This article (from some years ago) spells out what some the complications are with feeding in to the grid: When the wind blows | The Economist
We tried that at the start, CoCT got wise to this and made a blanket statement: We shall not increase your breaker or connection size for anything to do with SSEG requirements. You have to prove additional load now.
While we are not Australia, they require all residential inverter to have communication to their utilties/munic control centre. So if you read you manuals for the GoodWe/Solis/Victron/Sunsynk you will see that they actually have this capability or can be easily fitter with it. The utility would then have the ability to limit grid export as they see fit. I think this model could and should be adapted for SA.
I think most of them use this to do cos(phi) correction, power factor correction. If you can instruct the PV-inverters in an area to change their power factor, they can counteract a bad power factor in that area. Though you could also limit power I would assume, or even (in future, likely through contract of some sort), push power into the grid from battery storage (which you will be paid for). But not yet.
I get why they might need the ability to limit the feed-in.
BUTā¦and I donāt want to sound like a conspiracy theoristā¦
They would theoretically be able to limit your feed-in at any time and to any extent that āsuitsā them.
It affords control above and beyond what is needed for grid stability.
How would you be able to prove the contrary ?
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Intresting CoCT budget that mentions this:
āIt is also spending R48 million in an initial push to end load shedding, and R45 million over the next three years to enable and incentivise residents to self-generate and sell their excess energy to the city.
Embedded commercial generators will no longer be compelled to be net consumers of city-supplied power; in fact, they will be incentivised to be net producers.ā
I hope the this is a worth while change and that others will follow.
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Install the bi-directional meter for free, being their property, same connection fee of wot, R200 (?) pm as is now, and I will sell power back to CoCT at a lower rate than what they buy from Eskom, to cover their meter/admin expenses ā¦ or some such.
As long as it does not cost me MORE pm, to supply their grid, have spent enough on the entire system as is, thank you.
I would gladly sell my solar back to coct. But only after my batteries are fully charge! @TheTerribleTriplet
I saw what you did! 
Truth be told, I will do the sums:
Will I make more selling back to them keeping the bank charged?
Make more if I use the bank at night, and not supply them?
Make more with more panels to sell back and use at night?
Or bugger it all, go BIG on panels, the bank becoming a side issue?
OK, technical regulations aside for the moment.
You wonāt do it if it costs you money.
You wonāt do it for nothing.
You donāt expect to ever get a 1 for 1 deal.
So what sort of deal would you be prepared to expand your installation for?
What would be your bottom line, too little, an insult?
Open to allcomers,
It would be nice to get a feel. Who knows there may be a COCT reader with some influence out there.
I would actually feed in without being paid, as long as it isnāt costing me more. The simplicity and stability is very appealing. Also helping fellow man and all that.
If I see Iām feeding in a lot, Iāll consider (more) batteries. There isnāt really a better way of seeing how much power you could generate than just letting it ride.
Not a net Consumer, very appealing.
Sell at 50% of current bulk Eskom rate they have to pay.
They pay the meter, itās theirs
They take what I feed back, no nonsense about min or max.
They better get Grid Scale Battery to regulate those ancillary services like Voltage, Freq and QoS etc.
Groetnis
But, what would you expand your system for?
Any thoughts about how OZ has evolved TOU tariffs?
Let me know when you find him/herā¦
Iāll chip my own āIf I were youā¦ā in.
I see the rate and the allowed size as going hand in hand.
If the allowed size coupled with the rate gave me a zero bill, Iād do it.
If it gave me a small bill Iād probably still do it.
If it cut my present bill in half, Iād be on the fence.
I would expand to take advantage of TOU, if that were available. Ideally into a VW ID.4 while weāre wishing for things 
.
Even without the TOU Iād expand for an EV.
Like most policy things, Time of Use is difficult to get right. Your poorest consumers get hammered while everyone with cash opts out 
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Iām reviving this thread in the hope of getting some clarity. Does anyone know how ānet consumerā is defined?
- CCT will āpayā me up to the maximum of the kWhās I bought from them.
- CCT will āpayā me up to the value (ZAR) of kWhās I bought from them.
- CCT will āpayā me up to the value (ZAR) of kWhās I bought from them plus the monthly availability fee.
I understand they canāt pay me cash (yet) due to procurement rules for municipalities but if I can get my account to zero, it might just be worth the upfront meter cost.
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My understanding of net consumer means that you still need to consume more than what you feed back in terms of kWh, not monetary value, over 12 months. (Note that they are looking at changing it and buying from you with an EFT payment, but that may still be some time away)
So if you feed in 1000kWh over 12 months you need to have consumed more than 1000kWh.
My understanding is that itās not possible. As you need to be a net consumer youāll always have a bill. BUT if you are currently using a lot from the grid the export credit does help bringing down the bill.
I made a post in this thread last year, but Iām guessing the rates changed, but will be more or less the same (I think) where you (at minimum) can get away with a ~R350pm bill:
I think of it this way: It is defined in terms of kWh and not in Rands. Your energy consumption (measured in kWh) must be a positive number or zero over a 12-month period.
Since you pay more per kWh than they āpayā (rebate) you, that means the bill is never zero. Even if you manage to be completely neutral, and export exactly as much as you import, your bill will be whatever you imported multiplied by the difference in the rates.
If you do export more than you import, you simply donāt get āpaidā (rebated) for that, in other words the same happens as if the import and export is the same. This last item I am not 100% sure of, but it seems to me the common-sense approach. If you export more than you import, they can either penalise youā¦ or just do nothing. I suspect the latter is what will happen.
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Correct me if Iām wrong but we donāt have to worry about being a net consumer any more??
We just wait for the details of the new dealā¦ 