Net metering in Maharashtra: how it actually works

July 2026 · 7 min read

Net metering is the mechanism that makes rooftop solar work for a business that cannot consume every unit it generates at the moment it is generated. It is also the part of the process buyers understand least, and where vendors are vaguest.

Here is the shape of it.

Three arrangements, often confused

The words get used interchangeably in sales conversations. They should not be.

• Net metering — a bidirectional meter records what you import and what you export. You are billed on the net. A unit exported effectively offsets a unit imported, which is the most favourable arrangement for most self-consuming C&I sites.
• Gross metering — everything your system generates goes to the grid at a set rate, and you keep buying all your consumption at your normal tariff. The two flows are separate transactions.
• Net billing — you consume what you can on site, and exported surplus is credited at a rate that is not the same as your import tariff, usually lower.

Which arrangement is available to you depends on the operative regulation and your consumer category, and it changes the financial case substantially. If a proposal does not state which one it assumes, that is the first question to ask.

What the approval process looks like

The sequence for a commercial rooftop system in Maharashtra runs broadly as follows. Your distribution licensee — MSEDCL for most of the state, with separate licensees in parts of Mumbai — administers it.

1. Application to the distribution licensee, with your consumer details, proposed capacity and system particulars.
2. Feasibility review. The licensee assesses whether your proposed capacity can be accommodated on the distribution transformer serving you. This is a genuine technical constraint, not a formality — a transformer already carrying significant solar can limit what is sanctioned.
3. Technical sanction confirming the approved capacity and interconnection arrangement.
4. Installation to the applicable standards, with the protection and interconnection scheme as sanctioned.
5. Statutory electrical inspection. Higher-voltage and larger installations require clearance from the electrical inspectorate before energisation.
6. Meter replacement and commissioning. Your existing meter is exchanged for a bidirectional one and the system is formally energised.

Timelines vary by circle, by season and by how complete your application was on submission. Anyone quoting you a guaranteed number of days for a DISCOM process is guessing.

The number we are not going to print

There is a cap on the capacity you may connect under net metering. We are not publishing it here.

That is deliberate. The operative figure has been revised in recent regulation, and the difference between the old ceiling and the current one is large enough to change a system design. Publishing a number we have not re-verified against the operative order would be worse than publishing nothing — you might size against it.

What we can tell you plainly: the 50 kW to 1 MW range we work in qualifies under either the historical ceiling or the revised one, so for our segment this is a question about your site and your sanctioned load, not about hitting a regulatory limit. We confirm the current figure against the operative regulation before it informs any design.

What actually constrains your system

In practice, three things decide approved capacity more often than the regulatory ceiling does.

Your sanctioned load. Rooftop systems are generally sized in relation to your sanctioned or contract demand. If your sanctioned load is modest relative to your roof — common in warehousing — that, not roof area, is your binding constraint. Enhancing sanctioned load is possible but is its own application.

Transformer capacity. The distribution transformer feeding you has a finite ability to absorb solar. If neighbouring consumers have already connected, your feasibility outcome may differ from an identical site elsewhere.

Your own consumption pattern. Even with generous export terms, units consumed on site are worth more than units exported under most arrangements. A system sized well beyond your daytime load is optimising for the wrong thing.

What to have ready before applying

• Recent electricity bills — twelve months if you have them, two at minimum.
• Your consumer number, tariff category and sanctioned or contract demand.
• Proof of premises ownership, or landlord consent if you lease.
• A single-line diagram of your existing electrical installation, if one exists.
• Roof drawings or a structural assessment, particularly on older sheds.

The bills matter most. They carry your tariff category, sanctioned demand, recorded maximum demand and consumption pattern — four of the five things that determine whether this works. We wrote a separate piece on reading them.

Who does the paperwork

This is worth settling before you sign anything. Some vendors install and hand you a folder. We handle the application, the liaison and the inspection coordination as part of the job, because a system that is built but not energised is not an asset — it is a roof ornament with an invoice attached.

Ask any vendor you are evaluating the same question, and get the answer in writing.

This describes the general shape of the process for commercial rooftop systems in Maharashtra. Specific requirements, capacity limits and settlement terms are set by the operative MERC regulation and your distribution licensee, and they change. We verify against the current order before it informs a design, and nothing here is a substitute for that. Tariff and regulatory content on this site is re-verified every April.