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Rooftop solar in Himachal Pradesh: up to ₹85,800 from the Centre, and what HPSEBL pays for the units you don’t use

What a home in Shimla, Mandi, Solan, Dharamshala, Hamirpur, Kullu or Una can claim today, how HPERC’s yearly settlement works, and why a bigger system rarely pays in Himachal.

Last updated: 31 October 2026 · Luminity

Himachal Pradesh is one of the special-category states under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, along with Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, the North East, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep. That means the Centre pays ₹33,000 per kW instead of ₹30,000, and a 3 kW system qualifies for up to ₹85,800.

The state’s rules for what happens after installation are different from most of India. The Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (HPERC) does not pay for surplus every month. Exported units are carried forward from bill to bill, and only the units left over at the end of a yearly settlement period are bought by the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd (HPSEBL). The price for those units is tied to what HPSEBL pays small solar plants, and it falls further if you took a subsidy.

Take-up is still modest. By 31 July 2026 Himachal had 17,352 applications on the national portal and 11,992 systems installed, covering 12,025 households with 41.11 MW, and ₹87.00 crore of central subsidy had been released, according to figures the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy gave the Lok Sabha.

As on 31 October 2026: central subsidy ₹33,000 for 1 kW, ₹66,000 for 2 kW, ₹85,800 for 3 kW and above. No state top-up found in official documents. Units left unused at the end of the 2025-26 settlement period were paid at ₹1.133 a unit for a typical subsidised home approved since September 2022. Figures can change; HPSEBL, HPERC and the national portal have the final word.

What you get

System size	Central subsidy in Himachal Pradesh (₹)	Rest of India, for comparison (₹)
1 kW	33,000	30,000
2 kW	66,000	60,000
3 kW and above	85,800 (maximum)	78,000 (maximum)
Housing societies and RWAs (common facilities, up to 500 kW at 3 kW per house)	19,800 per kW	18,000 per kW

MNRE also sets a higher benchmark cost for special-category states, ₹55,000 per kW for the first 2 kW and ₹49,500 for the third, against ₹50,000 and ₹45,000 elsewhere. On the benchmark, a 3 kW system works out to ₹1,59,500, or about ₹73,700 after the central subsidy. Your vendor’s quote and the portal decide the real numbers, and nothing extra is paid above 3 kW. PM Surya Ghar is approved to run until 2026-27, which ends on 31 March 2027.

HPSEBL is the state implementation agency for PM Surya Ghar in Himachal. HPERC’s rules also name the Himachal Pradesh Energy Development Agency (HIMURJA) as a state nodal agency for rooftop schemes, so either may handle registration for a subsidy, depending on the scheme.

How surplus units are settled

This is the part that decides how you should size a system. Under HPERC’s rooftop regulations, as rewritten in 2022:

Bill by bill: on net metering, the units you export are deducted from the units you import. If you exported more in a billing period, the extra is carried forward as units to the next bill.
Once a year: the settlement period is up to 12 consecutive billing months starting from 16 March or soon after. Units still unadjusted in the last bill of that period are paid for, and no credit carries over into the next period.
The price: for systems whose letter of approval was issued on or after 1 September 2022, HPSEBL pays 50% of its weighted average purchase rate from ground-mounted solar plants of up to 5 MW in the state, over the preceding calendar year. If you received a subsidy, the share falls according to how much of the benchmark cost the subsidy covered.
When you are paid: the amount falls due on 30 June after the settlement period closes. If HPSEBL pays late, it owes simple interest at 12% a year. If you owe HPSEBL money, it may set the amount off against that instead.

HPSEBL’s letter of 28 February 2026 put the weighted average for the 2025-26 settlement at ₹3.777 a unit. The rates that follow:

Subsidy as a share of the benchmark cost	Share of ₹3.777 paid	Rate for leftover units, 2025-26 (₹ per kWh)
Less than 50%	40%	1.511
50% or more but less than 70%	30%	1.133
70% or more but less than 90%	25%	0.944
90% or more	15%	0.567

For a PM Surya Ghar home, the subsidy is 60% of the benchmark cost for a 1 kW or 2 kW system and about 54% for a 3 kW system (₹85,800 of ₹1,59,500), so all three fall in the ₹1.133 band. A system with no subsidy would be paid the full 50% of the weighted average, which works out to about ₹1.89 for 2025-26. HPSEBL works out the band for each consumer, and the 2026-27 rate will be set from the 2026 calendar year’s purchases.

