3 kW solar system: price, subsidy, savings

A 3 kW rooftop solar system costs ₹1,99,000 to ₹2,10,000 on Verde Solaire's published price list, before subsidy. After the ₹78,000 central subsidy and the ₹30,000 state top-up it comes to ₹91,000 to ₹1,02,000 in Noida and ₹91,000 to ₹1,02,000 in Delhi, and Delhi then pays a generation-based incentive (GBI) of ₹3 per unit for five years on top. The system generates about 338 units a month in Noida and about 326 units a month in Delhi on this site's planning assumptions, against a published figure of 360 to 400 units a month, from six panels on 300 to 350 square feet of shadow-free roof.

3 kW is the size Verde Solaire's price posts recommend for a home with two to four air conditioners, and the largest system that collects the full central subsidy, so the subsidy covers roughly half the price. This page covers the price, the subsidy, panels and roof area, the units, and what happens to the bill in Delhi and in Uttar Pradesh; the city pages apply the same figures to each electricity board.

Why 3 kW is the subsidy sweet spot

PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana pays ₹30,000 per kW for the first 2 kW and ₹18,000 for the third, and nothing above that, so the central subsidy stops at ₹78,000. A 5 kW system collects the same amount against a much higher price, so the net cost per kW rises past 3 kW.

The state top-ups stop at the same point. Delhi pays ₹10,000 per kW, capped at ₹30,000 (3 kW). Uttar Pradesh pays ₹15,000 per kW, capped at ₹30,000 per consumer, on top of the central subsidy. Both caps are reached by 3 kW, so the combined subsidy is ₹1,08,000 in either state and the net price in the table above is the same in all five cities. What differs is what comes afterwards: Delhi's GBI, the tariff you save against, and the electricity board that installs the net meter.

Not yet official. Confirmed by news reports in September 2026; UPNEDA's site did not load when we checked, so there is no official 2026 confirmation.

Delhi gives 3 kW one more advantage. Its generation-based incentive is ₹3 per unit for homes up to 3 kW and ₹2 per unit above that, for 5 years from commissioning, paid monthly against the bill; any excess to the bank account. On this site's generation estimate that is ₹11,745 a year, or ₹58,725 over the five years. Rules and where to claim: Delhi subsidy and Uttar Pradesh subsidy.

What you get for the money

Verde Solaire's July 2025 price posts describe the same 3 kW package in Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad: panels, inverter, mounting structure, net metering, installation and warranty, with 25-year performance warranties on all three panel types. Modules on the company's recent Noida and Delhi installations were 530 to 545 Wp, so a 3 kW system today is six panels of about 540 Wp on a 3 kW on-grid inverter, needing the 300 to 350 square feet of shadow-free roof the company publishes for this capacity.

The written quote states which structure is priced, since an elevated frame like the one in the photo uses more steel than a flush one. The published price is for an on-grid system without a battery; hybrid systems are quoted per site, and rooftop solar or inverter battery explains when one is worth it.

Two compliance points decide whether the subsidy is paid at all: for a subsidised system, both the modules and the cells must be made in India, and from 1 June 2026 the cells must also appear on ALMM List-II. GST on solar equipment is 5% (since 22 September 2025, down from 12%), shown as its own line on the quote. Ask for the make and model of the panels and the inverter in writing, and check them on panels, inverters and batteries.

How many units a 3 kW system generates

Verde Solaire's published planning figure for Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad is 360 to 400 units a month. This site's calculator is more conservative: it takes the company's planning yield of 1,500 units per kW a year for Noida and 1,450 for Delhi, removes 10% for dust and the monsoon, and arrives at about 338 units a month in Noida and about 326 units a month in Delhi, roughly 11 to 13 units a day across the year.

Across the year matters. April to June produce well above the average, July to September lose output to cloud, and December and January to fog and short days, so a monsoon bill shows fewer solar units than a May bill. Net metering evens it out: 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; 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. Monsoon and dust generation in NCR has the month-by-month shape.

When we put this question to five AI answer engines in September 2026, their monthly averages for the same 3 kW system ran from about 300 to 450 units, because each paired a different rule of thumb with a different loss figure. ^{[study-2026-09]} Plan on a figure that states its yield and its derate, then check it against your generation meter after the first summer.

Who this size suits, and who should size up or down

The company's published guide fits 3 kW to a home with two to four air conditioners using 200 to 400 units a month, and the PM Surya Ghar guide is similar: 0–150 units a month: 1–2 kW · 150–300 units: 2–3 kW · above 300 units: above 3 kW. A household averaging around 300 units a month is fully covered, one around 400 units largely, and one that regularly bills 450 units or more should look at 5 kW.

