The slab structure, exactly
PM Surya Ghar central financial assistance (CFA) is paid on installed DC capacity in three steps, not as a flat percentage of project cost. The first two kilowatts attract ₹30,000 each, the third kilowatt attracts ₹18,000, and nothing beyond 3 kW is subsidised for an individual household. That gives a maximum of ₹78,000 regardless of whether the sanctioned system is 3 kW or 10 kW.
| System size | Slab arithmetic | Central subsidy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 kW | 1 × ₹30,000 | ₹30,000 |
| 2 kW | 2 × ₹30,000 | ₹60,000 |
| 3 kW | 2 × ₹30,000 + 1 × ₹18,000 | ₹78,000 |
| 5 kW | capped | ₹78,000 |
| 10 kW | capped | ₹78,000 |
Worked example: a 5 kW system in Faridabad
Take a 5 kW rooftop at a turnkey price of ₹3,25,000 (₹65,000/kW, GST inclusive). The subsidy is not 5 × ₹30,000 — it is the capped ₹78,000. Effective out-of-pocket is ₹3,25,000 − ₹78,000 = ₹2,47,000, before any state top-up. At 5.3 kWh/m²/day and a 78% performance ratio the same array yields roughly 7,400 kWh in year one; at a ₹7.5/kWh residential slab that is about ₹55,500 saved in year one, i.e. a simple payback near 4.5 years on the subsidised price.
The mistake that kills proposals
Never multiply ₹30,000 by the full system size. A 10 kW quote showing ₹3,00,000 of subsidy is wrong by ₹2,22,000 and will be rejected at DISCOM inspection stage.
Group housing societies and RWAs
Common facilities in group housing societies and resident welfare associations are funded on a separate line at ₹18,000 per kW for common-area load such as lifts, pumps and lighting, subject to the scheme's own upper limit per project. This is claimed by the society, not by individual flat owners, and does not reduce a flat owner's own eligibility for their individual connection.
Eligibility conditions installers get wrong
- Residential connections only — commercial and industrial consumers are not eligible for CFA (they use accelerated depreciation instead).
- The vendor must be empanelled with the DISCOM and registered on the National Portal; subsidy is released against that registration.
- Modules and cells must be ALMM-listed and domestically manufactured to the grade the scheme requires at the time of installation.
- The subsidy is credited to the consumer's bank account after installation, inspection and bi-directional meter commissioning — not deducted at invoice time.
- Capacity is still capped by sanctioned load at the DISCOM, so a 3 kW subsidy claim on a 2 kW sanctioned load will not clear feasibility.
How SolvSolar applies the slabs
The Financial Plan page of every SolvSolar proposal computes the slab automatically from the designed capacity, shows the subsidy as its own line under the gross price, and lets the installer override the amount when a state scheme changes. If the computed subsidy is zero — commercial systems, for example — the line is hidden entirely instead of printing a misleading ₹0.