Households in Gujarat that put up to 2 kW of solar panels on their roofs will soon pay a tenth of the benchmark cost, or a twentieth if they belong to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe families. The state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, approved an extra state subsidy on top of the Centre’s PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana on October 21, ETV Bharat Gujarati reported. The government puts the cost at about Rs 1,000 crore and expects more than three lakh families to use it.
Rs 21,600 down to Rs 5,400 on a 1 kW system
Until now a family installing solar under PM Surya Ghar received the central grant and paid the rest itself. Gujarat Samachar set out the arithmetic the state used:
- 1 kW: benchmark cost Rs 54,000, central aid Rs 32,400. The household share was Rs 21,600. It falls to Rs 5,400 for general-category homes and Rs 2,700 for SC/ST homes.
- 2 kW: benchmark cost Rs 1,07,200, central aid Rs 62,800. The household share was Rs 44,400. It falls to Rs 10,720 for general-category homes and Rs 5,360 for SC/ST homes.
The state covers the gap. On a 2 kW general-category system that comes to roughly Rs 33,700 from Gandhinagar, and about Rs 39,000 for an SC/ST household. IANS, via Punjab Kesari English, carried state figures within a few dozen rupees of those, so a family should check the final amount with its DISCOM when it applies.
The cap matters. The top-up stops at 2 kW, which suits a typical one- or two-bedroom home running fans, lights, a fridge and perhaps one air conditioner for part of the day. Bigger bungalows that need 3 kW or more still get the central grant but carry the full balance above that themselves.
Who the old price kept out
Gujarat already leads the country on PM Surya Ghar, with more than 8.5 lakh homes connected under the scheme and over 14 lakh rooftop systems in all, according to Gujarat Samachar. Those numbers lean towards owners of independent houses who could find Rs 20,000 to Rs 45,000 up front or take a loan. A lower-income family in a chawl-style row house or a village home rarely could.
A Rs 5,400 entry price puts solar within reach of those households. For a small home, a 1 kW system can cover a large part of the monthly bill, and the family’s share is now closer to a few months of electricity charges than a year’s. Output depends on roof direction, shade and net-metering terms, so ask the vendor for a site estimate before signing.
The record evening peak behind the move
The state tied the decision to grid pressure. Gujarat’s demand hit a record 29,822 MW in mid-October after a weak monsoon left farm pumps and air conditioners running hard, as our earlier report on the power peak explained. Rooftop panels produce most in the afternoon and nothing after sunset, so they shave daytime load more than the evening spike. They still reduce what DISCOMs must buy on the costly short-term market during the day.
The household push also sits alongside the state’s own plan to put rooftop solar on 15,000 more government buildings. Between the two, Gandhinagar is betting on many small rooftop systems spread across the state, not just the large solar parks in Kutch and Banaskantha.
Neither report gave a start date or a separate application window. Families who want the top-up should register on the national PM Surya Ghar portal, choose an empanelled vendor and ask their DISCOM (UGVCL, MGVCL, PGVCL, DGVCL or Torrent Power in its licence areas) when the state’s share starts showing up in the final bill.
Sources: Gujarat Samachar, ETV Bharat Gujarati, IANS via Punjab Kesari English
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.