Is rooftop solar worth it in Delhi NCR?

Yes, if your home uses about 200 units a month or more, you own it, and the roof is clear of shade for most of the day. On Verde Solaire's published July 2025 prices a 3 kW system costs ₹1,99,000 to ₹2,10,000 and nets to ₹91,000 to ₹1,02,000 after ₹1,08,000 of central and state subsidy, and the calculator recovers that in 3.8 to 4.3 years in Noida and 3.1 to 3.5 years in Delhi for a home that uses roughly what the system generates. No, if the roof is shaded, you rent, you use under about 150 units a month, or you are buying it for backup in a power cut.

The rest of this page shows the arithmetic behind those years, what the arithmetic leaves out, and the cases where the honest answer is to keep your money.

The payback maths for 3 kW in Noida

Three numbers decide payback: what you pay, what the system generates, and what each of those units would have cost you on your tariff.

What you pay. A 3 kW system is ₹1,99,000 to ₹2,10,000 on the published list, which includes panels, inverter, structure, net metering, installation and warranty. The central subsidy is capped at ₹78,000 for 3 kW and above, and Uttar Pradesh adds ₹30,000, so the net price is ₹91,000 to ₹1,02,000. Both amounts reach your bank account after commissioning, so the gross price is paid first; the money-flow page sets out who pays whom and when.

What it generates. Verde Solaire's published planning yield for Noida is 1,500 units per kW a year ^{[vs-ci-noida]}. The calculator takes 10% off for dust and the monsoon, an assumption it prints under every result, and arrives at about 338 units a month, a little over 4,000 units a year.

What those units would have cost. Uttar Pradesh's urban domestic slabs for FY 2026-27 are ₹5.50 (0–150 units), ₹6.00 (151–300), ₹6.50 (301–500) and ₹7.00 (above 500) per unit, plus a fixed charge of ₹110 per kW per month on the sanctioned load. Slabs are telescopic: the first 150 units are billed at the lowest rate, the next 150 at the second, and so on. Solar takes units off the top of that ladder, at the dearest rate first. For a home using about what 3 kW generates, the calculator's saving is ₹1,972 a month, which is the whole energy charge. The fixed charge on a 3 kW connection stays on the bill.

Not yet official. Taken from secondary summaries of the FY 2026-27 UPERC order; the order itself was not fetched.

Not yet official. From a secondary summary of the UPERC order.

Payback. Twelve months of that saving set against the net price gives 3.8 to 4.3 years. After that, every unit the system generates is a unit you do not buy, at whatever the tariff is by then. The Noida price page has the same working for 1, 2, 5 and 10 kW.

The same sum in Delhi

Delhi's domestic energy charges, on the FY 2021-22 schedule that is still the last one DERC has published, are ₹3.00 (0–200 units), ₹4.50 (201–400), ₹6.50 (401–800), ₹7.00 (801–1,200) and ₹8.00 (above 1,200) per unit ^[23]. Per unit they are lower than Uttar Pradesh's, and the fixed charges are ₹20 (up to 2 kW), ₹50 (2–5 kW), ₹100 (5–15 kW), ₹200 (15–25 kW) and ₹250 (above 25 kW) per kW per month. Two surcharges sit on top of both: a regulatory asset surcharge of 8%, and the power purchase adjustment cost (PPAC), a fuel surcharge revised every month, which BSES Rajdhani set at 17.94% for June 2026 ^[24]. The published planning yield for Delhi is slightly lower too, 1,450 units per kW a year ^{[vs-ci-delhi]}, so 3 kW gives about 326 units a month.

Not yet official. Revised every month; this is the June 2026 figure as reported.

Put together, the calculator's bill saving for a Delhi home using what its system makes is ₹1,470 a month, less than Noida's because the rates are lower. What changes the answer is the generation-based incentive (GBI): Delhi pays ₹3 per unit on every unit a home system up to 3 kW generates, for 5 years from commissioning, paid monthly against the bill; any excess to the bank account. On 3 kW that is ₹11,745 a year, or ₹58,725 over the five years. Add it to the bill saving and the payback is 3.1 to 3.5 years, quicker than Noida despite the cheaper electricity. The Delhi subsidy page explains how the incentive is claimed.

