Content

A few months ago, I wrote of my anger about the nation’s [dysfunctional water situation](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-02-15-water-water-everywhere-nor-any-drop-to-drink-bath-wash-clothes-or-do-dishes/). Unfortunately, things seem no better now than before.

Crucially, for some communities, it is probably even worse. Entire suburbs protest against the lack of measures to remedy things. Although government offices make promises and issue grand plans, for many, the pipes remain dry.

Soon, we’ll explore the worsening conditions of so many of our roads, despite the City’s inevitable pledges to fix them. Like so many others, my attention continues to be drawn to possible damage to our car, or worse, from potholes and broken-up road surfaces on routes I regularly travel – including roads just repaired and re-tarred! Next time.

[Read more

Melville residents have gone without water for over 20% of 2026 so far

August 14, 2026 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/kG6PrsODhRPfsho4wcU17L2ymik=/450x0/smart/file/attachments/orphans/IMG_9187_964820.jpg)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-14-melville-residents-have-gone-without-water-for-over-20-of-2026-so-far/)

But first, we contemplate our rickety electricity system. Back in those dark years of “load shedding”, many of us, as an evening began, could be heard cursing the darkness as we searched desperately for candles and matches.

(As an angry aside, why did we accept Eskom’s circumlocution, “load shedding”, rather than insist they call it what really was – power cuts. Load shedding sounded like such a benign thing, almost like a beautiful Persian cat shedding its thick winter fur to be comfortable in the summer.)

Like so many others, as the problem continued, in self-defence, we installed ugly rechargeable lights in strategic spots in the house so we wouldn’t fall down unseen steps late at night, bump into furniture, or trip over the cat in the dark and fracture a hip when we fell.

Like everyone else, we still had to eat, but takeaways or online delivery services were not always an option. So, in desperation, we purchased one of those compact gas camper stoves so we could at least heat water for coffee or tea, and cook some soup or reheat leftover stew or curry when the power vanished.

### Fightback

As the power cuts continued, we fought back. We purchased uninterrupted power sources and a bulky inverter so we could still watch television, have one or two lights on, access the internet and recharge phones and laptops.

But we also needed to illuminate the outside of the house in the stygian darkness (the street lights were also off if our house current was absent). We installed solar lights in the garden and the front of the house, and a backup battery for the garage door opener.

Yes, eventually the load shedding abated due to some actual efforts by Eskom – but our electrical troubles actually didn’t. The suburb we live in is an old one. Much of the electrical grid, including those neighbourhood substations, is prone to mysterious collapses as one bit of infrastructure or another spontaneously fails.

Residents routinely check with one another to see who still has power – and who does not – and whether it is due to the loss of one electrical phase or something more ominous and widespread, affecting hundreds of homes and businesses.

[Read more

Eskom’s three tenors sing a song of reindustrialisation under new pricing model

August 19, 2026 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/2M2XTk8IZ-tx8DP475fBkI2yptI=/450x0/smart/file/attachments/orphans/BMEskomturnsindustrialcornercopy_117626.jpg)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-19-eskom-s-three-tenors-sing-a-song-of-reindustrialisation-under-new-pricing-model/)

Then, when the power has failed again, fault reporting begins and we check with each other again to see if anyone knows anything about an actual repair team being on the way, or if we must harangue our local councillors to “escalate” the problem, or do something.

Meanwhile, over the years, many of the neighbourhood’s utility poles have sprouted tangles of unorthodox “fixes” as repair crews added so many patches that the tops of the poles resemble one of those intertwined balls of mating garter snakes. These tangles have a rather frightening habit of sparking or catching fire.

The power to the house across the street from us has their power line literally woven through the leaves and branches of a massive syringa tree on our verge before crossing the street to where the main utility line is. The City installed it that way. As a result, we’re waiting until one of those entangled branches breaks off in a heavy storm and pulls down the entire street’s electric power lines.

Meanwhile, the nearby substation gets broken into regularly. We live in perilous times.

### Making a plan

Most recently, neighbours managed to link with an actual City-accredited, electrical subcontractor. And so, during two recent power failures, neighbours pooled together to pay him a modest call-out fee to replace defunct circuit breakers and burnt-out wiring; this rather than waiting until City Power assessed the problem, but announced the depot didn’t have the necessary spares.

Yes, we know there are parts of the city – just as with water woes – that wait weeks for repairs. But in all honesty, nobody should have to endure this kind of thing, and the people failing to properly fund and schedule maintenance should be held accountable. Yes, we all know we should not elide around the system informally, but really, all of our lives are largely controlled by access to electricity.

Collectively, I am sure we have all had more than enough of this nonsense. As a result, despite my feelings that since we (grudgingly) pay rates and taxes they should pay to maintain one of the City’s primary responsibilities, we began researching the move to solar power.

[Read more

Cold snap exposes the obvious — Joburg’s power grid can’t cope

August 13, 2026 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/MtMa2tKRDnvzsrxER3aMLBaFkMs=/450x0/smart/file/attachments/orphans/JoburgElectricityCrisisFINAL-02_358654.png)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-13-cold-snap-exposes-the-obvious-joburg-s-power-grid-can-t-cope/)

Ultimately, we decided on a system that would power wall outlets and lights, kitchen appliances including the kettle and microwave, and the geyser. After negotiations with the supplier, this priced out at about R85,000. To pick our installer, we went with the recommendation of our local hardware store operator, who had used the same installer.