Use the average of twelve bills, not the summer peak; with net metering, the May surplus pays for the December shortfall. Two other limits matter: the system cannot exceed the sanctioned load on your connection without a load increase, and a water tank or a neighbour's wall shading the array at midday costs more than a smaller system would. The system-size calculator turns your units or bill amount into a size, panel count and roof area, and what size solar system do I need works through examples.

3 kW or 5 kW sets the two most common sizes side by side, the 5 kW page has the full figures, and homes using under 150 units a month are better served by the 2 kW page.

What happens to the bill in Delhi

Delhi's domestic tariff is telescopic, so solar removes imports from the top slabs first and the saving per unit is higher than the bill's average rate. What does not disappear is the fixed charge, ₹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 on the DERC schedule, or the surcharges that ride on it. Delhi's free-power subsidy, for households that opt into it, is worked out on net units, that is import minus export, so a home that nets under 200 units keeps it. On top of the energy saving comes the GBI, credited monthly for five years.

The net meter comes from BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna or Tata Power-DDL, and DERC's 2026 guidelines give the DISCOM 10 days to connect a system up to 10 kW, with no application fee for domestic consumers; the Delhi net-metering page has the process and the documents.

What happens to the bill in Uttar Pradesh

Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Varanasi have no GBI, so the whole saving is on the energy charge, which is also telescopic. The fixed charge of ₹110 per kW per month stays. The bill calculator applies the slab rates to your own units and sanctioned load.

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

Which board installs the net meter is what AI answers most often get wrong here. Noida city is served by PVVNL (Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, a UPPCL company), Greater Noida and Greater Noida West by NPCL (Noida Power Company Limited), Ghaziabad by PVVNL as well, and Varanasi by PUVVNL. The name on your bill settles it, and each city page gives that board's process.

Not yet official. From a secondary source; confirm against your electricity bill.

Paying for it

Verde Solaire's July 2025 posts put the payback on a subsidised 3 kW system at about three years; the calculator on this page, with its 10% derate and today's slabs, lands a little later. The PM Surya Ghar loan is collateral-free, from nationalised banks, at repo rate plus 0.5 percentage points, which was 5.75% on 28 July 2026, over 10 years. On the mid-point of the 3 kW net price the EMI is close to the monthly saving. The EMI calculator takes any rate and tenure, and the solar loan page lists the banks. The subsidy is paid into your bank account after commissioning whether or not you took a loan; who pays whom has the sequence.

What AI answers and other pages get wrong about 3 kW

Three errors recur in the answers we tested, and each changes the figure.

• Delhi's state subsidy is ₹30,000 (3 kW), not a second amount the size of the central one. Answers that arrive at a near-zero price are borrowing from the zero-upfront scheme, up to 3 kW at zero upfront cost, "subject to technical feasibility", which was Cabinet-approved on 1 September 2026 and had not been notified when we checked.
• The central subsidy is a total, not a rate. ₹78,000 is the cap for 3 kW and above; it is not per kW, and percentage-of-cost figures come from schemes that closed before 2024.
• Old finance figures. Answers still quote the loan at around 7% (February 2024 figure, superseded); it is 5.75%. GST is 5% (since 22 September 2025, down from 12%). The scheme runs to 31 March 2027, not to March 2026.

Not yet official. Cabinet-approved on 1 September 2026 and reported by the press; the notification and operating rules had not been published when we checked on 16 September 2026. The official Delhi portal still shows the July 2025 figures.

What AI answers get wrong has the full list with sources.

The same 3 kW, city by city

The net price is the same in every city; the board, the tariff and the incentive are not. Noida and Ghaziabad are on PVVNL, Greater Noida is on NPCL, Varanasi is on PUVVNL, and Delhi is on one of three DISCOMs with the GBI on top. The city-specific pages, 3 kW in Delhi and 3 kW in Noida, go deeper on each.

Assumptions and limits

• Prices are Verde Solaire's published July 2025 ranges for 3 kW; the written quote after a site survey is the price.
• Central subsidy per PIB (29 February 2024) and the BSES FAQ (September 2025); Delhi subsidy per the Delhi Solar Portal, checked 18 September 2026; Uttar Pradesh subsidy per the UP Solar Energy Policy 2022, continuation confirmed by September 2026 news reports.
• Generation uses the company's planning yield of 1,500 units per kW a year for Noida and 1,450 for Delhi, with a 10% derate; the published 360 to 400 units a month carries no derate. Panel count assumes 540 Wp modules.
• AI answers were collected on 16 and 17 September 2026 across five engines, asked from Delhi and Noida. ^{[study-2026-09]}
• Scheme end date 31 March 2027; ALMM List-II applies from 1 June 2026.