Solar panel myths: cost, batteries, monsoon

Most of what stops a homeowner in Delhi or Noida from putting panels on the roof is a belief that was true once, or was never true. A 3 kW rooftop system costs ₹1,99,000 to ₹2,10,000 on Verde Solaire's published July 2025 list and ₹91,000 to ₹1,02,000 after the central and state subsidy; GST on the equipment is 5% (since 22 September 2025, down from 12%); an on-grid system needs no battery; and panels keep generating through the monsoon, at reduced output. Eight myths follow, each with the current fact and the source it comes from.

Verde Solaire published a first version of this page in May 2025. ^[vs-myths] Since then the GST rate has been cut, Delhi has raised its subsidy and approved a further scheme, and a new family of myths has grown up around the subsidy itself, so every figure below was re-checked on 16 September 2026 against the documents on the sources page.

Myth: solar panels are too expensive

Fact. The published price of a 3 kW on-grid system is ₹1,99,000 to ₹2,10,000, and that includes the panels, inverter, mounting structure, net metering, installation and warranty. ^{[vs-post-142]} The PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana pays ₹78,000 on a 3 kW home system, and the state adds ₹30,000 per consumer, on top of the central subsidy in Uttar Pradesh or ₹30,000 (3 kW) in Delhi. ^{[1] [4]} The net payable is therefore ₹91,000 to ₹1,02,000 in Noida, Ghaziabad or Varanasi and ₹91,000 to ₹1,02,000 in Delhi.

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. ^[2] If the net figure is still more than you want to pay at once, the scheme's loan is collateral-free, from nationalised banks, at 5.75% on 28 July 2026, over 10 years. ^[3] Verde Solaire's 2025 page put the payback at three to five years; the calculator below works it out for your city, size and bill instead of for an average home.

Two things to hold on to. The prices are July 2025 ranges, so the written quote after a survey is the price. And you pay the installer the full amount; the subsidy is paid into your bank account after commissioning, "within 30 days" of the claim; about 15 days on average. ^[2] Every size and city is on the pricing pages.

Solar calculatorGross price, subsidy, net payable, monthly units and payback for your city and size, with every assumption shown.Open the tool

Myth: the subsidy is paid per kW, whatever the size

Fact. The central subsidy is ₹30,000 per kW for the first 2 kW and ₹18,000 for the third kW, and nothing beyond that. ^{[1] [4]} So ₹78,000 is a total cap, not a rate: a 5 kW or 10 kW home system receives the same ₹78,000 as a 3 kW one. The state top-ups are per kW but capped as well. Uttar Pradesh pays ₹15,000 per kW, capped at ₹30,000 per consumer, on top of the central subsidy; Delhi pays ₹10,000 per kW, capped at ₹30,000 (3 kW). ^{[16] [5]}

This is why the net cost per kW climbs above 3 kW, and why the scheme's own sizing guide reads 0–150 units a month: 1–2 kW · 150–300 units: 2–3 kW · above 300 units: above 3 kW. Bigger is not always better value; the subsidy guide has the full ladder and the 3 kW versus 5 kW guide does the comparison.

Myth: PM Surya Ghar gives 300 free units a month

Fact. The scheme has no free-units allowance. The 300 units in its publicity is what the Centre expects a roughly 3 kW system to generate in a month; the electricity is yours because your roof made it, not because anyone credits it to you. ^[1] On the published planning yield a 3 kW system in Noida generates about 338 units a month.

The confusion comes from Delhi, where a separate state subsidy gives 0–200 units a month free; 201–400 units at 50% off, capped at ₹800 a month; you must opt in. ^[26] That subsidy exists whether or not you have solar, and once you do, it is worked out on net units, that is import minus export. ^[4] The two are different schemes with different rules, and neither is "300 free units".

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

Myth: GST on solar panels is 12%

Fact. GST on solar cells, modules and solar power devices is 5% (since 22 September 2025, down from 12%). ^[29] Quotes and AI answers still carry the old rate, and some carry a blended "effective" rate built on it, which is why a 2024 quote and a 2026 quote for the same system do not match line by line. A quote dated after 22 September 2025 that shows the old rate on the modules is out of date; ask for it to be reissued before you compare it with anyone else's.

Myth: solar does not work in cloudy weather, the monsoon or winter

Fact. Panels generate from daylight, not from heat, so an overcast day still produces, just less. Output is lower in the monsoon months and on short winter days and higher in the clear months before the rains, and the annual total is what your bill sees, because net metering carries the surplus forward. In Delhi, 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. ^{[4] [9]} In 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] [20]} An April surplus pays for a July shortfall.

The planning figures on this site already allow for the weather. Verde Solaire's published yield is 1,450 units per kW a year in Delhi and 1,500 in Noida, ^{[vs-ci-delhi] [vs-ci-noida]} and every calculator here takes a further 10% off for dust and the monsoon. That 10% is our planning assumption, printed under every result, not a measurement. Rain also washes off the dust that cuts output for the rest of the year. What we do not publish is a monsoon-only generation figure, because it changes from year to year; the monsoon and dust guide goes month by month through what to expect in Delhi NCR.

