The two things that change most from one South African metro to the next are how you lodge a building plan and who signs off a solar installation. Plan submission ranges from mature online portals (Cape Town's City Connect, eThekwini's eServices, Tshwane's NAPS) to directorate-and-regional-office systems (Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Bay) to brand-new platforms (Mangaung's AFLA BPAMS) and thin-capacity rural offices. Solar registration runs through the municipality in most metros, but through City Power in Johannesburg and often through Eskom in Ekurhuleni and parts of Tshwane, because who supplies the power decides whose rules and sign-off you follow. The table below summarises the comparable facts from each metro guide; click through for the full detail.
Compare the metros at a glance
| Metro | Building plan route | Solar (SSEG) runs through | Stand-out local fact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Town | Online via City Connect | The City, two-stage process | ECSA professional sign-off required (Pr Tech Eng residential, Pr Eng commercial); residential capped at 13.8 kVA |
| Johannesburg | Development Planning, lodged at one of seven regional offices (2018 by-law) | City Power (Eskom on Eskom-supplied pockets) | Drainage work needs an application regardless of scale |
| Tshwane (Pretoria) | NAPS electronic portal via e-Tshwane (since Dec 2024) | City Utility Services, by email plus hard copy; Eskom on Eskom areas | No council-approved SSEG by-law; no plan needed if solar sits under 1.5 m above the roofline |
| eThekwini (Durban) | Online via the eServices portal | eThekwini Electricity Services | AMAFA heritage approval before plans in affected areas; coastal SANS 10160 wind and corrosion; AI and satellite used to find unregistered solar |
| Ekurhuleni | Lodged at your Customer Care Area; explicit approve/exempt list | Often Eskom (much of the East Rand); the metro elsewhere | Approved plans valid 12 months; on Eskom areas a DEL-registered person may sign off and the Eskom fee waiver runs to 30 September 2026 |
| Nelson Mandela Bay (Gqeberha) | Development and Town Planning directorate; regional offices | The metro's electricity department | Problem Building By-law (Jan 2020); timelines capacity-constrained, so quote stages not dates |
| Mangaung and Buffalo City | Mangaung via AFLA BPAMS (from 6 May 2026); Buffalo City direct to building control | See the metro guide; confirm the supply authority per property | NHBRC is the gate on RDP and human-settlements housing, not CIDB or local building control |
| Rural and small municipalities | Local building control office, often thin capacity; traditional authority land sits outside the title-deed system | See the metro guide; confirm municipal or Eskom supply per property | National Building Regulations still apply and are enforced years later; keep a paper trail and issue every CoC |
How to use this
Read it top down by the column that bites first on your job. If you are quoting solar, start with the SSEG column: confirm the supply authority for the specific property, because an Eskom-supplied stand in Ekurhuleni or Tshwane follows Eskom's process, sign-off and fees, while a City-supplied stand in the same metro follows the municipality's. If you are quoting building work, start with the plan-approval column so you know whether you are uploading to a portal or walking a pack into a regional office. The stand-out fact column flags the one thing that catches contractors out per metro, from Cape Town's engineer sign-off to Ekurhuleni's 12-month plan expiry to eThekwini's heritage step.
Two rules cut across every metro. First, the national SSEG registration deadline is 30 September 2026, and the Eskom fee waiver on Eskom-supplied systems ends on that same date, so it is never a March deadline. Second, a Certificate of Compliance is your protection whether or not a municipal inspector ever appears, which matters most in the capacity-constrained metros and rural municipalities. Where this table says "see the metro guide", the source guide does not pin that figure down, so check the municipality's current page rather than quoting a number.
Find your metro
- Working in Cape Town
- Working in Johannesburg
- Working in Tshwane (Pretoria)
- Working in eThekwini (Durban)
- Working in Ekurhuleni
- Working in Nelson Mandela Bay (Gqeberha)
- Working in Mangaung and Buffalo City
- Working in Rural and Small Municipalities
Common mistakes
- Carrying one metro's timeline to another. Cape Town's flow is faster than Johannesburg's, and a metro counter can take months. Quote stages and dependencies, not promised dates.
- Assuming the supply authority. Confirm municipal versus Eskom supply for the specific property before quoting solar; it changes the process, the sign-off and the cost.
- Missing a metro-specific gate. AMAFA heritage in eThekwini, a drainage application in Johannesburg or Ekurhuleni, the 1.5 m roofline rule in Tshwane: each one stalls a job if skipped.
- Letting an approved plan lapse. Ekurhuleni's approvals expire after 12 months; apply for the written extension before they do.
- Skipping the CoC because no inspector came. In thin-capacity and rural municipalities the certificate, not the inspection visit, is what protects you later.
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