Technically, yes. If it is a warranty replacement I probably wouldn’t bother unless something like insurance depends on it.
I don’t know, and I don’t know if they know.
Thinking about this morning’s visit, they were concerned about safety and about the system matching the engineer’s drawing. They did actually tell me that even if I added two extra panels I had to notify them, so I presume there is some process in place.
If you have a registration process, then that has to include cases like the one you mention or I mention. Though really, I could change the wiring at any time, or have it changed, and how would they know?
I suspect it ends up a bit like insurance. You don’t HAVE to tell them about the changes you had your mate make to your DB, but if they find out they will rule that you were not forthcoming with them and just rip the policy up and it’ll all be your fault for not telling them so don’t even think about asking for money back.
It’s also like cleaning panels. I see a nice little business opportunity here.
The engineer is going to call me in the next couple of days. I will ask him about this.
Yes, if anything changes, in Cpt at least, SN, battery capacity, and panel wattages, one is supposed to send an update.
If the inverter size changes, not sure about that.
EDIT: I know cause I emailed CoCT.
… then “lost” the mail. 
So the journey is completed. And the engineer who represented me works on public holidays.
I received the letter today. It tells me “Your installation has been approved based on your compliance to regulatory standards and Municipality Electricity supply By-Laws, as stipulated in your completed application form.”
It ties my inverter to a specific meter and a specific stand.
It tells me that “City Power appreciates your efforts on ‘Going Green’ and being energy wise.”
It’s a form letter. It has some wording about being switched to a TOU tariff, but it’s ambiguous and the way I read it, it only applies to post-paid accounts. I’ve asked for clarification. We’ll soon see, because they will need to reprogram my meter if it’s not to be used for pre-paid.
I need to find out about a change process. On the day of the inspection, the City’s engineer told me that if I change the inverter or add panels then the efficiency (that was the word he used) changes and I have to notify City Power.
This is a lifetime commitment.
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This article:
This part:
When one compares what CoCT has done, is doing, the “people in charge in Jhb” are the problem.
They are. But one problem we have is that there’s been so many people in charge. Herman Mashaba was installed as Mayor in 2016. Let’s call him Mayor #1. We are now on Mayor #9. We’re on #5 since November 2021.
So there’s always some previous bunch to blame everything on, and even if one council makes a plan, it gets overthrown and then the formulation of new plans starts.
So there’s that.
And there’s Cape Town having Steenbras (not the doings of the current people in charge). That gives them a big battery in which to store solar power they harvest during the day. COJ doesn’t have anything like that, so even if they start getting lots of solar from rooftop installations, it’s not going to help them at night.
One idea I’ve seen being discussed and which you’d think would work in Jozi, is a long shaft (sound familiar) with a weight at the top. Let the weight down and it turns a generator. When you have excess power you winch it back up again. IDK how this stacks up against pump storage dams.
But you’re right, it’s the people in charge (or those recently in charge) who have shown little foresight. At least the last three Mayoral Committees can say that they have inherited a mess from somebody else.
Meanwhile it’s that time of year again - new tariffs to be proposed, a chance for the public to appeal or propose alternatives, and then die wet van die Transvaal gets enforced.
And here, should you be wondering, is what you get for your money and the engineer’s time and trouble
Final Approval Redacted.pdf (128.0 KB)
Very expensive letter that. 
Congrats by the way! 
@Bobster I’ve been following this with interest. Please let me know if/when you find out what happens with your tariff.
The letter’s wording is interesting. I just can’t make out if this is only if you want to feed back and get something for it or if it’s going to happen even if you don’t want to feed back, but because your inverter is capable of feeding back.
Kindly note, in the event this is a residential service connection, your tariff will now be based on our NERSA approved, post-paid conventional residential Time of Use (TOU) tariff that includes time differentiated energy consumption charges, a flat energy export tariff, a network charge and an administration charge as per our published tariff booklet.
FYI I extracted the 2024/2025 proposed tariffs in City of Johannesburg 2024/2025 rates - #4 by fredhen which includes the TOU tariff based on the embedded generation section.
I asked the Engineer who represented me. He says his understanding/experience is
- it’s up to the City. I don’t have to do anything, don’t have to fill in any forms.I’ve done my bit by registering the system with them. IOW, I have played open cards with the City and concealed nothing from them. Ball is now in their court. If they want me to change to this tariff they need to send somebody out with the appropriate meter to do the change over.
- He’s been doing this for 18 months. In every City Power case he’s dealt with so far, everybody got a letter with that wording, and nothing happened. Everybody stayed on whatever tariff they were already on.
Now, what he says is not binding on the City, but I’m going to just keep feeding that meter, and if anybody comes snooping around I have a letter to show them to say that I’ve registered this system (connected to this meter) with the City.
What does occur to me as I type is that if they change the meter, then that letter and the registration itself are no longer valid. My registration is for a combination of meter, inverter and erf.
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I find this process very interesting.
The City of Cape Town does not send any inspectors out at all, while they are extremely firm on having to register.
Things that I would say are positive compared to CoCT:
- They check the labelling
- They request and check/compare the single-line diagram to the actual installation
Seems to be a bit more of an involved/time-consuming exercise.
For only R5k for all of this work is really not bad, the whole return to site thing costs time and the following up etc.