Solar installed but not activated: what now

A rooftop solar system that is installed but not activated is almost always waiting on the electricity board: the inspection, the net meter, or the commissioning certificate that follows them. In Delhi, the DERC net-metering guidelines amended on 16 July 2026 require the connection within 10 days for systems up to 10 kW and 25 days above that, with no application fee for domestic systems up to 10 kW.^[13] In Uttar Pradesh the regulations set the framework but no day count that we can cite. This page sets out what the wait consists of, what to check, whom to call and what your installer should be doing while you wait.

Until the meter is fitted and the plant is commissioned, the usual practice is to keep the inverter switched off. A one-way meter does not credit what you export, so running the plant early earns nothing on the bill.

What activation is waiting for

Installation is the middle of the process, not the end. After the panels and inverter are up, the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana portal still has four stages to pass through, and each one belongs to a different party.^[2]

1. 01

   Plant details and the net-meter applicationinstaller

   Your installer uploads the installation photographs and the technical details and applies for the net meter. Until this is done the board has nothing to inspect.
2. 02

   DISCOM inspection and meterelectricity board

   The board visits, checks the plant and fits the net meter, a bidirectional meter that records import and export. In Delhi the guideline gives 10 days to connection for systems up to 10 kW.
3. 03

   Commissioning certificateportal

   Generated on the portal once the meter is in. This is the date the system counts as activated.
4. 04

   Bank details and a cancelled chequeyou

   Submitted by you. The subsidy is paid to this account, officially within 30 days of the claim.

The net meter is what turns generation into money. Without it the board cannot see what you export, so no credit can appear on the bill and no commissioning certificate can be issued. That is why every wait ends at the same place, whichever stage it started in.

Two Delhi rules shorten the front of the queue. 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.^[12] And since July 2026 the route is fixed: PM Surya Ghar applicants apply through the national portal; everyone else through the DISCOM or state portal.^[13] The national portal also records the agreement between you and the vendor before installation. If your application still shows an agreement stage weeks after the panels went up, the hold-up is usually with the vendor rather than the board; the portal help page walks through what each status means and who acts next.

The official timelines, and the practical ones

Delhi. The DERC (Net Metering for Renewable Energy) (Second Amendment) Guidelines, 2026 are the rule: connection within 10 days up to 10 kW, 25 days above, and no application fee for a domestic system up to 10 kW.^[13] They apply to BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna and Tata Power-DDL alike. Before that amendment, Verde Solaire's own Delhi price post of 14 July 2025 said most net-metering approvals were completed in 20 to 30 days across the three boards.^{[vs-post-143]} Read the two figures together: the regulator has now written a shorter clock than the one installers were planning on a year ago.

Uttar Pradesh. under the UPERC rooftop solar regulations of 2019, residential users may choose net or gross metering, and the DISCOM allows capacity within transformer limits.^[16] UPNEDA is the state nodal agency, and its district solar cells help with installation and net metering. The sources this site relies on do not state a day count for the meter, and we do not invent one. The company's Noida and Greater Noida post of 10 July 2025 gave a planning figure of 20 to 30 days after installation, with Aadhaar, the electricity bill, an identity proof and a signature as the documents needed.^{[vs-post-142]} Treat that as the installer's estimate, not a commitment by PVVNL or NPCL. The Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Varanasi guides hold what could be sourced for each board.

What to check on the portal

Log in to the national portal and read the stage your application is at. The stage tells you who owes the next action. Plant details and the net-meter application are the vendor's job; the inspection and the meter are the board's; the commissioning certificate is generated by the portal once the meter is in; the bank details are yours. Note the date each stage was reached, because you will need it on any call.

Then ask whether the vendor is the bottleneck. In August 2026 MNRE deactivated 66 PM Surya Ghar vendors over applications left pending, and vendors are not to hold an application for more than 60 days.^{[indianpsu-vendors]} The vendor check guide shows how to confirm yours is still registered.

