The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has waived application fees for feasibility analysis and registration charges for domestic consumers installing rooftop solar systems up to 10 kW under PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.

According to Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy and Power, only 3,077 households in Delhi had benefited from the program, with a total installation of 9.38 MW as of March 10, 2025.

Delhi now joins a growing list of states that have eliminated such charges for residential consumers adopting rooftop solar under the central government’s flagship solar initiative. The PM Surya Ghar program aims to install rooftop solar systems in 10 million households by 2027.

Andhra Pradesh recently waived application fees and net metering charges for rooftop solar systems up to 10 kW. This decision came after state power distribution companies requested reducing the financial burden on households transitioning to solar power.

Rajasthan, too, has taken similar measures by waiving application fees, security deposits, and meter testing charges for domestic consumers. These waivers will remain in effect until the state meets its target of 500,000 rooftop installations or any revised goal set by the government.

These regulatory concessions aim to accelerate rooftop solar adoption, especially considering the slow national progress flagged by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy. In a recent report, the Committee expressed concern that only 905,000 households have benefited from the program so far, with 600,000 receiving subsidies, well below the 3.5 million systems targeted for the financial year 2026.

Implemented through the National Portal, the program enables residential consumers to register, apply, and select vendors for their rooftop solar systems. The platform allows users to negotiate installation costs, secure approvals, and benefit from subsidies transferred to their bank accounts following inspections by electricity distribution utilities.

The program was announced in January last year when the Prime Minister said the aim is to reduce the electricity expenditure of poor and middle-class households while enabling India’s self-reliance in energy. It was also one of the significant programs unveiled in the interim Budget 2024 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to Parliament.

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