PM Surya Ghar (Muft Bijli Yojana) 2026: Rs 78,000 Subsidy, Eligibility and EPC Guide

India’s residential rooftop market has a new center of gravity, and it is a government scheme. PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana crossed 40 lakh beneficiary households by mid-2026, and the Union government expects 75 lakh by December 2026. No EPC growth plan in India can ignore a program moving at that speed.

The scheme pays homeowners up to ₹78,000 in central subsidy for systems up to 3 kW. That subsidy is why residential demand exploded, and it is also why projects fail. One non-compliant module, one name mismatch, or one missed portal step can freeze a payment for months.

We run this workflow daily. Our EPC arm, Heaven Green Energy, is the top-rated residential vendor on the PM Surya Ghar portal, and the lessons in this guide come from live projects rather than scheme PDFs. This is the complete 2026 playbook: subsidy math, eligibility, portal registration, ALMM rules, DISCOM approvals, commissioning, and disbursement.

In this guide:

• The 2026 status of PM Surya Ghar and what changed this year
• Subsidy structure, rates, and worked calculations
• Homeowner eligibility and the full document checklist
• EPC registration and the portal workflow, step by step
• ALMM module and cell compliance after June 2026
• DISCOM feasibility, net metering, and inspection
• Commissioning, disbursement timelines, and the mistakes that delay payment

Latest Updates: PM Surya Ghar 2026

The scheme’s direction in 2026 is scale plus domestic manufacturing enforcement. Four updates matter for EPCs this year.

1. Installations keep climbing. PM Surya Ghar crossed 40 lakh beneficiary households within 2 years of launch, according to the Press Information Bureau. The Union New and Renewable Energy Minister has said the program should pass 75 lakh households by December 2026, per the India Brand Equity Foundation. The scheme’s stated target remains 1 crore households (10 million) by FY 2026-27.

2. ALMM List-II for cells is now in force. From June 1, 2026, net-metering projects commissioned on or after that date must use modules built with cells from MNRE’s ALMM List-II. MNRE rejected a blanket extension and offers only case-by-case relief for projects that had made substantial progress before the cutoff. We cover the practical impact in the ALMM section below.

3. Subsidy rates are unchanged. Central assistance stays at ₹30,000 for 1 kW, ₹60,000 for 2 kW, and ₹78,000 for 3 kW and above. The ₹75,021 crore budget outlay approved in February 2024 continues to fund disbursements.

4. The portal remains the only channel. All applications, vendor selections, commissioning reports, and subsidy claims run through the National Portal for Rooftop Solar. DISCOMs implement on the ground; the portal is the system of record. A national helpline (15555) handles customer grievances.

The 2026 status at a glance:

One more shift worth tracking: disbursement speed. Early in the scheme, payments routinely took 4–6 months. Portal automation and direct bank transfer have compressed that toward the 30-day mark for clean files, which changes the cash-flow math for EPCs.

The practical read for EPCs: volume is real, rules are tightening, and paperwork quality decides cash flow. Our India solar compliance hub tracks the wider regulatory stack behind these updates.

What Is PM Surya Ghar (Muft Bijli Yojana)?

PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana is a central sector scheme administered by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The Union Cabinet approved it on February 29, 2024, with an outlay of ₹75,021 crore. It replaced the earlier Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Programme Phase II.

The replacement mattered. Phase II routed subsidy through state agencies and DISCOMs with a different process in every state, and disbursement was slow enough to break small installers. PM Surya Ghar centralized applications on one national portal and moved subsidy to direct bank transfer, cutting the state-level middle layer out of the payment path.

The scheme’s promise is simple: free electricity up to 300 units per month for households that install rooftop solar. A 3 kW system generates roughly that much under average Indian irradiance, which is why 3 kW became the anchor size. Real output varies with location, tilt, and shading, so treat 300 units as a national average, not a site promise.

