Net metering in Delhi: BSES, Tata Power-DDL

A net-metering connection in Delhi is due within 10 days for a rooftop system up to 10 kW and within 25 days above that, and there is no application fee for a domestic system up to 10 kW. Those are the terms of the DERC (Net Metering for Renewable Energy) (Second Amendment) Guidelines of 16 July 2026, and they bind BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna and Tata Power-DDL alike. Since the 2024 amendment, no feasibility study is needed up to 10 kW on the same supply type, and the DISCOM handles any load increase or transformer upgrade.

Use this guide to take a Delhi rooftop system from your electricity bill to a working net meter. It helps you identify your board, choose the right application route, prepare documents and understand each stage through commissioning.

Which electricity board is yours

Delhi has four licensees. Three cover most of the city: BSES Rajdhani in South and West Delhi, BSES Yamuna in East and Central Delhi, and Tata Power-DDL in North and North-West Delhi. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) serves the Lutyens area through its own process. If your bill carries the NDMC name, send us a message and we will help you with the next step. The name at the top of your bill is the final check.

• BSES Rajdhani (BRPL)

  BSES Rajdhani Power Limited

  South and West Delhi

• BSES Yamuna (BYPL)

  BSES Yamuna Power Limited

  East and Central Delhi

• Tata Power-DDL

  Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited

  North and North-West Delhi

If you are not sure, pick your area and the finder names the board.

Each board runs its own rooftop solar desk. BSES Rajdhani's is rts.bsesdelhi.com (helpline 19123, extension 3). BSES Yamuna uses the same BSES Delhi portal family. Tata Power-DDL publishes the net-metering application and manual on tatapower-ddl.com. All three work under the same rules, the DERC (Net Metering for Renewable Energy) Regulations, 2014 and the 2014 Guidelines, as amended in 2024 and 2026. The per-board pages for BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna and Tata Power-DDL hold what is specific to each.

Two ways to apply

The route depends on whether you are taking the central subsidy. Under the 2026 guidelines, PM Surya Ghar applicants apply through the national portal; everyone else through the DISCOM or state portal. In practice that means one of two paths.

• With the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana subsidy. Apply on pmsuryaghar.gov.in. The net-meter application is a stage inside that same application, and your board picks it up from the national portal; you do not file a second application with the board. In Delhi, subsidised systems: apply on the PM Surya Ghar portal and claim the Delhi subsidy and GBI on solar.delhi.gov.in; unsubsidised systems: the DISCOM portal.
• Without the subsidy. Apply directly on your board's rooftop solar portal, listed above. Households that want imported panels or have taken a solar subsidy before use this route.

The scheme's condition on the first route is 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, then uploads the plant details after installation. The nine-step guide covers the subsidy application from registration to payout; this page stays with the metering side of it.

The seven stages, and who acts at each

Every net-metering application in Delhi passes through the same seven stages whichever board you are on. The word after each title says who owes the next action, because that is the first thing to establish when a file stops moving.

1. 01

   Confirm your board and sanctioned loadyou

   Read both from the bill. A system larger than the sanctioned load needs a load increase, which the board handles. In Delhi the 2024 amendment also removed the feasibility study for systems up to 10 kW on the same supply type.
2. 02

   Apply on the PM Surya Ghar portal or the board portalyou, with the installer

   Subsidised systems go through pmsuryaghar.gov.in, with the Delhi subsidy and the generation incentive claimed on solar.delhi.gov.in. Unsubsidised systems go straight to the board portal. The application is in your name and on your login; a registered vendor can sit with you and fill it in.
3. 03

   Feasibility approvalelectricity board

   The board checks the application against its consumer records. Up to 10 kW on the same supply type this is a records check rather than a site study. Mismatches between the application and the bill are the usual reason it stalls.
4. 04

   Installation by a registered vendorinstaller

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

   Net-meter application with plant detailsinstaller

   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 installationelectricity board: 10 days up to 10 kW

   The board inspects the plant and fits the bidirectional meter that records import and export. The guideline gives 10 days to connection for systems up to 10 kW and 25 days above.
7. 07

   Commissioning certificate and subsidy claimportal, then you

   Issued on the portal once the meter is recorded. You then submit your bank details and a cancelled cheque, and the subsidy is due officially within 30 days of the claim.

Documents to keep ready

The portal and your board set the final list; this is the minimum that every Delhi application has needed.

