No need to pay the full price
Do you know that if you are planning to install a rooftop solar plant, you are eligible for a huge subsidy from the government? For rooftop solar plants under 3KW, the subsidy is meant to be 30% and if the capacity is above 3KW, the subsidy will be 20%. The consumer needs to pay only the post-subsidy amount at the moment.
How to claim financial support?
Currently, the choice of consumers is limited to the empanelled companies approved by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). Consumers can choose any of them and pay the amount after deducting the subsidy.
Procedural Roadblocks
Due to certain aspects of the flow of money through government channels, it is often seen that companies are facing delays in acquiring this deducted amount from respected sources and are facing financial difficulties due to this backlog.
This bottleneck in the release of funds is said to be affecting the quality of the components installed on consumer premises and hence are causing serious quality issues which consumers are not happy with. Considering that the companies are forced to bear 30% discount for a long period has seriously affected their financial status and have carried over to the after-sales support facilities provided to the end customer.
The Central Government Policy
According to Central Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman, an amount of ₹19,500 crores is allotted for this purpose. India aims to achieve “ net-zero “ carbon emissions by 2070, according to the statement by the Prime Minister in Glasgow COP last November.
According to various reports, the Government of India aims to achieve a 5 lakh MW non-fossil energy capacity by 2030 which is expected to meet half of our energy requirements. India and the US have agreed to work together to achieve this goal in the aspect of the ever-rising threat of global climate change.
This change in policy at the apex level is surely a huge boost to the already thriving solar sector in Kerala.
What is new?
Based on a document by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, modifications have been brought to simplify the Rooftop Solar programme. The document, dated 2nd February 2022 says that consumers are free to install rooftop solar plants by themselves or any vendor of their choice. This will however never bar them from receiving the eligible subsidy.
The household beneficiary now needs to apply at a national portal along with the bank account details to which they intend to receive the subsidy amount. There will be a similar portal at the level of DISCOMs and both of them will be linked. The application will now be forwarded to the concerned DISCOM for technical feasibility approval within the next 15 working days. After this process, the application will also be listed in the DISCOM portal. Once technical feasibility is obtained, consumers can install the plant from any vendor of their choice as long they meet the standards set by the competent authority.
Once the consumer commissions the plant within a specified time period, they can apply for the net metering through the national portal. This application will be forwarded to KSEB so that excess electricity produced by the solar plant can be acquired by them. After installing the net meter and through all the procedures, KSEB will release the subsidy amount to the consumer’s bank account.