The “muft bijli” framing is worth understanding as a sales tool. Customers arrive having heard “free electricity” on the news, and part of your job is converting that headline into a net-metering explanation without deflating the deal. The honest version is strong enough: a well-sited 3 kW plant can zero out a typical 300-unit monthly bill.

Mechanically, it is a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) program. The homeowner pays the EPC, installs the system through an approved process, and receives the subsidy in a bank account after commissioning. The subsidy is a reimbursement, not a purchase discount, and that timing shapes how EPCs should price and finance these projects.

Three institutions run the scheme. MNRE sets policy and releases the subsidy. State DISCOMs handle feasibility, net metering, and inspection. The National Portal ties them together with a single application trail.

The scheme covers grid-connected residential rooftop systems only. Commercial and industrial connections, ground-mounted plants, and off-grid systems sit outside it. Group housing societies and resident welfare associations get a separate assistance window for common-area capacity, covered in the subsidy section below.

The scheme also funds model solar villages in every district and payment-security mechanisms for utility-led aggregation projects. Those are worth tracking, but the household subsidy is where EPC revenue lives.

Why does this matter for EPCs? The scheme standardized residential demand. Before 2024, residential rooftop was a state-by-state patchwork of net metering rules and small subsidy programs. PM Surya Ghar created one national funnel with one portal, one subsidy table, and one compliance list.

Standardized demand rewards standardized delivery. Teams using solar design software to templatize layouts, string sizing, and bills of materials close these projects faster than teams redrawing every roof from scratch. The rest of this guide shows where that discipline pays.

Subsidy Structure and Calculation

The subsidy, formally called Central Financial Assistance (CFA), follows a fixed table. There is no negotiation and no state variation in the central component.

The CFA rate structure has 3 slabs:

• ₹30,000 per kW for the first 2 kW of capacity
• ₹18,000 per kW for the next 1 kW (from 2 kW to 3 kW)
• Zero beyond 3 kW

Applied to common system sizes:

The cap is the number that matters. ₹78,000 is the ceiling for any individual household system, however large the plant.

Several states add their own subsidy on top of the CFA. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and others have run top-ups at various times, usually ₹15,000–30,000 per system. State programs change with budgets and elections, so verify the current state stack before quoting.

The 3 kW Cliff: A Sizing Tradeoff

Sizing advice under this structure is not obvious. Subsidy per installed kW collapses after 3 kW: ₹26,000 per kW at 3 kW, ₹19,500 at 4 kW, and ₹15,600 at 5 kW.

Our take: if the homeowner’s consumption sits near 300 units per month, size at 3 kW and bank the full subsidy efficiency. If they run 2 or more air conditioners, plan an EV, or heat water electrically, size for the load and accept the diluted subsidy. A system undersized to chase subsidy efficiency leaves money on the roof for the next 25 years.

This is a genuine tradeoff, and homeowners rarely see it without a side-by-side model. Show both options with real generation numbers and let the customer decide with full information.

What the Money Looks Like

A 3 kW residential system in India typically costs ₹1.8–2.2 lakh installed in 2026, depending on module brand, structure, and state (industry-observed range). After the ₹78,000 CFA, the homeowner’s net outlay lands around ₹1.1–1.4 lakh. For a component-level view, see our solar installation cost breakdown.

At a grid tariff of ₹6–8 per unit and 300–400 units of monthly offset, the household saves roughly ₹1,800–3,200 per month. Simple payback works out to 3–5 years, after which the plant produces near-free power for the rest of its 25-year life.

A worked example makes this concrete. A Nagpur household with a ₹2,400 monthly bill installs a 3 kW system at ₹1.95 lakh. After the ₹78,000 CFA, net cost is ₹1.17 lakh, and monthly savings of about ₹2,200 put payback near 4.5 years. Over 25 years, with modest tariff escalation, the plant returns several times its cost.

Financing closes the remaining gap. Public sector banks offer dedicated rooftop-solar loans for scheme beneficiaries, typically collateral-free up to about ₹2 lakh at concessional rates under priority-sector lending, though terms vary by bank. For the household, that means little or no upfront cash, an EMI roughly equal to the old electricity bill, and the subsidy reducing principal when it lands.