Older systems keep older rates. For 2025-26, HPSEBL paid ₹2.50 a unit (₹2.25 per kVAh for two-part tariff consumers) where the letter of approval was issued on or before 15 November 2018. Where it was issued after that and up to 31 August 2022, domestic consumers got ₹1.133 a unit and other categories nothing.

The practical lesson: a unit of solar power you use at home saves you the full retail tariff, while a unit left over at the end of the year earns around ₹1.13. Size the system to what your home uses over a year, not to the size of your roof.

Size limits and connection rules

Rule	What it says
Net metering or net billing	Net metering for systems up to 50 kWp. Net billing, where imports and exports are priced separately each billing period, for systems above 50 kWp and up to 1 MWp.
Size, by sanctioned load	Sanctioned load of 10 kW or less: up to 10 kW. Above 10 kW: 50% of the sanctioned load or 10 kW, whichever is higher.
Size, by supply voltage	Single-phase LT: 10 kWp. Three-phase LT: 20 kWp. 11 kV or higher: 1 MWp.
Up to 10 kW	No technical feasibility study. If the system is bigger than your sanctioned load, the load is deemed raised to match, but load-enhancement charges and extra security deposit still apply under HPERC’s other regulations.
Above 10 kW	HPSEBL must complete the feasibility study within 15 days and tell you the result, or the proposal is presumed feasible.
Group metering	Several consumers can share one system. HPSEBL deducts 9% of the energy received and credits the rest to each participant in the agreed shares.
Applications	Since the Fourth Amendment of August 2026, HPSEBL must accept applications in the format of the central or state scheme portal, by post, by hand, online or by e-mail, and a digital Solar Metering Connection Agreement that is part of the portal’s online form.
Meter	The net meter is installed and maintained by HPSEBL at your cost. If you supply the meter yourself, hand it over at least 30 days before it is due to be fitted.

Consumers who started the approval process before 1 September 2022 have a one-time option to switch to the newer arrangements and their settlement rate. HPSEBL applies the switch from the billing period that starts after 30 days from receiving the request.

How to apply

Register on pmsuryaghar.gov.in with your HPSEBL consumer number. HPSEBL supplies electricity across the state. Our PM Surya Ghar guide has the steps.
Look at your last 12 months of bills and pick a size close to your annual use. Up to 3 kW gets the most subsidy per kW.
Choose a vendor registered on the portal. Systems up to 10 kW do not need a feasibility study, and the connection agreement can be signed digitally through the portal.
After installation, the work completion report goes in and HPSEBL inspects the system and fits the meter. Under HPERC’s timeline table, HPSEBL then gives permission to synchronise with the grid within 7 days of fitting the meter.
Once the inspection is approved on the portal, the central subsidy is paid to your bank account.

The national helpline is 15555.

Common pitfalls

Counting on a state top-up. None appears in HPERC, HPSEBL or HIMURJA documents. Treat any figure you see online as unconfirmed until HPSEBL or HIMURJA confirms it in writing.
Oversizing for export income. Leftover units are paid once a year at a fraction of the retail tariff, around ₹1.13 a unit for most subsidised homes in 2025-26.
Expecting a monthly payout. Surplus is carried forward as units, and the money for what is left comes after 30 June.
Ignoring the phase limit. A single-phase connection caps you at 10 kWp. A larger system needs a three-phase connection first.
Installing outside the scheme. A system not registered on the national portal does not get the central subsidy.

Questions people ask

How much subsidy does a Himachal Pradesh household get for rooftop solar?

Himachal Pradesh is a special-category state under PM Surya Ghar, so the central subsidy is 10% higher than in most states: ₹33,000 per kW for the first 2 kW and ₹19,800 for the third kW. That is ₹33,000 for 1 kW, ₹66,000 for 2 kW and a maximum of ₹85,800 for 3 kW or more.

