Delhi zero-upfront solar: approved, not live
The Delhi Cabinet approved a zero-upfront rooftop solar scheme on 1 September 2026, and it has not yet been notified. As announced, it offers up to 3 kW at zero upfront cost, "subject to technical feasibility" to households that averaged 400 units a month or less in FY 2025-26. Until the notification and its rules are published, the subsidy a Delhi home can actually claim is the current one: ₹26,000 per kW, capped at ₹78,000 (3 kW), on top of the central ₹78,000 under PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.
This page keeps the two apart: what the Cabinet approved, what is in force, who the announcement leaves out, and what a household under 400 units should do while it waits.
Approved is not the same as notified
A Cabinet approval is a decision to amend the Delhi Solar Energy Policy. The amendment takes effect when the department issues it as a notification with operating rules, and when the portal and the electricity boards begin accepting applications. The scheme exists in press coverage, but official rules and an application route have not yet been published. Until they are, the subsidy a Delhi home can actually claim is the existing one.
The policy being amended runs 14 March 2024 to 13 March 2027, and the central scheme it sits on ends 31 March 2027. Both dates matter for the waiting decision further down.
What was announced on 1 September 2026
The Cabinet approved six elements for the new scheme.
Who. households that averaged 400 units a month or less in FY 2025-26. The test is an average over a whole financial year, not a single summer bill.
What. up to 3 kW at zero upfront cost, "subject to technical feasibility". "Subject to technical feasibility" means a roof, a connection or a transformer can still rule a home out.
How much. ₹78,000 from Delhi on top of the central ₹78,000, plus a top-up to the tendered plant cost. The reports do not explain what the "tendered plant cost" is, who sets it, or who chooses the installer.
Maintenance. free operation and maintenance for 5 years. Who provides it, and what happens in year six, is not stated.
Target. a target of 2.30 lakh rooftops and 500 MW by March 2027.
The free-power subsidy. households that install solar keep Delhi's free-power subsidy.
Read together, the announcement answers the three objections households raise most often: paying upfront, waiting for the incentive, and worrying about upkeep. What it does not yet do is tell anyone how to apply.
What is still open
The first question matters because it changes the arithmetic: if the state contribution replaces the current per-kW subsidy, the household gains one amount; if it adds to it, the state is paying more. The last question matters because a plant described as zero upfront, with a net-meter or line charge sitting outside the subsidy, is not zero.
What applies in Delhi today
The notified rules are the current Delhi capital-subsidy amendment plus the central scheme. A home that installs now gets the central subsidy of ₹78,000 for 3 kW or more, the Delhi capital subsidy of ₹26,000 per kW capped at ₹78,000 (3 kW), and a generation-based incentive (GBI) of ₹3 per unit for systems up to 3 kW, paid for 5 years from commissioning, paid monthly against the bill; any excess to the bank account.
On Verde Solaire's published price list a 3 kW system costs ₹1,99,000 to ₹2,10,000 and nets to ₹43,000 to ₹54,000 after the combined ₹1,56,000 subsidy. It generates about 326 units a month on the planning yield this site uses, and the GBI on that comes to ₹58,725 over the five years. You pay the installer; the subsidy is paid into your bank account after commissioning. The route is subsidised systems: apply on the PM Surya Ghar portal and claim the Delhi subsidy and GBI on solar.delhi.gov.in; unsubsidised systems: the DISCOM portal. The Delhi subsidy page lists the documents, and the 3 kW Delhi price page works the figures through.
Who the announcement does not cover
Homes above 400 units a month. The reported eligibility line is an average of 400 units in FY 2025-26. A home running two or three air conditioners through the summer often averages more than that across the year. For those households nothing has changed: the paid route above is the one that applies.
Systems above 3 kW. The offer stops at 3 kW. A home that needs 5 kW can still take the central and state subsidy on the first 3 kW, at the same rupee amounts, and pays for the rest; the GBI steps down to ₹2 per unit above 3 kW.
Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and the rest of Uttar Pradesh. This is a Delhi state decision. Uttar Pradesh pays ₹15,000 per kW, capped at ₹30,000 per consumer, on top of the central subsidy, so a 3 kW system in Noida nets to ₹91,000 to ₹1,02,000; there is no generation incentive and no zero-upfront route. The Noida price page has the full table.
Households outside the central test. The central scheme requires an Indian citizen who owns a house with a suitable roof, has a valid electricity connection and has not taken an earlier solar subsidy. Whether the Delhi scheme adopts the same conditions, or its own, is not published.
The 200 free units
Delhi's free-power subsidy is 0–200 units a month free; 201–400 units at 50% off, capped at ₹800 a month; you must opt in. It is worked out on net units, that is import minus export, so a solar home is measured on what it draws from the grid after its own generation is netted off, not on what it consumes. Coverage of the Cabinet decision said households that install solar keep the subsidy.
Two things follow. First, a home already under 200 net units pays almost no energy charge, so a paid solar system saves it less than the tariff suggests; that is precisely the household the state is now offering to pay for. Second, the subsidy is opt-in, and in August 2026 the government was reported to be considering an opt-out option as well, so its design was in motion at the same time as the solar amendment. The FY 2026-27 state budget carries the subsidy as its own line. The bill calculator shows the energy charge, the fixed charge and the surcharges separately, which is the only way to see what solar actually removes.
Should you wait, or install now?
There is no answer that fits every home, so here is the reasoning.
If you average more than 400 units, or need more than 3 kW, the announcement does not reach you. Waiting gains nothing and costs the generation of every month you wait. The central subsidy is official until 31 March 2027.
If you average 400 units or less and want 3 kW or less, you are the household the scheme is for, and the case for waiting is real. Against it: no rules, no timeline, no application route, and a target that trade press already doubts can be met. Nobody can tell you today whether a system installed under the current subsidy would later be counted in, or excluded from, the zero-upfront scheme. The central rule already excludes anyone who has taken an earlier solar subsidy, and the Delhi rules are unwritten. An installer who promises otherwise is guessing.
What waiting costs you. A 3 kW system generates about 326 units a month. Every month without it is a month of buying those units from the grid at the tariff, and a month of GBI not earned. Whether that outweighs the state contribution depends on how long the notification takes, which nobody has published.
What not to do. Do not pay anyone an advance to book a zero-upfront system. There is nothing to book. A call or message offering to enrol you in Delhi's free solar scheme is offering something that does not yet exist; the free-solar call page sets out what a genuine process looks like.
What to do now
- Register on the national portal. Registration on pmsuryaghar.gov.in is the first step of every subsidised system in Delhi today, and the Delhi subsidy and GBI are then claimed on solar.delhi.gov.in. It commits you to nothing, and the net-metering application for a domestic system up to 10 kW carries no application fee.
- Get your twelve months of bills together. The 400-unit test is a financial-year average. Add up April 2025 to March 2026 and divide by twelve; that number decides which side of the line you are on.
- Get a survey. Verde Solaire offers a free site evaluation and no-obligation proposal, and is a registered PM Surya Ghar vendor in both Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. A survey tells you whether the roof is feasible at all, which matters under either route.
- Keep the option open. Ask for a written quote that shows the gross price, each subsidy and the net payable on separate lines, and that states in writing what the zero-upfront scheme's status is on the date of the quote. If you decide to wait, you have the survey and the figures ready for the day the rules appear.
Questions people ask
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