PM Surya Ghar -- Muft Bijli Yojana: How to apply for free electricity?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that his government is launching the 'PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana', which will provide 300 units of free electricity every month to one crore households. The Centre will be investing Rs 75,000 crore for this project. The scheme was first announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while she was reading out the Interim Budget 2024-25.

"In order to further sustainable development and people's wellbeing, we are launching the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. This project, with an investment of over Rs 75,000 crore, aims to light up 1 crore households by providing up to 300 units of free electricity every month," the prime minister said on X.

PM Modi added the Centre will offer substantive subsidies, which will be given directly to people's bank accounts, to heavily concessional bank loans, which will ensure that there is no cost burden on the people.

All stakeholders will be integrated to a National Online Portal.

He added that to popularise this scheme at the grassroots, urban local bodies and panchayats shall be incentivised to promote rooftop solar systems in their jurisdictions.

How to apply for PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana?

1. Under the scheme, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels will be fixed atop a building, home, or a residential property. 

2. One can apply at for the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana by visiting – https://pmsuryaghar.gov.in.

3. One has to first register in the portal with these details:

> Select your State
> Select your electricity distribution company
> Fill in your electricity consumer number.
> Enter your mobile number
> Enter your email

3. Once the first step is done. The customer has to login with consumer number and mobile number. And then apply for the rooftop solar as per the form.

4. After this step, the customer has to wait for the feasibility approval. Once done, the plant will be installed by any of the registered vendors in  DISCOM.

5. Once installation is completed , submit the plant details and apply for net meter

6. Commissioning certificate will be generated from the portal, after installation of net meter and inspection by DISCOM.

7. Once done, the customer will get the commissioning report. Customers will have to submit the bank account details and a cancelled cheque through the portal.

8. Customers will receive the subsidy in their bank accounts within 30 days.

PM Modi first announced the launch of solar power scheme after the Ram Mandir inauguration last month. According to the Press Information Bureau (PIB) release dated January 22, 2024, “Immediately after his visit to Ayodhya on the auspicious occasion of consecration of Suryawanshi Bhagwan Shri Ram, Prime Minister chaired a meeting to launch “Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana” with the target of installing rooftop solar on 1 crore houses.

At that time, the Prime Minister said that the power of the sun can be harnessed by every household with a roof to reduce their electricity bills and to make them truly aatmanirbhar for their electricity needs.”

In 2014, the government initiated the Rooftop Solar Programme with the goal of attaining a total installed capacity of 40,000 megawatts (MW) or 40 gigawatts (GW) by 2022. A watt, a unit of power, is determined as the quantity of energy utilised over time, specifically one Joule per second.