The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) said it registered 144 private power generation facilities between July and September 2026. Together, the new plants have a capacity of 3,129MW.
NERSA said the solar, wind and battery projects carry an estimated investment value of R78.16 billion for the quarter, MyBroadband reported.
The growth in private power adds weight to old warnings from former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter and economist Dawie Roodt. Both said the power utility faced a “death spiral” as customers leave the grid.
“Eskom needs the money to run an inefficient institution and to repay its debt,” Roodt said. “There is no way Eskom will accept or survive lower tariffs.”
For the financial year that ended on 31 March 2026, Eskom said its electricity sales dropped by 6.2% to 178TWh. The utility blamed weak industrial demand, self-generation by customers and better energy efficiency.
Eskom still grew its revenue by 4.1% to R354.7 billion. This was helped by an average tariff increase of 12.74%.
According to MyBroadband, higher tariffs push more homes and businesses to make their own power. This means they rely less on the grid, which cuts Eskom’s sales even further.
Of the new capacity registered in the quarter, 139 projects were solar plants with 2,045MW of capacity. Three wind farms added a combined 1,063MW.
The rest was made up of a 3MW battery storage system and 18MW of co-generation capacity in KwaZulu-Natal.
NERSA said 68 of the facilities will connect to municipal networks. They will deliver 50MW and attract about R584 million in investment.
The other 76 facilities will connect to the Eskom network, the regulator said. They will add 3,079MW and about R77.58 billion in investment.
These plants are privately owned, even though they use Eskom’s grid. They will send power over the grid but will do little to help Eskom’s finances, MyBroadband reported.
Shortly after he left Eskom, De Ruyter warned that constant tariff hikes would drive the utility’s most valuable customers to produce their own electricity.
“If you extrapolate from current trends, Eskom will eventually be left with a customer base of people who cannot afford electricity and therefore don’t pay for it,” he said in a 2023 interview.
His predecessor, Phakamani Hadebe, used the same “death spiral” term in July 2019. That was a month before he resigned after only a year in the job.
“We are now facing the death spiral, and this is because of a number of our clients moving off the grid,” Hadebe said at the time.
Under the Electricity Regulation Act, any embedded power installation of 100kWp or more must register with NERSA.
The regulator registered a record 7,464MW of private generation capacity across 597 facilities in 2025. So far in 2026, including the latest batch, it has registered 380 facilities with 5,260MW of capacity.
Source: this article is based on reporting by MyBroadband. Image: MyBroadband. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.