NPCL net metering: application pack

Net metering in Greater Noida and Greater Noida West goes through NPCL (Noida Power Company Limited), the private licensee for the area, and not through PVVNL, which serves Noida city. The rules come from the state regulator: under the UPERC rooftop solar regulations of 2019, residential users may choose net or gross metering, and the DISCOM allows capacity within transformer limits. The stages are the seven of the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana application, and the only day counts our sources give are an installer's planning figure of 20 to 30 days for the meter and the ministry's figure of "within 30 days" of the claim; about 15 days on average for the subsidy.

Not yet official. From a secondary source; confirm against your electricity bill.

One thing to say plainly first. NPCL's rooftop solar pages do not render without JavaScript, and the policy brief behind this site could not read them. The steps below are therefore the national portal's stages, which apply to every board in the scheme, with what Verde Solaire has done on Greater Noida roofs. Where NPCL's own procedure adds a form, a fee or a visit, we say we could not source it rather than guess.

Who NPCL serves, and how to confirm it

NPCL is a distribution licensee separate from the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation (UPPCL) companies. It serves Greater Noida and Greater Noida West; Noida city's numbered sectors and Ghaziabad are served by PVVNL (Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, a UPPCL company). Use the licensee printed on your bill so the application reaches the right portal.

The check takes ten seconds: read the licensee's name printed at the top of the latest bill. Two more lines on it matter: the consumer number, typed exactly as printed, and the sanctioned load in kW, which caps the system you can connect without a load increase. If the bill says NPCL, this is your page. If it says PVVNL, read the PVVNL page instead.

NPCL bills are a little lower than PVVNL bills for the same consumption, because NPCL charges the same slab rates as the state DISCOMs with a 10% regulatory discount. That does not change the net-metering process, but it shaves a little off the saving from each exported unit, which the Greater Noida pricing page accounts for.

Not yet official. From trade and secondary summaries.

Net or gross metering

Under the UPERC regulations a residential consumer chooses between the two. Net metering sets the units you export at midday against the units you import at night, and bills the difference. Gross metering pays a set rate for every exported unit and bills every imported unit at the tariff. For a house that runs air conditioners in the evening, net metering is the usual choice, and it is what Verde Solaire applies for unless you ask otherwise. Surplus injected into the grid is compensated at the weighted-average large-solar tariff plus 25% (Third Amendment, in force from July 2025).

Not yet official. Read through a secondary summary; the gazette text was not checked.

The seven stages

The national portal runs the application whichever board you are on. The word after each stage says who owes the next action, because that is the first thing to establish when a file stops moving.

1. 01

   Confirm the licensee and sanctioned load from your billyou

   NPCL must be the name on the bill, and the system you plan must fit the sanctioned load or come with a load-increase request. The DISCOM allows capacity within transformer limits, so a large system on a small transformer may be trimmed at feasibility.
2. 02

   Register and apply on the portalyou, with the installer

   With the subsidy: pmsuryaghar.gov.in, selecting Uttar Pradesh, NPCL, your consumer number and the mobile number linked to the connection, then the size and the vendor. Without the subsidy: NPCL directly, by a procedure we could not read and do not reproduce.
3. 03

   Feasibility approvalNPCL

   NPCL checks the application against its consumer records and the transformer. A name that does not match the bill, or a size above the sanctioned load, is the usual reason this stage stalls.
4. 04

   Installation by a registered vendorinstaller

   Panels, inverter, structure, earthing and the protection boxes. Keep the inverter off until the meter is in; a one-way meter does not credit what you export.
5. 05

   Net-meter applicationinstaller

   The vendor uploads the installation photographs, the module and inverter details and the safety certificate, and applies for the meter. Check that the serial numbers uploaded are the ones on your roof.
6. 06

   Inspection and meter installationNPCL

   NPCL inspects the plant and fits the bidirectional meter. No official day count is published in our sources; the installer planning figure is 20 to 30 days after installation.
7. 07

   Commissioning and subsidy claimportal, then you

   The commissioning certificate appears on the portal once the meter is recorded. You upload bank details and a cancelled cheque, and the subsidy is due officially within 30 days of the claim.

