PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana — what Indian homeowners actually get

Last reviewed 17 September 2026

Who is usually eligible?

• Residential / domestic DISCOM connection in your name (or with clear ownership rights)
• Roof rights you control — or society / owner NOC where the roof is shared
• Grid-tied rooftop plant with DISCOM net metering (not a pure off-grid kit sold as “subsidy”)
• Installation through an MNRE / portal-listed empanelled vendor using eligible ALMM / DCR equipment as required for CFA
• You have not already claimed central rooftop CFA for that address under the applicable rules

Usually outside this CFA path: commercial and industrial meters, tenants without the owner’s involvement, and anyone installing before DISCOM feasibility when the portal requires approval first.

Documents homeowners typically need

• Latest electricity bill (consumer number, name, sanctioned load)
• Aadhaar-linked mobile for OTP; bank details for DBT
• Proof of roof / ownership or society NOC if asked

Sealix does not collect Aadhaar on this website. KYC stays on the official portal and with your chosen empanelled vendor.

Simplified journey (national portal)

1. Judge bill fit with a free Sealix home check (optional but useful — avoids undersizing or oversizing).
2. Register and apply on pmsuryaghar.gov.in.
3. Wait for DISCOM feasibility / deemed approval as applicable for your size and state.
4. Choose an empanelled vendor; install only after the portal / DISCOM step your state requires.
5. Inspection, net meter commissioning, upload commissioning proof — then CFA as DBT to your bank.

Timelines vary widely by DISCOM queue. Expect weeks to a few months end-to-end, not “install tomorrow, subsidy today.”

The subsidy is not a discount on your invoice

This is the single most common and most expensive misunderstanding about the scheme, so it is worth stating plainly: you pay the installer the full agreed amount, and the central assistance reaches you afterwards as a Direct Benefit Transfer into your bank account once the plant is commissioned and the paperwork is accepted.

Two consequences follow, and both need planning for.

First, you need the whole amount available up front, not the net figure. A household budgeting only the post-subsidy cost discovers at payment time that it is short by ₹78,000 — money that will arrive, but not yet. If that gap is a problem, arrange it deliberately rather than in a hurry: see rooftop solar loans in India.

Second, treat any offer to "adjust the subsidy in the bill today" with real caution. A vendor who deducts the assistance from your invoice is either carrying the risk on your behalf, in which case ask exactly what happens if the claim is later reduced or rejected, or is not describing the scheme accurately. The portal-tracked route pays you, which is precisely what keeps you in control if something goes wrong.

Where applications actually stall

Delay is rarely caused by the subsidy itself. It is almost always a mismatch or a step taken out of order, and nearly all of it is avoidable if you check before applying rather than after. Two of the causes below are decided by whom you hire, which is why vendor registration and equipment listing are worth verifying yourself first — see choosing an installer. If you cannot get past registration or login at all, the specific causes are in portal login problems.

• Wrong distribution company selected. Several states have multiple licensees whose boundaries do not follow district or city lines. Read the company name on your bill header rather than inferring it from your address.
• Name mismatch. The name on the electricity connection, the Aadhaar record and the bank account should correspond. A connection still in a parent's or previous owner's name is one of the most common reasons a file sits unresolved.
• Bank details that cannot receive a transfer. Since payment is by Direct Benefit Transfer, an inactive account, an incomplete KYC or an account not properly linked will hold the money even after successful commissioning.
• Installing before the approval your state requires. Where feasibility must precede installation, a plant put up early can be ineligible regardless of quality. No inspection fixes a sequence error.
• A vendor who is not empanelled, or equipment that does not meet the applicable ALMM and domestic-content requirements. Verify empanelment on the official list yourself; do not accept a screenshot.
• Capacity above your sanctioned load. This can trigger a separate load-enhancement process with its own charges and queue, running in parallel with your solar application.
• Roof rights not documented. On a shared terrace, a society resolution is usually needed, and it is frequently the longest single item in the calendar — see society NOC for solar.
• A commercial or non-domestic meter. Residential assistance follows the connection category, not the type of building.

An hour spent checking your bill, your name records and your bank details before applying saves considerably more than an hour later.

Why the ceiling sits at 3 kW, and what that means for sizing

Assistance rises to 3 kW and then stops. A 4 kW or 5 kW system receives the same ₹78,000 as a 3 kW one, so every additional kilowatt beyond the third is paid at full price. In effect the marginal cost per kilowatt jumps once you cross that line, even though the average cost per kilowatt keeps looking reasonable.

That is why so many well-advised households land at exactly 3 kW. Going larger is justified when your consumption genuinely needs it — a big daytime load, air-conditioning across several rooms, an electric vehicle — and not merely because the roof has space. Two further points argue for restraint: a unit you consume as it is generated avoids your full retail tariff, while a surplus unit exported settles for less under the tariff order in force at commissioning (net metering in India); and a larger array still draws no more assistance. The comparison is worked through in 3 kW vs 5 kW, with indicative pricing in 3 kW price and 5 kW price.

Size from twelve months of bills. A vendor proposing a capacity before asking to see your consumption is selling hardware rather than giving advice.

Flats, societies and group housing follow different rules

The residential bands above are written for an individual household with its own connection and its own roof. A multi-storey building is a different case, and conflating the two causes real disappointment.

Where a plant is installed on a shared terrace, it is normally connected to the society's common meter. It then offsets lifts, pumps, common lighting and water pumping — reducing the maintenance charge everyone contributes to, rather than the bill for any individual flat. That can be a sound collective investment, because common-area load is steady and largely daytime, which suits solar well. But a resident expecting their own bill to fall has misunderstood what was bought.

Provisions for group housing and common facilities differ from the individual residential bands, so check current portal wording rather than applying the household figures. Practical detail is in apartment rooftop solar, and tenants should start with solar for tenants, since the connection holder and the roof owner both matter.

What to expect on timing

Registration and application are quick. Everything after that runs at the pace of a queue. Feasibility, vendor selection, installation, inspection, net-meter fitting and commissioning each take their own time, and the assistance is transferred only after commissioning is accepted.

Realistically this is a matter of weeks to a few months, varying considerably by state and by local office workload — not days. Anyone promising installation this week and subsidy next week is describing something other than this scheme. Plan around the sequence, keep your own copies of every uploaded document, and note that state-level top-ups, where they exist, are assessed against the rules in force at commissioning rather than at application — see state top-up subsidies.

Where Sealix fits

We are an independent advisory layer for homeowners: subsidy framing, savings logic, and payback from your bill. We are not the government, and we do not claim to be your installer. Partners visit only if the numbers make sense. For AP & Telangana DISCOM notes see also our subsidy page; for cities see areas.