CURRENT STATUS OF NET METERING AMONG INDIAN STATES

Net Metering allows solar consumers to supply access power back to the grid and reduce their electricity bill. It is a crucial policy decision by any state providing net metering facility. Without it, the widespread penetration of solar rooftop is not possible as of day. In some of the states net metering has been introduced, however taken back specially for commercial and industrial consumers at as this hampers significantly the profit of the discoms. For e.g. In UP, currently the facility has been withdrawn for commercial and industrial consumers and it is available only for residential consumers. If net metering is not available, the excess power which is being sent to the grid during the day time is not credited back in the electricity bill of the consumer and which leads to the non-viability of the solar rooftop systems to the consumers.

Typically, when a solar PV system is installed under net metering, the electricity injected to the grid is valued at an equal rate to the electricity purchased from the grid. The electricity bill is entirely based on the net energy consumed which is calculated based on import of electricity-export of electricity and accordingly the consumer is charged. In certain cases, if the consumer is surplus during the day the electricity bill can be found as negative due to surplus power injected to the grid. A detailed description of net metering of net metering policies in each state is summarized in following table. 

Typically, about 26 states in India have released their net metering policies. The net metering at state level varies from state to state. This variation is in terms of the capacity of solar plant which is allowed under net metering scheme. Typically, most of the state allow the solar capacity to be connected with grid ranging from 50% of the sanctioned load to the 100% of the sanctioned load. However, some states such as Karnataka allows more than the sanctioned load up to 150% of the total sanctioned load. Most of these states allows solar project up to 80% of the sanctioned load capacity. There is a upper limit for net metering permission for rooftop or ground mount project. Typically, most of the state allows up to 1 MW of solar capacity under net metering policy. However, the state of Odisha does not have any maximum limit for solar projects to be connected under net metering. The state of Uttar Pradesh allows net metering up to 2 MW. However, in recent years, Uttar Pradesh has withdrawn the net metering for commercial and industrial customers. In the state of Tamil Nadu, the maximum size of solar rooftop plant under net metering is limited with the available shadow-free area and annual estimated energy consumption. The total capacity to be connected on a transformer is also one of the constraint at the state level solar net metering policies. Typically, most of the states consider about 30% of the approved transformer capacity as the maximum limit of the solar rooftop plants connected to that transformer and accordingly the feasibility sanction is given by the respective discom authorities. However, in some of the states such as Karnataka and Odisha, the solar plant can be installed up to 80% of the approved transformer capacity. Each state has taken specific solar targets for promotion of solar rooftop under net metering schemes.