Solar electrical CoCs: know what your certificate covers

A certificate needs an understandable scope

Before accepting a solar installation or buying a property with one, ask what its electrical Certificate of Compliance, or CoC, actually covers. A certificate for new inverter wiring is not automatically evidence that every circuit in a house, factory or farm was inspected.

Read the certificate with its test report. These record inspection, testing and the identified installation or section. They are not a guarantee that equipment cannot fail, a promise of future safety or proof of solar production. For commercial premises, unclear boundaries can leave the owner, tenant and facilities manager with different assumptions about who has checked what.

Keep the initial certificate and supplements together

The Department of Labour's explanatory notes distinguish an initial certificate from a supplementary certificate for later alterations or extensions. Large installations can have separate initial certificates for clearly identified sections, even from one point of control. Separate buildings do not, by themselves, establish those boundaries.

Check the certificate type, premises or section description, number, date, earlier-certificate reference and test report. A supplementary record should make the relationship understandable. Keep the documents together rather than filing only the newest solar certificate.

Under Regulation 7(4), adding to or altering an already certified installation requires certification covering at least that work. Agree how proposed solar, battery and distribution-board changes will be documented before work begins. A supplement does not retrospectively certify unrelated existing circuits.

An existing-site problem needs an explicit plan

Responsibility for safe use and maintenance generally rests with the user or lessor, subject to the regulations' written lessee-transfer arrangement. Appointing a solar installer does not remove that responsibility. Certification requires the appropriate registered person and inspection and testing; an installer cannot promise a certificate regardless of what is found.

If records are missing, first ask the previous contractor, owner or managing agent whether they can be recovered. Missing paperwork does not prove that no certificate was issued. If the relevant scope remains unsupported, agree the inspection boundaries, findings, remedial-work quotation and certification route separately. Historical exemptions have conditions: additions or alterations to an installation qualifying under Regulation 7(3) trigger certification of the whole installation.

Two years is a transfer rule, not a universal expiry

The Electrical Installation Regulations do not impose a general two-year renewal cycle. That does not excuse later defects or undocumented alterations. For a change of ownership, Regulation 7(5) instead restricts using a certificate older than two years, expressly subject to section 10(4) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Section 10(4) addresses a written undertaking to take specified steps sufficient to achieve the required compliance and safety. Do not treat it as an informal waiver: ask the conveyancer to assess its application and terms. Check certificate age at ownership change, alongside subsequent amendments to the installation and their certification scope. A recent solar supplement is not a shortcut to treating all older site certification as newly issued.

A CoC is not utility permission to connect

Electrical certification and electricity-distributor approval answer different questions. The relevant municipal or Eskom process must be established for the actual connection; a municipal street address does not necessarily mean the municipality supplies the site.

For example, eThekwini's published SSEG process includes a CoC, commissioning documents and written connection approval. Its requirements also distinguish capacity or configuration changes from other replacements. Do not assume an existing approval automatically covers a battery addition or larger inverter. Confirm current requirements with the relevant distributor before committing to equipment; a no-export intention is not, by itself, evidence of exemption.

Agree the handover pack before installation

Ask who will supply each item and identify any exclusions in the quotation:

• Relevant initial and supplementary CoCs with their test reports.
• A clear description of certified boundaries and the work completed.
• Appropriate as-built diagrams, circuit identification and equipment records.
• Applicable distributor approvals and commissioning documents.
• Operating guidance, support contacts and outstanding actions.

Start with your existing records

Tell us the site location, electricity supplier, proposed change and which certificates or approvals you already have. We can discuss a suitable assessment and scope without promising certification in advance. Leave electrical inspection, testing and remedial work to appropriately registered professionals. This guide is general information, not site-specific electrical or legal advice.

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