One thing the calculator does not model is Delhi's free-power subsidy: 0–200 units a month free; 201–400 units at 50% off, capped at ₹800 a month; you must opt in. With solar it is worked out on net units, that is import minus export. If you use 300 units a month and receive it, the Delhi government already pays half of your energy charge above 200 units and all of it below, so the bill solar removes is smaller than the calculator assumes and the payback is longer. Below 200 units the energy charge is already nil, and the case rests on the incentive alone, which by our arithmetic recovers the net price in roughly eight to nine years, and on net-metering credits: 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.

Not yet official. Trade and news reports; no DERC or GNCTD order was cited.

How the calculator gets there, in words

The subsidy and savings calculator does four things, none of them hidden.

1. It takes the gross price for the capacity from the published list, subtracts the central subsidy and the state subsidy for your city, and calls the remainder the net price.
2. It multiplies the capacity by the published yield per kW for your city, takes off the 10% derate, and divides by twelve for the monthly units.
3. It works out your bill twice on the current slabs and fixed charge, once with your monthly units and once with your units less the solar units, and calls the difference the monthly saving. In Delhi it adds the surcharge and PPAC to both bills and the incentive on every unit generated.
4. It divides the net price by twelve months of saving, plus the incentive where it applies, and calls that the payback in years.

It does not add tariff escalation, loan interest, cleaning or an inverter replacement, and it does not subtract Delhi's free-power subsidy. Enter your own units and sanctioned load rather than the defaults; the defaults assume you use exactly what the system makes, which is the best case for the sum.

Subsidy and savings calculatorCity, capacity and your monthly units in; gross price, subsidy, net price, monthly saving and payback out, with every assumption printed under the result.Open the tool

Losses the glossy pages leave out

Dust and the monsoon. Dust settles on panels within days in the dry months, and July and August generate less than March or October. The calculator's 10% derate is an average across the year, so individual months will be above and below it. The monsoon and dust guide has the pattern month by month and what cleaning recovers.

Degradation. Panels lose a little output every year. The calculator's 25-year projections assume 0.7% a year, an editorial assumption; the panels on Verde Solaire's July 2025 price list carry 25-year performance warranties on all three panel types, which is the manufacturer's floor on that decline. The payback years above use year-one output, so they are slightly optimistic.

Charges that stay. The fixed charge is levied on your sanctioned load, not on what you consume, and solar does not touch it. In Delhi the surcharge and the PPAC apply to whatever is left of the bill. Solar does not make a bill zero; it removes most of the energy charge.

The inverter. Panels carry the long warranty; the inverter's is shorter, and it is the component most likely to be replaced within the life of the system. Ask for the inverter warranty in writing with the quote.

The wait for the meter. Until the net meter is in, exported units earn nothing. Delhi's rule since 16 July 2026 is a connection within 10 days for systems up to 10 kW; before it, Arun Sibal wrote of his New Delhi installation that "the only issue was the time taken in installing the net meter from BSES, which was actually not in control of Verde". Budget for the gap.

Maintenance and cleaning

An on-grid system has no moving parts and no battery. What it needs is regular cleaning in the dry months and an occasional look at the inverter display and the earthing. On a low, flat roof that is water and a soft mop; where the structure is elevated or the roof is high, a service visit is the safer choice. Verde Solaire's maintenance and cleaning service covers that, and the maintenance guide explains what you can do yourself and how often.

The longest-running published customer account is S. C. Garg's, of a system at his Greater Kailash home in New Delhi: "the solar system has been working continuously without a single day breakdown since 2017", and "my electricity bill has been low since then". One installation is not a statistic, but it is the kind of evidence a payback claim should come with.