These are exactly the numbers a homeowner wants on one page before signing. We model subsidy, tariff escalation, payback, and IRR in the generation and financial tool and drop the result into the customer proposal through our solar proposal software. Clara AI drafts the subsidy explanation copy, so the proposal reads clearly even for a first-time solar buyer.

RWA and Group Housing Window

Resident welfare associations and group housing societies get a separate CFA of ₹18,000 per kW for common facilities, up to 500 kW per society at 3 kW per flat, per scheme guidelines. This covers lifts, corridor lighting, and pumps rather than individual flats.

If you serve housing societies, quote the common-load system through this window and individual units through the household window. The 2 channels have different documentation, and mixing them up stalls both.

Eligibility Criteria for Homeowners

Eligibility sits with the homeowner, but the EPC ends up owning the paperwork. Screen for these conditions before you spend an hour on a site survey.

The core criteria:

1. Residential connection. The applicant must hold a domestic electricity connection in their own name. Commercial, industrial, and agricultural connections are out.
2. Roof rights. The applicant owns the property or holds documented rights to install on the roof.
3. No prior central subsidy. Households that already took CFA under Phase II or any other central rooftop scheme are not eligible again.
4. Grid-connected system. The plant must be grid-connected with net metering. Off-grid systems do not qualify.
5. ALMM compliance. Modules from the ALMM list, and for projects commissioned after June 1, 2026, cells from List-II.
6. Bank account for DBT. The applicant needs an active bank account for the subsidy credit, with KYC details matching the application.

The document checklist:

Three screening rules from our own pipeline:

• Match names first. If the electricity bill, Aadhaar, and bank account show 3 different names, fix that before applying. Name mismatch is the most common rejection we see.
• Check the consumer category. A connection billed as commercial cannot be converted mid-application.
• Confirm no earlier subsidy. The portal cross-checks, and a previous CFA claim rejects automatically.

One more check catches many applicants out: sanctioned load. Most state net-metering regulations cap rooftop capacity at the consumer’s sanctioned (contracted) load. A home sanctioned for 2 kW that wants a 3 kW plant needs a load enhancement from the DISCOM first, and that is a separate application with its own timeline. Verify the sanctioned load printed on the bill at survey stage.

Homes without clear ownership — rented houses, jointly owned roofs, apartments — need consent documentation from the owner or society. Handle that at survey stage, not at commissioning. A missing consent letter discovered at inspection costs you 2 months and one angry customer.

EPC Registration and Portal Workflow

Vendors do not register with MNRE directly. You register with each DISCOM you want to serve, and the DISCOM approves you into the National Portal’s vendor list.

DISCOMs typically ask for the following, though requirements vary by state:

• Electrical contractor license or equivalent certification
• GST and PAN registration
• A local office address within the DISCOM’s license area
• A signed vendor declaration on the prescribed format
• A security deposit or bank guarantee per DISCOM norms

Registration is per DISCOM, and India has many of them. Gujarat alone has 4 major distribution companies; Uttar Pradesh has 5. Multi-city coverage means multiple files, multiple deposits, and multiple renewal calendars, so build that into your expansion cost.

The portal workflow, end to end:

1. Customer application. The homeowner registers on the portal with their state, DISCOM, and consumer number. Many will ask you to do this for them — keep a standard procedure for assisted applications. If you apply on a customer’s behalf, record their consent and hand over the login credentials afterward; the account belongs to the customer, and subsidy status notifications go to their registered mobile number.
2. Feasibility approval. The DISCOM checks technical feasibility: local transformer capacity, service line adequacy, and consumer category. Approval usually takes a few days to 2 weeks, depending on the DISCOM.
3. Vendor selection. The customer picks a registered vendor from the portal list. Your rating and completed-project count on the portal influence that choice.
4. Agreement and design. Sign the work order, finalize the design, and lock the bill of materials with ALMM-listed components.
5. Installation. Execute to standard, photograph everything, and keep module serial numbers tied to invoices.
6. Commissioning upload. The vendor uploads the work completion report, system photos, and component details on the portal.
7. Net metering. The customer applies for the net meter; the DISCOM inspects the site and installs the bidirectional meter.
8. Subsidy claim. The portal generates the subsidy request after commissioning, and MNRE releases the CFA by DBT to the customer’s bank account.

