Rooftop Solar Basics7 min read
Net Metering in India: How Rooftop Solar Billing Works
A plain-English guide for Indian homeowners on how rooftop solar exports, credits, and net billing show up on your electricity bill.
A plain-English guide for Indian homeowners on how rooftop solar exports, credits, and net billing show up on your electricity bill.
If you have rooftop solar, or you are weighing it up, net metering in India is the arrangement that decides how much you actually save each month. In simple terms, it lets your home send the extra solar power it does not use back into the grid and get credited for it, so your bill reflects only your net consumption. Because the rules are set through your state distribution company, or DISCOM, the finer points differ from one state to another and can change over time. This guide explains the concept in plain language, so you know what to expect and, just as importantly, what to confirm locally before you size your system.
Your rooftop panels make the most power in the middle of the day, which is often more than your home is using at that moment. Without net metering, that surplus would simply go to waste. Net metering lets the extra flow out to the grid instead, and your DISCOM keeps track of it so you are not paying for electricity you effectively gave back.
The key idea is that your meter records both directions: the units you draw from the grid when your panels are not enough (import), and the units you send out when they produce a surplus (export). At the end of your billing cycle, the DISCOM nets the two against each other, and you are billed on the difference. Only the net units count, which is where the name comes from. Older explanations describe the meter 'spinning backwards' when you export, but a modern digital meter simply counts your export on a separate register.
A regular electricity meter only counts power flowing into your home. Net metering needs a bidirectional meter, sometimes called a net meter, which measures import and export separately. When your solar system is approved, your DISCOM installs or certifies this meter as part of the connection, so it is not something you buy off the shelf and fit yourself.
It helps to know what the meter is tracking so you can read your bill with confidence:
These three terms describe different ways of valuing the solar you send to the grid. The hardware can look similar, but the accounting, and therefore your savings, is different. Which one applies to you depends on your state, your DISCOM, and often your system size, so treat the descriptions below as concepts rather than a fixed rule for your connection.
Your exported units offset your imported units on an energy basis, roughly unit for unit, and you settle only the net difference. In this model the electricity you export is worth about the same as the electricity you buy, which tends to reward exporting surplus to the grid.
All of your solar generation is metered and sent to the grid, and you are paid a fixed feed-in rate for everything you produce. Separately, you buy all the power your home consumes at the normal retail tariff. Generation and consumption are accounted independently, so your solar earnings and your electricity bill are two separate lines.
This sits between the two. You self-consume as much solar as you can in real time, and only the surplus you export is credited, usually at a separate export rate that can be lower than the retail tariff. Import and export are valued at different prices, and you settle the difference in money rather than purely in units. Under this model, using your own solar directly is often worth more than sending it out.
Within a billing cycle, your export offsets your import. If in a given month you export more than you import, the leftover is usually carried forward as a credit toward your next bill rather than being lost immediately. Over a longer window, the settlement period, the DISCOM trues up your account. Any surplus still remaining at that point may be paid out, carried over, or allowed to lapse, and this is exactly the kind of detail that differs from state to state.
This is the most important thing to understand about net metering in India: the concept is national, but the specifics are local. The following are all set by state regulators and DISCOMs, and they are revised from time to time, so confirm the current position for your area before you commit:
Without storage, your surplus midday solar flows to the grid, and you draw grid power again after sunset. Add a home battery, and you can store that daytime surplus to run your home in the evening. The result is that you import less from the grid and also export less, because more of your solar is used at home.
This matters for billing. In a net billing or feed-in regime, where exported units are credited below the retail rate, self-consuming through a battery is often more valuable than exporting, since you are avoiding a costlier import instead of earning a smaller export credit. Under unit-for-unit net metering the trade-off is closer, and exporting can still make sense. Because import, export, and battery use all interact, a monitoring layer that shows your real-time import and export, such as an energy management system like Ingro's, helps you see whether you are exporting cheap surplus or covering your own evening load. Keep in mind that connecting a battery may carry its own DISCOM requirements, so it is worth checking those alongside your solar approval.
At a high level, getting on net metering follows a fairly consistent path across DISCOMs, even though the portal and paperwork differ:
Net metering is an arrangement that lets your rooftop solar send surplus power to the grid and get credited for it. A bidirectional meter records what you import and what you export, and at the end of the billing cycle you are charged only for the net units. In effect, the grid stores your extra solar and gives it back as a bill credit.
Under net metering you first use your solar at home and only the surplus goes to the grid, with exports offsetting imports so you settle the net. Under gross metering, all your generation is sent to the grid at a fixed feed-in rate, and you separately buy everything your home uses at the retail tariff. The right model for you depends on your state and DISCOM.
Yes. A standard meter only counts power flowing into your home, so net metering needs a bidirectional or net meter that measures import and export separately. Your DISCOM installs or certifies this meter when your system is approved and commissioned, so it is part of the connection process rather than something you fit yourself.
It depends on your state and DISCOM. In many cases surplus is carried forward as a credit against future bills, and at the end of a settlement period any remaining surplus may be paid out, carried over, or allowed to lapse, sometimes at a rate lower than retail. Because these rules vary and change, confirm the current terms with your DISCOM.
A home battery stores your daytime surplus so you can use it in the evening, which means you import less and export less. Under models that credit exports below the retail rate, using your own stored solar is often more valuable than exporting it. Connecting a battery may also have its own DISCOM requirements worth checking.
Net metering is a national concept, but the specifics are set by your state regulator and DISCOM. Details such as metering model, settlement period, surplus treatment, and system size caps differ by location and are revised over time. Check your DISCOM's website or customer service, and look at the sanctioned load on your electricity bill, before finalising your system.
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