Cape Town home with rooftop solar panels glowing in the evening light
Cape Town · SSEG registration

Get your solar registered with the City.

Required even if your system never exports. We inspect and document your installation, our engineer signs it off and we handle the City. About a week after the inspection you have the City's approval letter.

Register with the City

R3,500 once-off, invoiced after our site inspection. Nothing to pay today.

We use these details only to arrange your registration and reply to you. See our privacy notice.

How it works

You will not be sourcing an engineer.

The City requires an ECSA-registered professional to sign off a grid-tied system whether it exports or not. Ours does it from what we document at our site inspection.

Your details, then you book a site inspection

Your name, number and email. Then your inverter's make and model if you have it to hand, and a day for our site inspection. Nothing to pay yet.

We inspect and document the installation

We photograph the inverter label, the DB board, isolators, earthing and the panels for the engineer, and collect your Certificate of Compliance and your installer's spec sheets. After the inspection we invoice our fee.

Our engineer reviews them and signs off

Your inverter against the City's approved list first, then the rest of the installation. If something needs fixing, we tell you exactly what and how.

We submit, and the City approves in about a week

We lodge the application, answer the City's queries, and send you the approval letter and your compliance pack.

See the City process in full, and who does each part.

Start my registration

R3,500 once-off, after the inspection  · 

Why register

What an unregistered system can cost you

Selling your home

Conveyancers treat an unregistered system as a defect that has to be disclosed in the property condition report, and a buyer can insist it's registered before transfer.

The City

An unregistered system is an offence under the City's Electricity Supply By-law. The City can issue a contravention notice to disconnect it within five working days, add a service fee to your account, and cut your supply.

Your insurer

Insurers need your Certificate of Compliance, and at least one major insurer has said an unregistered system can count against a claim. The City's approval letter takes that question off the table.

Not sure if you're already registered?

A Certificate of Compliance isn't registration. And even with the City's approval letter, the City doesn't always finish its side, such as fitting the split prepaid meter. We'll check where you stand, for free.

What's included

R3,500

Once-off, invoiced after our site inspection. Nothing to pay when you book.

  • If we find something that needs fixing, we tell you exactly what and how. Once your installer or an electrician fixes it, we sign it off at no extra cost, within 6 months.
  • If the City rejects the application because of our paperwork or submission, we redo it free.
Start my registration

Everything it takes to get the City's approval

  • A site inspectionWe document the installation for the engineer
  • Inverter checkAgainst the City's approved list
  • The engineer's sign-offBy our contracted ECSA-registered professional
  • The City applicationLodged, followed up, and its queries answered
  • Approval letter and compliance packFor your records, and for a sale
Your bill after registering

What registering does to your tariff

For most homes on a monthly bill, nothing changes. The City bills registered solar homes on its Home User tariff, which has a R424.30 monthly service charge. This is the City's rule and applies whoever registers the system.

Already on Home User (a monthly bill, or a property valued at R1 million or more)No change
Prepaid, with a property valued under R1 millionRoughly R90–R260 a month more for most solar homes
On LifelineTalk to us first: registering ends Lifeline and free basic electricity

Not sure which of these is you? .

Questions

What clients typically ask

Something else? Tap Message us and a person replies, usually the same working day.

Yes. Cape Town requires every grid-tied solar system to be registered, whether or not it feeds power back to the grid. A Certificate of Compliance alone is not enough: the City's process needs an e-Services application and sign-off by an ECSA-registered professional.
A Certificate of Compliance is not the same as City SSEG approval. If you don't hold a commissioning approval letter from the City, you aren't registered. If you do, it's still worth checking the City finished its side, such as swapping a credit meter for a split prepaid meter. Either way, message us and we'll check your status before you book anything.
About a week from our site inspection, once we have your Certificate of Compliance and spec sheets. The City makes the final decision, so we track the file and answer its queries rather than promise a date it controls.
Yes, once. You pick a day and a morning or afternoon when you book, and we message you to confirm the exact time. At the inspection we document the installation for the engineer. Nothing is due until after the inspection; then we invoice our fee.
We tell you exactly what needs fixing and how. The fix itself is done by your installer or an electrician, not by us. Once it's done, you send us a photo of it, and we re-review and sign it off at no extra cost, within 6 months of the review. Nothing is due until after our site inspection. Our fee pays for the inspection and the engineer's review, not a guaranteed sign-off, so once the review has started we don't refund it: the engineer has done the work. Changed your mind before we've started the review? We refund you in full. And if the City rejects the application because of our paperwork or submission, we redo it free.
It can. The City bills registered solar homes on its Home User tariff, which has a R424.30 monthly service charge. If you're already on Home User — a monthly bill, or a property valued at R1 million or more — nothing changes. On prepaid with a property valued under R1 million, it's roughly R90–R260 a month more for most solar homes. On Lifeline, talk to us first: registering ends Lifeline and free basic electricity. This is the City's rule and applies whoever registers the system. Not sure which applies to you? Ask us before you book.
Conveyancers treat an unregistered system as a defect that has to be disclosed in the property condition report, and a buyer can insist it's registered before transfer. The City's approval letter and your compliance pack answer that question before it comes up.
No. Grid Okes is an independent service by Edna Labs (Pty) Ltd. We prepare and manage applications through the City's official process and coordinate a contracted ECSA professional, but the City makes the approval decisions.

Get your system on the City's books.

About a week after our site inspection, you'll hold the City's approval letter and your system is registered.

Start my registration

Want to export and earn municipal credits? See export activation.