After years of stop-start progress, India’s rooftop solar (RTS) campaign has finally gained momentum. Since the launch of the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana in February 2024, registrations have crossed 17.1 million, installations have passed 1 million households, and annual residential capacity has increased from barely half a gigawatt (GW) to nearly three gigawatts (on an annual energy basis — that is, discounting solar’s daily downtime — a 1 GW solar plant can supply electricity to roughly 1.2-1.3 million Indian households for a year). The scheme has clearly unlocked demand. The next step is to ensure supportive policies not only sustain this growth but also spread its benefits equitably.

Why a consumer-first RTS push matters is simple: households care about bills, reliability, and hassle-free service. Net metering, slabbed tariffs, and how we collect fixed grid costs shape all three. Done right, policy can make RTS feel like an everyday appliance — useful, predictable, and fair. Done wrong, it becomes a subsidy that rewards big roofs and bigger bills while shifting costs onto everyone else.

First, pair bigger roofs with batteries. Systems larger than 5 kWp often generate more mid-day power than a home can use. Without storage, surplus is........

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