National guide
If you searched “net metering India”, start here. Grid-tied rooftop solar needs your DISCOM’s approval and a bi-directional meter. Rules vary by state — this is the common homeowner path, not one national formula. Sealix is not your DISCOM.
Last reviewed
Fast triage: Self-used daytime units beat exported units on value. Fixed charges stay. Oversizing past sanctioned load → load enhancement. Virtual / group metering is different: virtual net metering. Bill fit first: free home check.
Net metering lets your rooftop solar export surplus units to the grid and adjust your bill for what you consume net of generation. Before meter paperwork, confirm economics fit your bill.
During sunny hours, your panels may produce more than your home uses. A bi-directional (net) meter records both import from the grid and export to the grid. At billing time, your DISCOM applies its published settlement rules — which may credit exported units against consumed units, bank them for a period, or pay a fixed export tariff depending on state policy.
Net metering is not “free unlimited electricity.” You still pay fixed charges, demand charges (if any), and consume grid power at night and on cloudy days.
Timelines vary from weeks to months depending on DISCOM backlog and society NOC delays.
Net metering (most common for domestic rooftop): export and import are netted on your bill per DISCOM rules.
Gross metering: all generation is metered separately; you buy all consumption at retail tariff and sell generation at a lower feed-in tariff. Less common for new domestic rooftop installs — confirm what your state tariff order allows today.
India does not have one national net-metering settlement formula. Examples of what differs:
Always read your DISCOM’s live rooftop solar / net-metering circular before signing an installer quote. State hubs: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat.
If applied PV capacity exceeds your sanctioned load, many DISCOMs trigger a load-enhancement process with charges. Do not treat that as free upsizing — factor it into net economics before ordering panels.
If you take one thing from this page, take this: a unit you consume as it is generated is worth more to you than a unit you export. The first avoids your full retail tariff, including the expensive upper slabs. The second earns whatever your state's settlement rules allow, which is generally less — sometimes considerably less.
This is why two identical systems on two identical roofs can return quite differently. A household with someone home during the day, or with daytime pumping, cooling or a home office, consumes much of what it generates and captures the full tariff on those units. A household that is empty from morning to evening exports the bulk of its midday output and is paid the lower rate for it.
The practical response is to move discretionary load into daylight, which costs nothing:
The same logic argues against oversizing. A larger array on a modest consumption pattern mainly manufactures low-value exports, and central assistance stops rising above 3 kW anyway — see 3 kW vs 5 kW.
Because settlement rules are set by your state's tariff order rather than nationally, and because the rules that apply to you are those in force when your plant is commissioned rather than when you signed, generic reassurance is not good enough. Ask your installer to answer these in writing, with reference to the current circular:
That last one matters more than it sounds. A completed array with no net meter cannot be commissioned, and the subsidy follows commissioning — so a gap there delays your money as well as your savings. See how the subsidy is paid.
A common disappointment is a bill that falls far less than expected in the first month. Usually nothing is wrong. Net metering reduces the energy component of your bill; it does not remove fixed or minimum charges, meter rent, duties or surcharges, which continue regardless of how much you generate.
So a household expecting a near-zero bill from a well-sized system may still see a real amount payable, made up largely of those standing items plus night-time consumption. That is not a fault in the installation — but it should have been explained before purchase, and it belongs in any payback calculation. The method is in costs, savings and payback.
How rooftop solar works · On-grid vs off-grid vs hybrid · Costs & savings · 3 kW vs 5 kW · Areas.
No, and this asymmetry decides much of your saving. A unit consumed while the panels are generating avoids your full retail tariff including the expensive upper slabs, whereas an exported unit earns only what your state's settlement rules allow, which is generally less. Two identical systems can therefore return quite differently depending on whether anyone is home during the day.
Usually not. Net metering reduces the energy component of the bill but does not remove fixed charges, minimum charges, meter rent, duties or surcharges, which continue regardless of how much you generate. You also draw grid power at night and on cloudy days. A well-sized system can still leave a real amount payable, made up largely of those standing charges.
Under net metering, which is the common arrangement for domestic rooftop solar, your import and export are netted on the bill according to your distribution company's rules. Under gross metering, all generation is metered separately: you buy all your consumption at retail tariff and sell all generation at a lower feed-in tariff. Confirm what your state's tariff order currently allows before signing.
No. A grid-tied system shuts down during an outage as a safety requirement, so it protects line workers but leaves you without power. Backup during cuts requires batteries or a hybrid inverter, which is a separate and more expensive proposition with different economics. Grid-tied solar should be bought to reduce bills, not to provide reliability.
Many distribution companies then require a load enhancement, which brings its own charges and processing time outside your installer's quotation. Check the sanctioned load printed on your bill before fixing a capacity, and confirm what capacity you are permitted relative to it. Treating extra kilowatts as free upsizing is one of the more common costly assumptions.