A word to the wise: there are many people who have suddenly got into this business – it is probably worse than the thicket of “bakkie builder” construction people who want to fix your walls or roof. It is crucial to get a recommendation from someone satisfied with the system they have purchased before taking this plunge.

On the agreed day, our supplier’s team arrived on time, finished the installation neatly, and turned the system on in one day. They installed an app on my cellphone so I can track how much solar energy or city power we are drawing to keep our house humming. This is a guilty pleasure: I grin at being able to see I am buying less city power.

Collectively, these experiences have led me to reconsider our bruised relationship with City Power – and, ultimately, with Eskom. I have come to realise the system is perversely structured to inhibit technological advances in pursuit of quarterly earnings – and designed to milk its customers.

The denizens of Megawatt Park seemingly see their role as expanding the current, cranky and largely coal-fired power plant system and electrical grid – and, in the process, maximising revenue from consumers. Just by the way, can anyone remember an actual cut in charges for their electric power as opposed to continuing increases?

Their mission is the opposite of providing energy in the most efficient, reliable and least costly manner – and embracing new technology by consumers for their benefit and continuity of service. These are public entities, not corporate profit centres, right?

So, instead of focusing on upgrading an old, decaying grid (let alone all those creaking, unreliable local grids), and routinely raising fees from hard-pressed end users, what if we reimagined the whole system, putting consumers first? Possible?

### The facts

Let’s start with these facts. SA gets about 350 sunny days a year. Plus, solar energy is not actually dependent on how hot the day is since all those quanta of solar energy are not simply a function of the heat of a summer sun. Solar panels collect energy, and they can do so through clouds. You can still get a decent sunburn on an overcast day, after all, from the infrared rays.

But what if, as the core national priority, we made really efficient use of solar energy in our approach to electrical power? And what if such an approach was oriented towards bringing down energy prices to consumers instead of routinely appealing to the regulatory agencies for those astonishing tariff increases?

If these were our goals, what might be seven key public policy elements for this approach? Here are some ideas to contemplate:

- Ensure every new building – residential, commercial, industrial, governmental – incorporates solar panels and equipment, installed by certified installers, into their structures, feeding energy into the building’s electrical grid.
- Build new solar farms on unused land near cities, as well as vast solar farms in the country’s deserts. Future greenfield transmission lines could feed that energy into existing urban grids, rather than relying on new fossil fuel energy generation and a constant struggle to rebuild existing, old transmission lines.
- Create a robust regulatory regimen that supports individual businesses and home owners in retrofitting solar power systems into their existing properties, rather than threatening or charging fees on solar power users.
- Establish a nationwide system of financing these installations or conversions. These loans would be for procuring equipment and employing trained personnel to install it. This would support the national goal of moving on to that Fourth Industrial Revolution.
- Insist Eskom and local power utilities shift their understanding that their future is not in building more fossil fuel power plants, but supporting the growth of the use of solar. Their revenue stream would increasingly come from interest on financing for the conversion to solar power. That is, after all, how banks make their geld – lending money to earn interest so they can lend funds to others.
- Create a vigorous national effort to build the equipment domestically and to train installers and maintenance specialists. This would support growth in new firms, as well as the workers who are crucial for SA’s technological future.
- Facilitate SA’s exports of coal to countries failing to embrace a transformation to solar energy or as feedstocks for industry.

Let someone else have the respiratory diseases instead.

Unfortunately, SA’s regulatory state still seems to be intent on wringing revenue from those who attempt to break free from the grip of the old electrical grids. And, in fact, solar use surcharges and penalties are actively being rolled out across SA.

For example, homeowners with unregistered rooftop systems face fines of R6,000 to R30,000. Further, many municipalities are implementing monthly solar network fees – even for off-grid users – to compensate for lost electricity revenue.

To balance their books, authorities are introducing two main types of charges: capacity/grid charges such as fixed monthly fees to keep homes connected to the grid; and unregistered fines and punitive charges for failing to formally register small-scale embedded generation systems with the local utility provider.

Some municipalities are adding administration fees (of up to R10,000) to register home solar systems and recurring monthly solar fees. Such policies are antithetical to encouraging a shift to solar power, and a shift in the other direction should be the goal – not squeezing consumers for a variety of fees for being innovative.

Meanwhile, Eskom tried to make it all sound warm and fuzzy by [saying](https://www.eskom.co.za/solar-registration-fees-continue-to-remain-zero-for-the-majority-of-eskoms-residential-customers-and-include-a-free-smart-meter-until-march-2026/) that it “remains committed to providing ongoing support, guidance, and engagement with customers and industry stakeholders to ensure the safe and efficient use of solar energy solutions across SA”.

The bottom line? Solar panels and the related equipment use an energy source that will not run out for another five or six billion years, at little cost to the consumer, unless astronomers have been seriously misled.

So why wait? **DM**