More than 21 lakh households covered under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana have brought their electricity bills down to zero, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi has said, as the rooftop solar scheme reached about 65 lakh households.

Source: Insights on India (summarising the MNRE outline)

The figure marks a step up from October, when the programme crossed the 60-lakh household mark and over 20.7 lakh families were already reporting zero bills, according to pv magazine India. Households with surplus generation can also export power back to the local grid under net-metering arrangements.

Source: pv magazine India

What the scheme offers

Launched on February 13, 2024 with an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore, PM Surya Ghar aims to put rooftop solar on one crore households, supporting up to 300 units of free electricity a month for participating homes. Beneficiaries can access collateral-free loans at concessional interest through the Jan Samarth portal.

65 lakhhouseholds reached under PM Surya Ghar
21 lakh+households reporting zero electricity bills
Rs 75,021 croretotal scheme outlay
1 crorehousehold target

Joshi outlined the numbers as the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit and Expo opened at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, where the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has put India's installed non-fossil capacity at 308 GW against a 500 GW target for 2030. The minister also noted that the PM-KUSUM programme has deployed over 30 lakh standalone agricultural solar pumps.

The zero-bill count is the clearest household-level measure of the scheme so far: for those families, rooftop generation now covers their consumption, and any surplus earns credit through net metering rather than a monthly payment to the distribution company.