Two operational notes.

First, you cannot shortcut the order. Installing before feasibility approval is the fastest way to own an unsellable system. DISCOMs can and do refuse net metering for plants installed out of sequence.

Second, the portal is unforgiving about data. Consumer numbers, module serial numbers, and bank details must match across every upload. One wrong digit in a consumer number, and the application sits in a queue nobody owns.

A word on portal ratings, because they compound. The portal shows customers your completed-project count and rating in their area. Early projects feed the rating, the rating feeds vendor selection, and selection volume feeds the count. EPCs that treat their first 20 portal projects as rating-building exercises tend to own their local vendor list within a year.

Also note that state subsidies run on separate rails. Where a state top-up exists, it often has its own application through the state DISCOM or a state portal, with its own documents and timeline. The central CFA and the state top-up are 2 files, not 1.

Where software earns its keep: the design step is the one part of this chain you fully control. We design in SurgePV because the solar software generates the layout, string sizing, shading losses, and bill of materials in one pass, and the same model feeds the customer proposal. Rework after feasibility approval — a module swap or a string resize — takes minutes instead of a redraw. See SurgePV for solar installers for how that workflow maps to portal-stage projects.

ALMM Compliance: Module Selection Rules

The Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) is MNRE’s quality and domestic-manufacturing gate. Any module installed under PM Surya Ghar must appear on ALMM List-I. From June 1, 2026, the cells inside those modules must come from ALMM List-II manufacturers for newly commissioned net-metering projects.

This is, in effect, a domestic content requirement. Imported modules, and modules built from imported cells, sit outside the subsidy system. MNRE published List-II after years of signaling, rejected a blanket extension past the June 1 deadline, and left only a narrow case-by-case window for projects that had substantially progressed before the cutoff.

Verifying a module takes 2 minutes. MNRE publishes the ALMM as a searchable document on its website, revised periodically as manufacturers are added or removed. Search the exact model code from the datasheet, confirm the wattage variant, and file a dated screenshot in the project record. That screenshot has settled more than 1 commissioning dispute for us.

Do not forget the inverter while checking modules. Inverters are not ALMM-gated, but they must carry BIS certification under the applicable Indian standards for safety and grid interface. A compliant module paired with a non-certified inverter still fails inspection.

Practical rules we follow on every project:

1. Check the list on the install date, not the quote date. Models get added and removed. A module quoted in March and installed in June needs a fresh check.
2. Lock invoices to serial numbers. If a batch’s compliance is ever questioned, your defense is the paper trail: listed model, listed wattage variant, matching serials.
3. Get cell provenance in writing. Post-June 2026, ask the module supplier for documentation that the cells are List-II compliant. “The module is on List-I” is no longer the whole answer.
4. Watch wattage bins. A 545 Wp variant on the list does not cover a 550 Wp variant of the same family. Match the exact listed variant.
5. Buy from manufacturers with staying power. Delisting risk concentrates in marginal brands. A cheap module that disappears from the list mid-pipeline is the most expensive module you will ever buy.

The cost tradeoff is real. ALMM-compliant modules carry a premium over non-compliant imports, and cell-level compliance tightened supply further in 2026. On a 3 kW system the premium is a few thousand rupees, but at 50 systems a month it becomes a working-capital line item.

Our position: never engineer around ALMM. The scheme’s economics assume the subsidy, and a forfeited ₹78,000 claim destroys the customer’s payback and your portal rating in one move. When a customer pushes for a cheaper non-listed module, show the math. The “savings” is smaller than the subsidy at risk, and we have never lost that argument with the numbers on the table.

