The Centre has tweaked the new ₹75,000-crore PM-Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojna (Prime Minister’s Rooftop Solar: Free Electricity Scheme). From an initial plan to fully subsidise the installation of 1-3 KW solar systems in one crore households via tie-ups with renewable energy service companies, the scheme will now only contribute up to 60% of the costs, The Hindu has learnt.
Households interested in availing the scheme’s benefits will have to fork out the balance amount and pay a minimum of ₹20,000 depending on the power capacity of the installed system though this could be defrayed by a low-interest, collateral-free loan. Only houses with a suitable roof and an existing connection to the grid will be eligible for the scheme and consumers still have to pay for all the net power supplied and consumed via the grid.
“The free component in this, is in the sense, that it will reduce your electricity bill. You will get a payback and that can range from three to seven years. Whatever capital cost [is invested by consumer] will be recovered in three to five years and after that it could mean even income,” Bhupinder Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the nodal body coordinating the scheme, told The Hindu on Friday. Through a system of net-metering, any solar power produced in a household and unused will flow back into the grid and will be offset in the household’s electricity bill. Depending on consumption patterns, this could even mean consumers earning money, though the general experience, the world over, shows a reduction in bills.