The vendor at stage four must be one that the installer must be a vendor registered on the national portal, and you choose the vendor on pmsuryaghar.gov.in. Verde Solaire is a registered PM Surya Ghar vendor in both Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and files the application with you on the survey visit. A subsidised system must also use both the modules and the cells must be made in India, and from 1 June 2026 the cells must be on the ALMM List-II.

Documents, and what to keep copies of

The portal and NPCL set the final list. This is the minimum every application has needed. Verde Solaire's own Greater Noida post of July 2025 listed Aadhaar, the electricity bill, an identity proof and a signature.

• Your latest NPCL bill, for the consumer number, the sanctioned load and the licensee's name.
• Proof that you own the house, such as the sale deed or a property tax receipt. A tenant cannot apply; the owner must.
• A photo ID of the applicant, usually Aadhaar, and a passport-size photograph.
• The mobile number linked to the connection. It receives the one-time password and every status message afterwards.
• Bank account details and a cancelled cheque in the applicant's name, uploaded after the commissioning certificate.

Keep a copy of everything you upload and everything the portal generates: the application number, the feasibility approval, the plant-details submission, the inspection date and the commissioning certificate. Photograph the meter's serial number and first reading on the day it is fitted; it settles most later arguments about export credits.

Timelines: what is official and what is practice

Delhi's regulator has written a ten-day clock for its boards; Uttar Pradesh's has not published an equivalent in the sources we hold, and we do not invent one. The one Greater Noida case Verde Solaire has written up, a 10 kW residential plant in April 2023, had its meter installed by the DISCOM "very quickly", in the company's words. That is one file, three years old; plan on 20 to 30 days.

The subsidy row is the ministry's "within 30 days" of the claim; about 15 days on average, against reports of 30–45 days after verification in practice. Both clocks start at the claim, which follows the meter, so a slow inspection delays the subsidy without cancelling it.

Not yet official. Reported by trade and news sources; the official figure is within 30 days.

Why applications stall

Files stop for ordinary reasons, and each is a document rather than a refusal. None of these is attributed to NPCL in particular.

• The applicant's name differs from the name on the bill. Apply in the bill holder's name and use that person's bank account, even if it is a parent's.
• The system is larger than the sanctioned load. Either trim the size or ask for a load increase before feasibility.
• Ownership proof is missing or is in another name. A rented house, or one still in a builder's name, needs the owner to apply.
• The plant details went up incomplete. Photographs, module and inverter serial numbers and the safety certificate must match what is on the roof.
• The vendor is sitting on the file. In August 2026 MNRE deactivated 66 PM Surya Ghar vendors over applications left pending, and vendors are not to hold a file beyond 60 days. If a vendor stage has not moved for weeks, ask in writing what is pending.

Escalation, and what we do

We have not found an official NPCL rooftop solar helpline to print, so we do not print one; ask NPCL's customer care for the rooftop solar desk and note the name and date of every call. Under the state policy, UPNEDA is the state nodal agency, and its district solar cells help with installation and net metering, and the Gautam Buddh Nagar cell is the second door if the board is silent.

For our own installations we file the net-meter application promptly, attend the inspection, and tell you where the file stands without being asked. If the planning figure has passed, we chase NPCL with the application number and the dates and report back. We print no response-time promise, because none has been published. The installed but not activated guide covers the same ground for every board.

Print this checklist

• Bill in hand: licensee reads NPCL; consumer number and sanctioned load noted.
• System size fits the sanctioned load, or a load-increase request is filed.
• Applicant name, bill name and bank account name all match.
• Ownership proof, Aadhaar, photograph and linked mobile number ready.
• Registered on pmsuryaghar.gov.in with Uttar Pradesh, NPCL and the consumer number.
• Vendor chosen from the portal's NPCL list; vendor registration confirmed.
• Feasibility approval saved; date noted.
• Installation photographs, serial numbers and safety certificate checked against the roof.
• Net-meter application date noted; inverter kept off until the meter is fitted.
• Meter serial number and first reading photographed on the day.
• Commissioning certificate saved; bank details and cancelled cheque uploaded.
• Claim date noted; subsidy due officially within 30 days.