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New Delhi: The Union government has approved Rs 75,021 crore for a rooftop solar scheme that promises households up to 300 units of free electricity every month.

PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana aims to install rooftop solar systems across one crore households by 2026-27. Union and state subsidies reduce the cost. A designated bank loan is intended to help households that cannot finance the installation independently. Apartment complexes can receive support for systems serving common facilities. A separate utility-led model is intended to cover underserved households.

On paper, then, the scheme contains multiple routes to participation.

But each route begins with conditions that India’s most energy-insecure urban households may not meet. A household needs to be recognised by the formal electricity system. It needs access to a suitable roof or another eligible space. It needs control over how that space is used. And it needs either money or access to formal credit for the remaining cost.

Across three neighbourhoods in Ghaziabad and Noida, these conditions create a ladder of access.

At the top are Vijay Nagar homeowners who possess all four and are receiving government support. In Khora, households have electricity connections but do not necessarily control a roof. In Unnati Vihar, families have roofs and already use solar, but lack the regular electricity connections required to enter the standard household scheme.

The irony is that as the households become more energy-insecure, the scheme becomes harder for them to access.

Who is receiving the subsidy?

In Vijay Nagar in Ghaziabad, the scheme’s presence is hard to miss. Advertisements for solar companies cover colony walls. Look up and panels sit on one rooftop after another.

Over a few weeks, The Wire conducted a door-to-door survey of approximately 24 Vijay Nagar households that had installed rooftop solar. Households were identified through visits across selected parts of the neighbourhood and snowball sampling, with residents and local vendors helping locate additional installations.

Rooftops across Vijaynagar in Ghaziabad are covered with solar panels under PM Surya Ghar. Photo: Author provided

The sample is not statistically representative of Vijay Nagar and its findings cannot be extrapolated to the entire area. But within the surveyed group, the pattern was consistent and was independently echoed by the local ward councillor and multiple solar vendors operating in the area.

The households interviewed shared a strikingly consistent profile. All were property owners living in independent houses, largely three storeys or higher. Their homes generally had multiple fans and appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines. None lived in a flat or an apartment building where the rooftop was controlled collectively.

Every household surveyed had installed at least 3 kW of rooftop solar. Under PM Surya Ghar, a household installing a 3 kW system can receive a maximum central subsidy of Rs 78,000. In Uttar Pradesh, the state government under UP Solar Energy Policy 2022 provides another Rs 15,000 per kW, capped at Rs 30,000 per consumer. A household installing a 3 kW system in Ghaziabad can therefore receive up to Rs 1.08 lakh in combined central and state support.

Several households surveyed said they had received both subsidies. The assistance, however, is capped at 3 kW. A household installing a 5 kW system remains eligible for the same maximum amount of Rs 1.08 lakh.

Government support was reaching households in Vijay Nagar. Their electricity bills had also fallen substantially. But it was reaching households that had already crossed several thresholds before the subsidy entered the picture.

They owned their homes. They controlled an independent rooftop. They had regular electricity connections. And they could........

© The Wire