• Your latest electricity bill. The consumer number, the sanctioned load and the board's name are read from it, and the number you type must match it exactly.
• Proof that you own the house, such as the sale deed or a property tax receipt.
• 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.

The installer supplies the plant-details documents. The name on the application should be the name on the bill; if the bill is in a parent's name, apply in that name and use that person's bank account.

Timeline: the rules and the practice

The regulator publishes day counts for two stages and the ministry for one. The table keeps rule and practice apart.

The 20 to 30 day figure is an installer's planning number from a year before the amendment, and the regulator has since written a shorter clock. Whether each board keeps to it is a question of practice, which our customers have described plainly. Arun Sibal, whose New Delhi house was fitted within days of payment, wrote: "The only issue was the time taken in installing the net meter from BSES, which was actually not in control of Verde. In fact Verde people always kept me in the loop regarding the net meter status." Navin Verma, with a 10 kW system in Janakpuri, wrote that the installation "was also very quick. However the net metering process was delayed" by the board. Both reviews predate the July 2026 guideline.

The subsidy row is the ministry's official figure, "within 30 days" of the claim; about 15 days on average, against reports of 30–45 days after verification in practice.

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

Both counts start at the claim, which follows the commissioning certificate, which follows the meter. A delay at the board postpones the subsidy; it does not cancel it.

Surplus units, the generation incentive and your bill

Net metering in Delhi settles on the net of what you import and export. credits roll over month to month, and any surplus left at the end of the financial year is paid at the DISCOM's average power purchase cost. A summer surplus therefore offsets a winter shortfall within the same financial year, and only what is still standing in March is bought out, at the board's cost of buying power rather than at your tariff. Size to a year of bills, not to export.

Delhi adds a generation-based incentive (GBI) on top. Homes up to 3 kW earn ₹3 per unit generated and homes above 3 kW up to 10 kW earn ₹2 per unit, for 5 years from commissioning, paid monthly against the bill; any excess to the bank account. It is claimed on solar.delhi.gov.in alongside the state subsidy and appears as a credit against the bill, so the meter matters twice: it records the export that earns the credit and the generation that earns the incentive.

Two things do not change. Delhi's free-power subsidy, if you have opted into it, is worked out on net units, that is import minus export, so a household whose net units stay under the free slab keeps that benefit after solar. And the fixed charge on the sanctioned load stays on the bill whatever the panels do. The Delhi tariff explainer sets out the slabs and the bill calculator shows the result for your own units.

Virtual net metering, open to everyone since 20 January 2026

Ordinary net metering needs the plant and the meter on the same premises. Virtual net metering credits the generation of a plant against a consumer's meter that is not wired to it, which is what a flat, a builder floor without roof rights or a housing society with one common roof needs. In Delhi, the Seventh Amendment of 20 January 2026 opens virtual net metering to all Delhi consumers, with DISCOMs bearing line and network costs up to set caps. Before the amendment it was limited to particular categories of consumer; since it, any Delhi consumer may apply.

The capacity caps per board and the application form sit in the amendment and each board's procedure; we have not reproduced the caps here. Read solar on builder floors and shared roofs and the housing society page, and ask us to check your board's current position before you plan around it.

Installed but not activated: what to do

A system that is up but not connected is waiting on stage 5, 6 or 7 above, and the portal tells you which. Do these in order.

1. Read the stage on the portal and note its date. Stage 5 belongs to the installer; stages 6 and 7 belong to the board and the portal. The date tells you whether the guideline's clock has run.
2. If the net-meter application is in and the 10 days have passed, call the board. BSES Rajdhani's helpline is on rts.bsesdelhi.com (helpline 19123, extension 3). Have the consumer number, the portal application number, the installation date and the date the net-meter application went in. Name the DERC guideline of 16 July 2026 and its day count.
3. Tell your installer the same day. The installer is the party the portal expects to act at the vendor stages and is dealing with the same board on other files at the same time.
4. Check that the installer is not the bottleneck. In August 2026 MNRE deactivated 66 PM Surya Ghar vendors over applications left pending, and vendors are not to hold an application beyond 60 days. If the portal shows a vendor stage and nothing has moved for weeks, ask in writing what is pending.
5. Keep the inverter off until the meter is in. Running the plant on a one-way meter earns nothing.

The full escalation guide covers the ordinary reasons files stall and what each one needs.

For our own installations, we file the net-meter application promptly, attend the inspection, and tell you where the file stands without being asked; where a board is past its guideline we say so to the board. We print no response-time promise, because none has been published.