Why Rooftop Solar Makes Sense in 2026

Why go solar now?

Electricity tariffs in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have moved in one direction for years, while solar equipment costs have moved in the other. That combination — a bill that keeps climbing against hardware that keeps getting cheaper — is the simplest reason more homeowners are looking at rooftop solar now rather than waiting.

The subsidy window is real, but it has a shape

PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, the Government of India's central financial assistance scheme for residential rooftop solar, is currently in its original implementation period — approved by the cabinet in 2024, running through 31 March 2027. What happens after that date hasn't been officially announced, so the honest read is: the scheme is active today, and applying earlier gives more room for the DISCOM approval process to run its course before any future change takes effect. That's a reason to start the process, not a reason to panic.

The subsidy itself is banded by system capacity, with support tapering as capacity increases and a cap above a certain size. It's paid as a reimbursement after the system is installed, inspected, and running with net metering in place — not up front, so the installation cost still needs funding first.

What actually changes on your bill

A grid-connected (on-grid) system doesn't eliminate your electricity bill — it changes the energy component of it. Fixed charges and statutory levies are typically billed against the connection itself rather than your consumption, so they continue regardless of how much you generate. What solar offsets is the per-unit energy charge, which for most households is the largest single line on the bill.

The mechanism is net metering: your panels generate during daylight, your home uses what it needs in that moment, and the surplus is exported to the grid through a bidirectional meter. At the end of the billing cycle, you're charged only for the net difference between what you drew and what you exported. Whether exported units are credited at the same rate as imported ones, or at a separate feed-in rate, depends on whether your DISCOM uses net metering or net billing — which varies by state and sometimes by connection category.

Why the "right" system size isn't a guess

A system sized to the subsidy cap and a system sized to your actual consumption are two different things, and conflating them is one of the more common and costly mistakes people make. The subsidy caps out at a specific capacity band; installing past that point is a decision about how much electricity your household genuinely uses, not about squeezing more government support out of a bigger system. A 3kW system on a real 5kW load leaves monthly savings unclaimed. A 5kW system on a 3kW load exports its surplus at whatever rate your DISCOM pays for exports — generally lower value than offsetting your own consumption directly.

What installation actually involves

Across the systems Origian Power has installed — more than 300 to date across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — the sequence is consistent:

• Site survey to assess the roof, shading and existing electrical setup
• System design and subsidy paperwork
• Physical installation, typically a matter of days once equipment is on site
• DISCOM inspection and net-metering commissioning

That last step is usually the slowest, since it depends on the DISCOM's own schedule rather than the installer's.

The two conditions that most often decide whether a subsidy claim succeeds are set at the design stage, not discovered afterward: the system has to be grid-connected with net metering from the start, and the installation has to meet MNRE and DISCOM technical standards. Getting the specification right before anything is bought is what actually determines whether the subsidy arrives.

The honest case for starting now

None of this is a claim that solar is free, instant, or paperwork-free. It's that the three things that make rooftop solar worth evaluating — a real, currently active subsidy; a mechanism that genuinely reduces your energy charge; and a well-understood process — are all true right now, in a way that isn't guaranteed to stay unchanged indefinitely. If you're already paying a rising electricity bill, the cost of finding out your actual numbers is one site visit.

See our subsidy guide for the full eligibility and application process, or use the savings calculator to estimate your own numbers from a recent bill.