For the wider compliance picture — net metering regulations, CEA technical standards, and state-wise rules — bookmark our India solar compliance hub.

DISCOM Approval and Net Metering

Two DISCOM gates stand between a signed order and a subsidy claim: feasibility approval before installation, and net metering after it.

Feasibility approval is the DISCOM’s technical check. The local distribution transformer must have export headroom, the service line must handle the plant, and the consumer category must be domestic. Most DISCOMs clear straightforward residential applications in days; some take 2 weeks or more.

Track every application’s age and escalate past day 15. Applications do get lost, and the customer assumes the delay is your fault either way.

Feasibility rejections happen, and the usual reason is transformer saturation. In dense colonies where many roofs already export power, the local transformer can hit its approved hosting capacity. The fix is a DISCOM augmentation, which has its own timeline of weeks to months. Check how many rooftop systems already exist on the same transformer before you quote a timeline in those areas.

Net metering is the billing mechanism that makes residential rooftop work financially. A bidirectional meter records import and export, and exported units offset the bill under state regulations. Banking rules, settlement rates, and surplus purchase prices differ by state, so model savings on your state’s regulation rather than a national average.

System size also runs into sanctioned load here. Most states cap net-metered capacity at the consumer’s contracted load, and a few allow a margin above it. Check your state regulation before promising a 5 kW plant to a 3 kW connection.

Meter costs usually sit with the customer, either as a DISCOM charge or a market purchase of an approved meter model. Put the expected amount in your proposal so it never appears as a surprise line item after installation.

The pre-metering inspection checks the physical plant against CEA technical standards and state norms. Inspectors look at the structure, earthing, cable sizing, inverter compliance, and safety disconnects. They fail installations for missing earthing pits, undersized DC cables, and absent lightning arresters far more often than for anything exotic.

Three practices keep our net-metering cycle time down:

1. Apply the day installation completes. The meter queue is often the longest queue in the whole process. Every idle day is cash sitting on a roof.
2. Pre-inspect against the DISCOM’s checklist. Most DISCOMs publish their technical requirements. Walk the site with that checklist before the inspector does.
3. Batch your follow-ups. A weekly DISCOM visit covering 10 pending files beats 10 separate phone calls.

One design note that has nothing to do with the DISCOM: nobody in the approval chain checks shading. A system under a water-tank shadow still gets net metered — it just generates 20% less than the proposal promised, and the customer blames the EPC.

We run solar shadow analysis software on every roof before quoting. The generation number in the proposal then matches what the system delivers, which protects both the customer’s payback and our portal rating.

Installation, Commissioning, and Subsidy Disbursement

Once feasibility is approved, the project moves on rails. The sequence that gets subsidy paid fastest:

1. Freeze the design. Layout, string configuration, structure type, and bill of materials, locked before procurement. Changes after this point ripple into portal uploads.
2. Procure with the compliance chain. ALMM-listed modules, BIS-compliant inverter, structure rated for local wind load. Keep every invoice.
3. Install to standard. Structure anchored per design, DC and AC cabling per spec, earthing and surge protection in place.
4. Upload the completion report. Geo-tagged photos, module and inverter serial numbers, and system details go on the portal. Sloppy uploads are a leading cause of disbursement delay.
5. Net meter application and inspection. The customer applies, the DISCOM inspects, and the bidirectional meter goes in.
6. Commissioning certificate. The portal records the plant as commissioned. The subsidy clock starts here.
7. Subsidy disbursement. MNRE releases the CFA by DBT into the customer’s bank account. The scheme’s stated target is around 30 days; plan for 1–3 months and treat anything faster as a bonus.

Set customer expectations on the full timeline at signing. A realistic journey runs 2–4 months end to end: feasibility in days to 2 weeks, 2–3 days on site for the installation itself, 1–4 weeks for net metering, then the disbursement window. Customers who know this upfront do not call you every week; customers who hear “30 days” and wait 90 leave the review you deserve.

