The Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) has ruled in favor of amending the RERC (Grid Interactive Distributed Renewable Energy Generating Systems) Regulations, 2021, to promote rooftop solar installations.

The Commission has waived the application fee, security deposit, and meter testing charges for domestic consumers opting for rooftop solar systems. Additionally, the connection agreement requirement has been removed. These relaxations aim to facilitate widespread adoption of rooftop solar under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.

The order will remain in place until the state achieves its 500,000 rooftop solar installations target or any revised target set by the government.

Background

Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam, Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam, and Jodhpur Vidyut Vitran Nigam filed a petition requesting amendments to the RERC DREGS Regulations, 2021 to remove financial and procedural barriers to rooftop solar installations. They wanted solar energy rich-Rajasthan to promote rooftop solar adoption aggressively.

They requested a waiver of application fees and security deposits to encourage more consumers to install rooftop solar systems. They also proposed eliminating the connection agreement requirement, stating that the agreement process was time-consuming and delayed installations.

The three DISCOMs also sought a waiver of meter testing charges, reasoning that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) already provides substantial incentives and that additional financial burdens should not be placed on consumers.

To support their request, the petitioners presented data on incentives of ₹1.55 billion (~$17.75 million) received collectively under the MNRE program from financial years 2020 to 2023, supporting the argument that financial relaxations for consumers would not harm DISCOM finances.

Commission’s Analysis

The Commission observed that the amendments sought were aligned with the objectives of the PM Surya Ghar program. The program aims to empower residential consumers by enabling them to generate their own electricity through rooftop solar systems.

It acknowledged that the proposed relaxations would facilitate rooftop solar adoption, reduce transmission losses, and create local employment opportunities. Additionally, under Regulation 21 of the RERC DREGS Regulations, 2021, the Commission holds the authority to relax provisions in the public interest, and the amendments requested by the petitioners met the criteria for the relaxation.

The Commission noted that waiving fees and procedural requirements would not negatively affect DISCOMs, given the financial support from MNRE.

It approved the requested amendments, including the waiver of application fees and security deposits for domestic rooftop solar installations, the elimination of the connection agreement requirement for domestic consumers opting for net metering, and the waiver of meter testing charges for domestic rooftop solar installations.

The DISCOMs have been directed to implement the changes and ensure broad public awareness.

The PM Surya Ghar program recently completed one year of significant progress in promoting rooftop solar adoption nationwide. As of January 27, 2025, 846,000 households had installed rooftop solar systems under the program. Rajasthan had 26,622 households install rooftop solar systems, accounting for 3.14% of the total installations.

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