Free solar calls and SMS: scam or genuine?
A call or text offering "free solar panels", a "PM Surya Ghar approval" that needs a fee, or a "last date" that is tomorrow is not from the scheme. The PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana does not give away panels. You pay the installer for the system, and the government then pays a fixed subsidy of up to ₹78,000 into your own bank account after commissioning, officially "within 30 days" of the claim; about 15 days on average. None of the nine official steps involves paying the government, nobody phones you to "release" the money, and nobody needs your one-time password (OTP).
Delhi's announced zero-cost scheme was approved by the Cabinet but has not yet been notified, and registration is not open. Here is what is real, what is not, and how to check any caller, including one who says they are from Verde Solaire.
What "free solar" actually means
The scheme's name promises free electricity, not free equipment. The subsidy is ₹30,000 per kW for the first 2 kW and ₹18,000 for the third, so ₹78,000 at 3 kW and nothing more above that. A 3 kW system on Verde Solaire's published list costs ₹1,99,000 to ₹2,10,000 before subsidy, so the subsidy is a large discount on a real price, not a gift. The money moves once, from the government to you, after the net meter is in. The money-flow page walks through every stage.
Delhi is the exception, so far only on paper. On 1 September 2026 the Delhi Cabinet approved up to 3 kW at zero upfront cost, "subject to technical feasibility" for households that averaged 400 units a month or less in FY 2025-26. On 16 September 2026 the notification had not been published and there was nothing to register for. Anyone offering to "book your slot" for a fee is selling something the government has not yet built. The zero-upfront explainer has the detail.
Genuine costs, and the fees that are not
Three kinds of money are real: the system price, paid to the installer against a written quote that names the make and model of every component; whatever your electricity board, the distribution company (DISCOM) named on your bill, charges for the net meter; and a loan, if you take one. In Delhi there is no application fee for domestic systems up to 10 kW since 16 July 2026 under the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) guidelines, and any meter or line charge is paid only to the board. For Uttar Pradesh no fee schedule is published, so ask your DISCOM for the figure in writing rather than paying what a caller quotes. The scheme's loan is collateral-free, from nationalised banks; a bank processes it, not the person who rang you.
Everything else is a red flag:
- A "processing", "registration" or "approval" fee for the subsidy. None of the nine official steps involves paying the government. A real approval shows on the portal when you log in, and costs nothing to see.
- A request for an OTP. The portal sends it to your mobile so that you log in as yourself. Anyone asking you to read it out is trying to act as you, on the portal or at your bank.
- A cash advance without a quote. Money before a survey or a written quote, in cash, or to a personal Unified Payments Interface (UPI) handle, is the pattern Saur Energy's July 2026 report on solar frauds calls the vanishing installer: a contractor collects an advance and disappears. Its advice is to stage payments against delivery and to check that the receiving account name matches the registered company.
- A deadline of days. The scheme runs until 31 March 2027. The short timelines belong to the electricity board, such as Delhi's 10 days for a connection up to 10 kW, and those work in your favour.
- A "government officer" asking for your bank details. You enter your bank details and a cancelled cheque on the portal yourself, at step eight, after commissioning.
How to verify any caller
The check uses only sources you control.
- Look the vendor up yourself. Under the scheme, the installer must be a vendor registered on the national portal, and you choose the vendor on pmsuryaghar.gov.in. The vendor lists are published per electricity board, and Delhi's solar portal links to each one. Registration can be withdrawn: in August 2026 the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) deactivated 66 vendors over pending applications, so check the live list, not last year's certificate.
- Log in to the portal on your own phone. Any application in your name is visible at pmsuryaghar.gov.in once you register with your consumer number and mobile number. If a caller says you are approved and the portal does not, the caller is wrong. An application you did not make means a vendor has used your details.
- Ask your electricity board, not the caller. Only the DISCOM on your bill inspects the system and installs the net meter. BSES Rajdhani's rooftop portal is rts.bsesdelhi.com (helpline 19123, extension 3); Tata Power-DDL publishes the net-metering application and manual on tatapower-ddl.com. The board guides cover PVVNL, NPCL and PUVVNL.
- Call the company back on a number you found yourself. Dial the number printed on the company's own website. Verde Solaire's numbers are on the contact page; a caller claiming to be us who will not let you hang up and call back is not us.
- Insist on paper before money. A genuine quote carries the company's name, its GST identification number (GSTIN), the make and model of the panels and inverter, the price before subsidy, the subsidy and the net figure. Verde Solaire's published GSTIN is GSTIN 09AAGCV4977Q1Z6, and any quote or invoice from us should match it. The advance checklist and the vendor verification guide have the detail.
What Verde Solaire will never ask for
Verde Solaire is a registered PM Surya Ghar vendor in both Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, so the portal, not a phone call, is where our name appears against your application. We offer a free site evaluation and no-obligation proposal, so nothing is paid before you have a written quote. We will never ask you for:
- an OTP, a portal password, a bank password, a card number or a UPI PIN;
- a fee to "approve", "register", "process" or "release" the subsidy, because there is none;
- cash, or a payment to an individual's account; every payment goes to the company account named on the quote;
- an advance before a survey and a written quote;
- your bank details before commissioning, because you enter them on the portal yourself.
What we do is register the application with you on the survey visit, install, file for the net meter with your electricity board, and follow the subsidy through to your account. Mr. L. R. Singh, a Noida customer, wrote that he "was also able to get solar subsidy in record time because of the follow up of the team of Verde Solaire".
If you have already paid someone
Stop further payments and keep the call log, the SMS and the receipt. Log in to the portal to see whether an application exists in your name and which vendor it names. If money has left your account, tell your bank the same day and report it on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. Then send us the details below; an engineer will tell you, without charge, whether what you were promised exists in the scheme.
Questions people ask
Start with a clear plan for your savings
Get a free roof assessment and a written quote for branded equipment. We will also explain the loan, installation, net-metering and subsidy steps.