Govt cautions against additional payment to vendors under Rooftop Solar scheme

The new and renewable energy ministry on Thursday clarified that no charges to be paid to any vendor or distribution company for receiving subsidy and subsidy will be credited directly into the bank account of the beneficiary by the Ministry.

The statement said all residential consumers are hereby advised not to pay any additional charges to any vendor on account of fee for application on the National Portal or any additional charges for net-metering or testing which are not prescribed by the respective distribution company.

In case such charges are demanded by any vendor or agency or person, the same may be intimated to the respective distribution company and to this ministry at email rts-mnre[at]gov[dot]in.

On the National Portal, any consumer willing to install rooftop solar from any part of the country can apply and track the complete process starting from registration to release of subsidy directly into his bank account, according to the ministry’s statement.

According to the statement, the subsidy under National Portal has been fixed at ₹14,588 per kW (for a capacity up to 3 kW) for the entire country and residential consumers have to install rooftop solar plant from any one of the vendors registered by the respective distribution company of their locality.

The list of registered vendors is also available on the National Portal. To safeguard the interest of consumers, format of agreement to be signed between the vendor and the consumers has been given on National Portal, the ministry said.

The terms of the agreement can be mutually agreed, the ministry said, adding the vendor has to provide maintenance services to the consumer for at least five years and in case of any default the respective distribution company can encash the performance bank guarantee of the vendor.

There is no fee for application on the National Portal and also the charges for net-metering have been prescribed by the respective distribution companies. Further, no charges to be paid to any vendor or distribution company for receiving subsidy and subsidy will be credited directly into the bank account of the beneficiary by the ministry, the statement added.

The ministry is implementing rooftop solar programme Phase-II, wherein central finance assistance (CFA) or subsidy is being provided to residential consumers for the installation of rooftop solar. To ease out the implementation of the programme, a National Portal was developed which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 30 July, 2022.