Mumbai, Aug. 3 -- The government told Parliament that about 1.89 million (mn) households have reported receiving zero electricity bills after installing rooftop solar systems under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. Distribution companies reported the zero bills depending on consumers' self-consumption of electricity during a billing period, the ministry said.
Maharashtra recorded the largest number of beneficiaries with 417,707 consumers reporting zero bills, followed by Kerala with 191,882 and Gujarat with more than 416,000 consumers across its distribution companies. Uttar Pradesh accounted for over 175,000 beneficiaries, Rajasthan for more than 168,000 and Madhya Pradesh for over 110,000. Smaller counts included around 37,678 in Odisha and 16,472 in Chhattisgarh.
The ministry stated the scheme has so far led to the installation of 4.01 million (mn) rooftop solar systems, benefiting 4.82 million (mn) households across the country as on July 24, 2026. Of these, more than 3.60 million systems were in the above three kilowatt (kW) category, which accounted for the largest share of installations. The ministry added that while completing installations for the first 100,000 households initially took several months, the same number is now being achieved in around seven days.
To accelerate implementation and reach the target of installing 10 million (mn) households by FY2026-27, the ministry said it has simplified approvals by waiving technical feasibility requirements in certain cases and introduced auto load enhancement up to 10 kW. Additional measures include integrating the net metering agreement into the National Portal, enabling collateral-free concessional loans, expanding vendor registration and strengthening coordination with state distribution companies. Regular monitoring, regional review meetings, awareness campaigns and a dedicated grievance redressal mechanism were cited as supporting faster rollout.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.