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Is backup power or solar worth it for me?
Eskom's tariff to municipalities rose 9.01% from 1 July 2026 (NERSA decision on Eskom tariffs for 2026/27 (5 March 2026)), and outages haven't gone away for everyone. Here's what size of system you'd need, what it costs in rand, and whether it pays back, or whether you should wait.
What things cost in 2026 (installed, rand)
Prices checked 17 October 2026 from published South African price guides and listings. Quotes vary with brand, battery size, roof and installer. We have no deals with any installer or brand and earn nothing from this page.
Inverter, solar, battery or generator?
- Inverter + battery (no panels): charges from the grid, takes over in an outage. Quiet and automatic, but it doesn't lower your bill; it's insurance. A 3 kVA unit with ~5 kWh runs wi-fi, lights, a fridge and a TV for about 4 hours.
- Solar panels: make electricity in daylight (about 4 kWh per kW of panels per day in SA, on average). This is the part that saves money, most of all if you use power during the day.
- Battery size decides how long you last after dark. Lithium (LiFePO4) batteries are the norm now; plan to use about 90% of the rated kWh.
- Generator: cheapest to buy (R6 500–R20 000), dearest to run: a 5 kVA petrol generator burns about 1.5 L an hour at half load, roughly R45 an hour at R30.25/L (OurPower, generator running-cost calculator (petrol R30.25/L, 7 Oct 2026)). Noisy, needs fuel and servicing, and must run outdoors because of carbon monoxide. Fine for rare, long outages; poor for daily use.
- Heat-pump geyser: often the best first upgrade. It heats water using roughly a third of the electricity of an element, cutting water-heating use by about 60% (EnergyBee, heat pump vs electric geyser). A 200 L unit costs about R28 000–R53 500 installed (EnergyBee, heat pump geyser prices 2026).
Registering solar with your municipality (SSEG)
Any system that connects to your home's wiring and can feed or sync with the grid counts as small-scale embedded generation (SSEG). Most municipalities require you to register it, even if you never export power.
- Before you install: get permission or a notification number from your municipality. In Cape Town you apply online and must not switch on until the system is commissioned (City of Cape Town: apply to install an embedded generation system).
- Use an approved inverter (on your municipality's list, with an NRS 097 certificate) and a registered electrician who issues a Certificate of Compliance (CoC).
- Paperwork usually includes a single-line diagram, inverter datasheet and certificate, the CoC and a commissioning report (City of Cape Town: requirements for small-scale embedded generation (PDF); Johannesburg: The Citizen: how to make a compliant City Power solar application).
- Why bother: unregistered systems can lead to fines, problems with home insurance claims, and trouble when you sell. Selling power back is only possible on an approved export tariff, where your municipality offers one.
Rules differ by municipality and change often. Check your own municipality's SSEG page before you sign a quote.
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How this works
Backup sizing adds up the running watts of what you tick (geyser and pool pump are kept off the backup), adds 25% headroom and a fridge start-up surge, and multiplies average use by your hours, assuming 90% usable battery. Solar uses ~4.1 kWh per kWp per day (the SVCS Solar, 5 kW system with 10.2 kWh storage package (R101 398 incl. VAT, installed) makes about 15.2 kWh a day from 3.72 kWp), and assumes you use 60%–85% of what the panels make, capped at 75% of your bill. Payback = installed price ÷ yearly saving, at today's tariff. Read how we stay independent.