Applications also stall for ordinary reasons that nobody has told the customer about: the name on the electricity bill differs from the applicant's, the system is larger than the sanctioned load, the ownership proof is missing, or the plant details were uploaded without the photographs the board wants. None of these is fatal. Each is a document, and the installer should know which one.

Who to call

In Delhi, start with the board that issues your bill. BSES Rajdhani customers use rts.bsesdelhi.com (helpline 19123, extension 3).^[4] BSES Yamuna is the same BSES Delhi portal family. Tata Power-DDL publishes the net-metering application and manual on tatapower-ddl.com.^[15] Have your consumer number, the portal application number, the installation date and the date the net-meter application went in. If the connection is past the guideline's days, say so and name the guideline and its date.

In Uttar Pradesh, the licensee's name is printed at the top of the bill: PVVNL for Noida and Ghaziabad, NPCL for Greater Noida and Greater Noida West, PUVVNL for Varanasi.^{[vs-post-142]} UPNEDA's district solar cells exist to help with net metering.^[16] We have not been able to source a helpline number for the Uttar Pradesh boards from an official page, so we do not print one; the board pages list what could be verified.

Whichever board it is, tell your installer the same day. Your installer is the party the portal expects to act at the vendor stages, and is dealing with the same board on other applications at the same time.

What your installer should be doing

The net-metering work is part of the job you paid for. Verde Solaire's published prices include it, and the company's May 2025 guide to the application describes the vendor uploading the installation photograph and providing the net meter and safety certificate before the board's inspection visit.^{[vs-post-130]} Verde Solaire is a registered PM Surya Ghar vendor in both Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.^{[vs-post-130]} Between installation and the meter, that means filing the application promptly, answering the board's queries, attending the inspection, and telling you where things stand without being asked.

Customers describe that work in their own words. Mahender Nath Mishra, in Varanasi, wrote: "Special mention to Mr. Sachin Dubey of the firm who helped in all the processes including documentations for net metering."^{[vs-testimonials-1]} Brij Lal Bhardwaj, with a 4 kW system in Sector 25, Noida, wrote that the team did the complete installation, including the documentation and liaison with the board for the net meter, and got the subsidy processed.^{[vs-testimonials-2]}

What customers say about the wait

We would rather quote the delays than pretend they do not happen. Arun Sibal, whose New Delhi house is on BSES, 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."^{[vs-testimonials-2]}

Navin Verma, in Janakpuri, New Delhi, wrote: "The installation of solar plant by Verde was of very good quality and their installation of solar system was also very quick. However the net metering process was delayed" by the electricity board, which he felt needed to look into it.^{[vs-testimonials-1]}

It is not a residential problem only. Naresh Garg, writing about a 147 kW plant in Pune, said the meter "was delayed quite a lot in spite of all the documents being submitted by Verde and CPWD on time."^{[vs-testimonials-2]}

These reviews sit on Verde Solaire's own testimonial pages, so they are the company's selection. We cite them because each one names the delay and says where it sat.

Our commitment

We do not count a system as finished when the panels are up. We count it as finished when the net meter is in, the commissioning certificate is on the portal and the subsidy claim has gone in. Between those points we file, chase and report, and if the board is past its timeline we say so to the board. We do not print a response-time promise on this page, because none has been published; when one is, it will appear here with a date.

If your system was installed by us and is not yet activated, send the message below with your consumer number. If it was installed by someone else, send it anyway: we will tell you what the stage on your portal means and who owes the next step.

Sources and dates

Delhi timelines and fees are from the DERC Second Amendment Guidelines of 16 July 2026 and the BSES Rajdhani FAQ of September 2025. Uttar Pradesh rules are from the UP Solar Energy Policy 2022. The company's 20 to 30 day planning figures are from its July 2025 posts and predate the Delhi amendment. Customer quotations are verbatim from the testimonials pages fetched on 18 September 2026. Policy facts were checked on 16 September 2026.