The money flows to the customer, not to you. That single fact shapes EPC pricing under this scheme.

Three pricing structures we see in the market:

• Full advance. The customer pays 100% and claims the subsidy as reimbursement. Simplest for the EPC; hardest sell.
• Milestone payments. Advance, delivery, and commissioning installments. Balanced risk, and the market standard for a reason.
• Subsidy-linked. The customer pays net of subsidy, and the EPC or a lending partner bridges the ₹78,000 until DBT. Highest conversion; real financing cost.

Whatever the structure, close every project with a handover pack: invoices, warranties, the module serial list, commissioning certificate, net-meter approval, and a one-page maintenance note. It takes 20 minutes to assemble, and it is what customers reference when they rate you on the portal.

First-hand note: at Heaven Green Energy we run milestone payments with a documented handover at each stage. The discipline that keeps disbursement fast is not chasing MNRE. It is never giving the system a reason to bounce the file.

Clean uploads, matching serials, and same-day net-meter applications do more for cash flow than any follow-up call. Files that go through once, go through fast.

One obligation outlives the payment: maintenance. The portal’s vendor declaration commits you to free maintenance support for 5 years after commissioning in most states. Price that obligation into your quote — a service visit costs real money, and 5 years of them across hundreds of systems is a business line, not an afterthought.

Common Mistakes That Delay Subsidy Payment

Most subsidy delays are self-inflicted. These are the errors we see across our own projects and in files that come to us from stalled installers.

Documentation errors:

• Name mismatches across the electricity bill, Aadhaar, property proof, and bank account. Fix them before applying.
• Wrong consumer number or wrong DISCOM selected at registration.
• Bank details with stale IFSC codes from merged banks. DBT bounces silently.
• Missing geo-tagged photos or serial numbers in the commissioning upload.
• Applying under a commercial-tariff connection.

Technical and process errors:

• A non-ALMM module, or a listed module in an unlisted wattage variant.
• Installing before feasibility approval.
• An inverter without BIS compliance, or a datasheet that does not match the installed unit.
• Capacity drift: quoted 3 kW, installed 2.7 kW after layout changes, subsidy claimed at the wrong slab. Recalculate CFA whenever the design changes.
• Siting under shadows and then arguing with the customer about generation.

A softer mistake deserves mention: letting disputes reach the portal. A customer who feels ignored can file a grievance, and grievances sit on your vendor record. Call the unhappy customer before they find the complaint button — a 10-minute phone call is cheaper than a public dispute.

The Contrarian Take: Subsidy Volume Is a Cash-Flow Business

Here is the part most scheme guides skip. PM Surya Ghar work is high-volume, low-ticket, and payment-tailed. Your margin on a 3 kW system is thin, your material goes in up front, and your customer’s final payment often waits on a subsidy you do not control.

Scale that to 30 installs a month, and you are running a working-capital business that happens to install solar. The glossy version of this scheme — unlimited demand, guaranteed payment — is true only if your balance sheet survives the gap between installation and disbursement.

Our honest advice to smaller EPCs: cap subsidy-scheme volume at what you can carry for 90 days. Mix in non-subsidy residential, small commercial, and service work so a slow disbursement quarter cannot stall payroll. The EPCs that fail under this scheme do not fail on engineering; they fail on cash timing.

What Running a Top-Rated Portal Vendor Taught Us

Heaven Green Energy is the top-rated residential EPC on the PM Surya Ghar portal. The rating rests on boring things done every time:

1. Standardize the BOM. We stock 3 pre-verified ALMM module options and 2 inverter options. Designers choose from the menu; procurement never improvises.
2. Pre-validate documents at the survey. Our site-visit checklist includes photographing the electricity bill and Aadhaar, and flagging name mismatches before the application is filed.
3. Design once, design right. Layout, strings, and shading locked before procurement means the commissioning upload matches the design, and nothing bounces.
4. Track every file by age. We run a weekly aging report of portal applications, net-meter requests, and pending disbursements, with a named owner for anything over 15 days.