Does Himachal Pradesh add its own subsidy?

We found no state top-up for household rooftop systems in the documents published by HPERC, HPSEBL or HIMURJA as on 31 October 2026. Some websites list a state grant of ₹15,000 to ₹30,000, but we could not find a government order for it. Ask HPSEBL or HIMURJA before you count on any state money.

What happens to the solar units I export?

For systems up to 50 kWp on net metering, exported units are set off against the units you import in each bill, and any surplus is carried forward as units to the next bill. Units still unused at the end of the settlement period, which starts from 16 March each year, are paid for once, and nothing carries over into the next period.

How much does HPSEBL pay for leftover units?

For systems approved from 1 September 2022, HPERC’s rule is 50% of HPSEBL’s weighted average purchase rate from small ground-mounted solar plants, cut to 40%, 30%, 25% or 15% of that rate if you got a subsidy. For 2025-26 the weighted average was ₹3.777 a unit, so a typical PM Surya Ghar home, whose subsidy is between 50% and 70% of the benchmark cost, gets ₹1.133 a unit.

How big a system can I install?

If your sanctioned load is 10 kW or less, you can install up to 10 kW, and your sanctioned load is treated as raised to match. Above 10 kW of sanctioned load, the limit is 50% of that load or 10 kW, whichever is higher. A single-phase LT connection is capped at 10 kWp and a three-phase LT connection at 20 kWp.

Is a feasibility study needed for a small system?

Not up to 10 kW. Since HPERC’s 2024 amendment, complete applications up to 10 kW are deemed accepted without a technical feasibility study. For bigger systems, HPSEBL must finish the study within 15 days or the proposal is presumed feasible.

Sources

The subsidy rates, special-category list, benchmark costs, housing society rate and scheme period are from MNRE’s PM Surya Ghar guidelines for central financial assistance to residential consumers. The carry-forward and settlement rules are from the HPERC Rooftop Solar PV Grid Interactive System Regulations, 2015, as amended in 2018, 2022, 2024 and 2026. The net metering and net billing limits, group metering, settlement period, rate formula, subsidy bands, 30 June due date and interest are from the Second Amendment of 2022. The size limits, feasibility exemption and nodal agencies are from the Third Amendment of June 2024, and the online application and digital agreement rules from the Fourth Amendment notified on 19 August 2026. The ₹3.777 weighted average and the 2025-26 rates are from HPSEBL’s letter of 28 February 2026; the ₹1.89 no-subsidy figure is our arithmetic from HPERC’s 50% rule. State figures are from the annexure to Lok Sabha unstarred question 2806, answered on 5 August 2026.

Related reporting is on the solar and policy pages. Other state guides: Uttarakhand (the same special-category central subsidy of up to ₹85,800, no state top-up since April 2025, surplus paid at ₹2 a unit), Uttar Pradesh (a ₹15,000-per-kW top-up, up to ₹30,000), Rajasthan (₹17,000 and 150 free units), Delhi (up to ₹78,000, with free plants for homes up to 400 units), Maharashtra (the SMART scheme), Gujarat (central subsidy only), Tamil Nadu (up to ₹22,000), Kerala (time-of-day net metering rules since January 2026), Karnataka (central subsidy only, with KERC’s 2026 rules opening net metering to all consumers), Andhra Pradesh (free plants for SC/ST homes, surplus paid monthly at ₹2.09 a unit), Telangana (central subsidy only for self-built systems, DISCOM-run plants planned for Gruha Jyothi homes), Haryana (a state grant of up to ₹50,000 for families earning up to ₹1.80 lakh, interest-free help for prompt payers), Madhya Pradesh (central subsidy only, with PM Surya Ghar processing and meter testing fees waived since June 2026) and Odisha (a state top-up of up to ₹60,000 on top of the central ₹78,000, until 2026-27). If a number here disagrees with HPSEBL, HPERC or the national portal, theirs wins. Corrections: [email protected].