COC requirement for a complete electrical installation including solar

**Isetech** · 14-Feb-23, 05:00 PM

What I need to know, and I am sure there are many people asking the same question?

What document will an electrician be required to provide for a property which includes a solar installation?

I dont want to know what would be nice to add or supplementary pages you feel like adding, I want to know what is the requirement by law?

Lets say the house has a meter feeding a main DB and the DB is split, into essential and non essential ( which makes it one DB), A couple panels on the roof a single inverter and a battery.

A 1 page COC with a test report on the back.

I am going to say it again, what documents would be required by law.

**Derlyn** · 14-Feb-23, 08:45 PM

If I am approached to do a coc on that house and the client does not have a coc for the pv installation, then fortunately I'm in the position to just walk away from the job, which I have done a couple of times recently.

If they have a coc for the pv installation, then I carry on as normal and supply a coc excluding the pv installation.

**GCE** · 15-Feb-23, 04:42 AM

Originally Posted by Derlyn

If I am approached to do a coc on that house and the client does not have a coc for the pv installation, then fortunately I'm in the position to just walk away from the job, which I have done a couple of times recently.

If they have a coc for the pv installation, then I carry on as normal and supply a coc excluding the pv installation.

You cannot exclude the PV section of the installation from your coc
What you could do is include the COC number for the PV section and if less than 2 years state so -

If it is more than 2 years you could still reference to the PV but would need to include it if you are covering the complete installation

**GCE** · 15-Feb-23, 04:52 AM

Originally Posted by Isetech

What I need to know, and I am sure there are many people asking the same question?

What document will an electrician be required to provide for a property which includes a solar installation?

I dont want to know what would be nice to add or supplementary pages you feel like adding, I want to know what is the requirement by law?

Lets say the house has a meter feeding a main DB and the DB is split, into essential and non essential ( which makes it one DB), A couple panels on the roof a single inverter and a battery.

A 1 page COC with a test report on the back.

I am going to say it again, what documents would be required by law.

If the DB is split I would tend to say you still need 2 test reports otherwise how are you going to test alternative supply

Legally 8.6.1 from Sans 10142-1 Ed3 states requirements

In my interpretation , one for essential DB, one for non essential DB normal supply , one for essential DB alternative supply - SO all in all a COC with 3 test reports

The test report with alternative supply would include the equipment that is providing the alternative supply

8.6.1 General
NOTE Conduct all tests and complete a copy of the test report for each distribution
board and supply (normal and alternative supplies). Amdt 1

**Derlyn** · 15-Feb-23, 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by GCE

You cannot exclude the PV section of the installation from your coc
What you could do is include the COC number for the PV section and if less than 2 years state so -

If it is more than 2 years you could still reference to the PV but would need to include it if you are covering the complete installation

As far as I am aware, the 2 year scenario only comes into play for properties that are being sold.
I don't do COC's for property sales. The reason is simple. I don't wait for payment.
All the estate agents and attorneys in East London are aware of that and requests for coc's from them are almost non existant.

The requests I get are mostly for insurance purposes.
As I said, if there's no coc for the pv section, I walk away.
I might lose that job, that's ok. That's my way of educating at least one person that they should use registered people to do their electrical work and not expect us registered people to take the responsibility for the band wagon's work.

Tip: When I do a coc on a house that does not have any sort of backup system, I state on the COC test report that it excludes any generator or pv installation because the chances of these being added later are pretty high.

Another question. How legal is it for certain institutions to demand a COC that is less than 6 months old ?

**Dave A** · 18-Feb-23, 04:28 PM

Remember that a 9.2.b certificate is "just" that it's reasonably safe - Predominantly Section 5 of SANS 10124-1

Practically, what we are doing at the moment is asking for the (9.2.a or 9.2.c) COC issued for inverter and solar installations. If the client has got one, we will reference it in our 9.2.b COC.
If the client hasn't got one, we require that they obtain one from the installer. (And then, as they say, the fun starts...)

Originally Posted by Derlyn

Another question. How legal is it for certain institutions to demand a COC that is less than 6 months old ?

Perfectly legal in terms of contract law. It just isn't the threshold requirement per the Electrical Installation Regulations (which is two years).
Many sales agreements require that the Certificate is dated after the date of acceptance of the Offer to Purchase.

**Isetech** · 18-Feb-23, 04:54 PM

Trying to find a legit initial/original COC for a property prior to starting a project on a property is the most difficult part of q project.

Let this be a warning, no legit COC, no work, dont get caught with this.

Before we even consider taking on factory wire or relocation, a COC must be produced for the electrical installation currently in the building.

Only once we receive the COC, do we start our preparation, installing the new DB's, cable trays, additional lighting, network cabling , CCTV and alarm system, earthing arrangements, dedicated sockets for the inverter and backup system and server racks.

**Isetech** · 19-Feb-23, 05:56 AM

We had a discussion a couple days ago about issuing a partial COC or no COC for the sale of a property.

I know in the past you could sell a property without a COC, provided it was written into the sale agreement. However the buyer still had to get a COC for the property within a certain time frame, this was discussed a while back.

Lets say I am the buyer and I plan to strip the kitchen and do some major alterations to the property before I even move in.

This is where it would sometimes get complicated, however if the buyer and seller agree in "writing" that certain parts of the electrical installation are excluded from the COC for whatever reason, then I dont see how it could be a problem.

Lets say one of my customers buy a property, I get called out to check the electrical installation. Before even visiting the site, I would request a copy of the COC, take note of comments, attached supplementary COC's and test reports, notes attached to the COC etc.

If for example the garage DB is non complaint and excluded, because the buyer plans to knock it down or do major upgrades, then its fine. Provided it is all in writing and both parties are agree (buyer and seller) and it is disconnected.

Think about it, the buyer becomes responsible for the electrical installation, the buyer would be the one who is going to report any non compliant issues to the DOL and pay for them to audit the property. The buyer will then be responsible for any cost incurred to repair the non compliant items listed.