Myth: you need a battery

Fact. An on-grid system, which is what the subsidy is built around, uses the grid as its store. Surplus goes out through the net meter by day, you draw from the grid at night, and the meter nets the two. No battery is involved. Verde Solaire's 2025 page said the same thing: batteries are for off-grid sites without a reliable supply. ^[vs-myths]

What a battery does give you is backup during a power cut. An on-grid inverter switches itself off when the grid fails, by design, so that it never feeds a line someone is repairing; if you want the lights and a fan to stay on through an outage, you need a hybrid system with a battery, at a higher price, and the battery will need replacing within the life of the panels. Rooftop solar or an inverter battery compares the two for a Delhi or Noida home, and the off-grid and hybrid page covers sites where the grid itself is the problem.

Myth: maintenance is a headache

Fact. A rooftop system has no moving parts and burns no fuel. The routine is cleaning the panels and glancing at the inverter display or app. Verde Solaire's 2025 page put the cleaning at once or twice a month, ^[vs-myths] which means more often in the dry, dusty months and less in the monsoon, when the rain does part of the job. The panels on the company's July 2025 price lists carried 25-year performance warranties on all three panel types. ^{[vs-post-143]}

One New Delhi customer, Mr. S. C. Garg, whose system went in when the company still traded as Sirius Electric, wrote that "the solar system has been working continuously without a single day breakdown since 2017" and that the plant "is maintenance free". ^{[vs-testimonials-1]} That is one roof, not a guarantee. The honest version of this myth is that a system needs a little attention, not none: dust, bird droppings and a tripped breaker are not warranty matters. What after-sales cover is included, and for how many years, should be written into the quote, and the maintenance and cleaning guide lists what to ask for.

Myth: the savings are small

Fact. Verde Solaire's published claim is that homeowners typically reduce their power bills by 60–90%, ^[vs-faq] and the arithmetic is not complicated. A 3 kW system generates about 338 units a month, and the energy charge on every unit it covers disappears from the bill. In Delhi a home up to 3 kW also earns a generation-based incentive (GBI) of ₹3 per unit, paid for 5 years from commissioning, paid monthly against the bill; any excess to the bank account, which is ₹11,745 a year on the same planning yield. ^{[4] [5]}

The myth on the other side is "zero bill". The fixed charge stays, ₹110 per kW per month in Uttar Pradesh and a per-kW charge on the sanctioned load in Delhi, plus whatever the system did not cover. ^[22] The 2025 page carried a worked example for a typical bill; this page does not repeat it, because the right answer depends on your slab, your board and your sanctioned load. The bill calculator applies your units to the current schedule and shows the bill before and after.

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

The real disadvantages

A page that only busts myths is a sales page. These are the limits that are true, so that you can weigh them.

• Roof. About 300 to 350 square feet of shadow-free roof for 3 kW, as published, and the right to use it, which on a builder floor is a question for the shared-roof guide. ^{[vs-post-138]}
• Power cuts. An on-grid system switches off with the grid. Backup costs extra.
• Weather. Lower output in the monsoon and in winter, averaged out by net metering but not erased.
• Cash flow. You pay the installer first; the subsidy follows, "within 30 days" of the claim; about 15 days on average. ^[2]
• The board's timeline. The net meter is the electricity board's job, and customers have written about it. Navin Verma in Janakpuri noted that the net-metering process was delayed by the board, and Arun Sibal wrote that "The only issue was the time taken in installing the net meter from BSES". ^{[vs-testimonials-1] [vs-testimonials-2]} Delhi now sets a connection deadline of 10 days for systems up to 10 kW. ^[13]
• Equipment rules. For a subsidised system, both the modules and the cells must be made in India, and from 1 June 2026 the cells must be on the ALMM List-II, which narrows the choice of panel. ^{[4] [27]}
• The clock. The scheme runs until 31 March 2027. ^[27]

Why the myths persist

The rules moved: GST in September 2025, Delhi's subsidy in July 2025 and again in the Cabinet decision of 1 September 2026, ALMM List-II in June 2026, the loan rate in July 2026. Most pages on the web, including the 2025 version of this one, were written before at least one of those changes, and AI assistants summarise what they find; in our September 2026 check of AI answers about solar in Delhi and Noida, the old GST rate was among the errors the assistants repeated. What AI answers get wrong lists the thirteen most common, each with the current rule and its source.

Sources and dates

• Policy figures as they stood on 16 September 2026: the PIB Cabinet release of 29 February 2024, the BSES Rajdhani FAQ of September 2025, the Delhi Solar Portal, the UP Solar Energy Policy 2022 and the MNRE Rajya Sabha reply of 28 July 2026. GST from pv magazine India, 4 September 2025. Delhi's free-power subsidy and the Uttar Pradesh fixed charge come from press and secondary reports only, and are marked as such above.
• Prices, yield and roof area are Verde Solaire's own July 2025 posts and its 2023 savings pages; the written quote is the price.
• The savings claim and the 25-year panel warranty are the company's published FAQ and price posts. Customer words are verbatim from the testimonials pages.
• This page replaces the company's May 2025 myths page, whose 3 kW figures are unchanged and whose bill example is retired.

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