When it is not worth it

• Your roof is shaded. A water tank, a neighbour's floor or a tree over the panels for part of the day takes a larger share of output than its shadow suggests. K. K. Sharma, in Chattarpur, wrote that he "was highly impressed with their shadow analysis process"; that analysis is part of the a free site evaluation and no-obligation proposal Verde Solaire offers, and it is the check to insist on before any quote.
• You rent. The subsidy goes to an Indian citizen who owns a house with a suitable roof, has a valid electricity connection and has not taken an earlier solar subsidy. A tenant pays the full price and leaves the system behind.
• You use very little. The scheme's own sizing guide is 0–150 units a month: 1–2 kW · 150–300 units: 2–3 kW · above 300 units: above 3 kW. At 150 units a month the calculator's Noida payback is 9.2 to 10.3 years for 3 kW, and in Delhi the free-power subsidy already covers the energy charge. A 1 or 2 kW system, or none, is the honest recommendation; the sizing guide works through it.
• You live in a flat without a roof right. An individual system needs a roof you are entitled to use. A housing society can apply for common facilities at ₹18,000 per kW; the builder floors and shared roofs guide and the housing societies page cover both routes.
• You want power during outages. An on-grid system switches off when the grid does, by design. If backup is the goal, rooftop solar or inverter battery compares the options, including hybrid.
• You are selling within the payback period. The system stays with the house, and the eligibility rule excludes anyone who has already taken a solar subsidy, so you would not receive it again at the next address.

Why the advertised saving never matches the bill

In the September 2026 study behind this site, a viewer of one installer's promotional video did the arithmetic on the monthly bill it claimed, decided it could not be right for the load described, and wrote, in one word, that it was fake. He had a point. Advertised savings are usually the whole bill; real savings are the part of the bill solar can reach. Four things separate the two.

1. Slabs are telescopic. Solar removes the dearest units first, so the first units it displaces save more than the last. A page that multiplies generation by the top slab rate overstates the saving for anyone who does not sit in that slab all year.
2. Fixed charges and surcharges remain. Neither state waives the fixed charge for solar homes, and Delhi's surcharge and PPAC are applied to it.
3. Delhi already pays part of the bill. For a home under 400 units the free-power subsidy is paying some or all of the energy charge, so the amount solar removes from what you actually pay is smaller.
4. The seasons do not line up. Generation peaks in the dry months and dips in the monsoon; consumption peaks in the summer. Net metering carries credits from month to month, but the summer bill is the one people compare, and it is never the best month for the sum.

Verde Solaire's own FAQ says homeowners typically reduce their power bills by 60–90%. The range is that wide because of the four points above, not because the arithmetic is uncertain. The test to apply to any installer, this one included, is to ask for the bill before and after from a named installation, and for a quote that shows the gross price, the subsidy and the net separately. The Delhi tariff and Noida tariff guides show how to read your own bill, and the bill calculator reproduces it line by line.

Assumptions and limits

• Prices are Verde Solaire's published July 2025 ranges; the written quote after a survey is the price.
• Generation uses the company's published planning yield of 1,450 units per kW a year for Delhi and 1,500 for Noida, less a 10% derate for dust and monsoon, and 0.7% a year degradation on long-run projections. All three are editorial assumptions, not measurements from your roof.
• Uttar Pradesh tariffs are from secondary summaries of the FY 2026-27 UPERC order. Delhi tariffs are the FY 2021-22 DERC schedule with the June 2026 BSES Rajdhani PPAC as reported; the calculator applies that PPAC to all three Delhi boards.
• Payback ignores loan interest, tariff escalation, cleaning, inverter replacement and Delhi's free-power subsidy. The 3.8 to 4.3 and 3.1 to 3.5 year figures assume the home uses what the system generates.
• Subsidy figures are as published by PIB and MNRE, the BSES Rajdhani FAQ of September 2025 and the UP Solar Energy Policy 2022. The scheme runs until 31 March 2027.

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