What to put in your request
A supplier can only price what they can see. Answer these and the quotes come back for the same job, which is the only way they can be compared.
- What the job is: a new installation, an alteration or extension, a board upgrade, fault-finding, a maintenance contract, backup power or solar, or materials only.
- Your supply: single-phase or three-phase, and the size of the main breaker if you know it. If the job needs a new supply or more capacity, Eskom or the municipality has to be told before the work starts.
- A drawing or a list of what is needed: plug points, lights, isolators, dedicated circuits for machines or air conditioning. For a fit-out, the floor plan.
- For backup power or solar: your monthly consumption from the electricity bill, what has to keep running in an outage, and for how many hours.
- For solar on the roof: the roof type, which way it faces, anything that shades it, and whether you own the building or lease it.
- Whether the existing installation has a certificate of compliance, and roughly how old the wiring is. Faults found in old wiring have to be fixed before a new certificate can be issued.
- When the power can be off. On a working site, a shutdown after hours or over a weekend changes the price.
- For a generator: the load it must carry, diesel or gas, whether it must start by itself, and where it will stand.
What to compare when the quotes come back
The lowest total is where comparing starts, not where it ends.
- Whether the certificate of compliance and its test report are in the price. The contractor doing the work has to see that one is issued, so it is part of the job, not an extra.
- For solar and batteries: the exact panel, inverter and battery models and sizes, and whether the inverter is one your electricity supplier accepts.
- How the system was sized: from your actual consumption and the loads you listed, or from a standard package.
- Warranties one by one: panels, inverter, battery, and the installer's own workmanship. And who you call when something stops working.
- Who makes the application to Eskom or the municipality, and whether its fees are in the price.
- The lead time, and whether the equipment is in stock or still to be ordered.
On SupScope every quote arrives with the same three figures: the total, the lead time and the deposit. The first comparison is done before you open anything. The rest of this list is what to read in each supplier's notes and documents.
Paperwork worth asking for
- A certificate of compliance, with its test report
- Under the Electrical Installation Regulations, a new installation and every addition or alteration needs a certificate of compliance with a test report. Only a registered person may issue it, after inspecting and testing the work, and an installation may not be connected to the supply without one.
- The contractor's registration, and the electrician's
- Electrical contractors must register with the Department of Employment and Labour every year, and either be a registered person or employ one full-time. That person's category matters: a single-phase tester may only certify single-phase installations, so a three-phase supply needs an installation electrician or a master installation electrician. Ask to see the contractor's registration letter and the electrician's registration certificate.
- Your electricity supplier's approval, for solar and batteries
- A system connected to the grid has to be registered: below 100 kVA with Eskom or your municipality, above that with NERSA. The requirements differ. Eskom asks for the certificate of compliance, the inverter's NRS 097-2-1 test certificate and a commissioning report. Cape Town also wants an inverter from its approved list, sign-off by an ECSA-registered engineering professional, and its authorisation before the system is switched on. Check what yours requires before you order.
And from any supplier
- A SARS Tax Compliance Status PIN
- It replaced the old tax clearance certificate. Checking it on eFiling shows the supplier's status on the day you check, not the day it was issued.
- A B-BBEE certificate or sworn affidavit
- Only if your own scorecard counts it. Small suppliers (turnover up to R10 million) may use an affidavit instead of a verified certificate.
- Company registration and a bank confirmation letter
- Worth having before the first payment, so the account you pay is the company you chose.
General guidance, not legal advice. Regulations change, and some depend on your municipality or the job, so confirm anything you rely on with the authority concerned.
How this works on SupScope
- Step 1
Post it once
Describe the job and choose Electrical, Power & Solar and your province.
- Step 2
It reaches the right suppliers
Only suppliers who work in this trade and cover your province see it.
- Step 3
Compare and award
Quotes arrive side by side. Accept one and the others are told.