None of this needs heroics. It needs a checklist and a calendar.

If you take over a stalled file from another installer, audit 3 things before promising anything: module compliance on the install date, the feasibility approval sequence, and name consistency across documents. Most stalled files fail on 1 of the 3, and 2 of them are fixable with paperwork rather than rework.

Conclusion

PM Surya Ghar is the largest structured demand program Indian residential solar has had. The ₹78,000 subsidy, the national portal, and the ALMM gate created a market where disciplined EPCs win on process rather than price.

Three actions to take this week:

• Register with every DISCOM in your service area, and standardize an ALMM-compliant bill of materials before your next quote.
• Build the document pre-check into your site survey, so name mismatches and category errors die at the doorstep instead of at disbursement.
• Model subsidy, payback, and cash timing on every proposal — the generation and financial tool does this in the same workspace as the design.

Worth repeating: none of this is glamorous. The EPCs winning under PM Surya Ghar are not better salespeople. They run tighter files, cleaner bills of material, and faster handovers, and the portal rewards them with the only marketing that compounds — a public rating.

There is also a window effect here. Subsidy programs concentrate demand while they last, and the vendors who build process now keep the customers when the program winds down. A homeowner whose install went smoothly calls the same EPC for the battery retrofit, the EV charger, and the neighbor’s referral.

If you are entering this market now, start with 1 DISCOM, 1 standardized BOM, and 1 repeatable portal workflow. Add the second DISCOM only when the first runs without you personally chasing files. Scale follows process, not ambition.

The bottom line: PM Surya Ghar rewards operators. Get the file right the first time, keep the BOM compliant, and set honest timelines — the scheme is the best residential growth engine Indian solar has had.

The scheme runs toward a 1-crore-household target. The EPCs still standing at the finish will be the ones whose paperwork is as good as their wiring.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the PM Surya Ghar subsidy amount in 2026?

The central subsidy is up to ₹78,000 for residential rooftop solar systems up to 3 kW. The subsidy is ₹30,000 for 1 kW, ₹60,000 for 2 kW, and ₹78,000 for 3 kW or more. Systems larger than 3 kW receive the same ₹78,000 ceiling. Some states add a top-up on top of this central amount.

Who is eligible for PM Surya Ghar subsidy?

Residential homeowners with a valid electricity connection, a suitable roof, and no existing government solar subsidy are eligible. The system must use ALMM-approved modules and be grid-connected with net metering. The electricity connection must be in the applicant’s name, and the applicant needs a bank account for the direct subsidy transfer.

How do I apply for PM Surya Ghar subsidy as an EPC?

Register on the National Portal for Rooftop Solar, upload customer documents, submit the system design with ALMM modules, get DISCOM approval, install the system, and apply for subsidy disbursement after commissioning. Vendor registration itself happens through each DISCOM you serve, which then approves you into the portal’s vendor list.

What documents are required for PM Surya Ghar?

Customer identity proof, property ownership document, latest electricity bill, ALMM module certificate, inverter datasheet, EPC registration, and DISCOM net metering approval. Keep module invoices tied to serial numbers as well, since those records are your defense if a batch’s compliance is ever questioned.

How long does PM Surya Ghar subsidy disbursement take?

After commissioning and net metering approval, subsidy disbursement typically takes 1–3 months. Delays happen when documents are incomplete or DISCOM inspection is pending. The scheme’s stated target is around 30 days, and clean files with matching documents routinely beat the 3-month mark.

Can commercial buildings get PM Surya Ghar subsidy?

No. PM Surya Ghar is only for residential rooftop solar up to 3 kW. Commercial and industrial projects use different mechanisms like accelerated depreciation and state-specific incentives. Housing societies do get a separate ₹18,000 per kW window for common-area systems up to 500 kW.