residential
5 kW Residential Solar
Five kilowatts is the most common residential sizing in Madhya Pradesh, and it fits households consuming roughly 450 to 750 units a month.
The subsidy, stated plainly
A 5 kW system receives ₹78,000 under PM Surya Ghar — the same as a 3 kW system, not more.
Central Financial Assistance is ₹30,000 per kWp for the first 2 kWp and ₹18,000 for the third, and it stops there. ₹78,000 is a hard ceiling for an individual household, reached at 3 kWp. Capacity above 3 kWp earns no additional central assistance. MNRE's own worked example puts a 6 kW system at exactly ₹78,000.
So you size to 5 kW for the generation, not for the subsidy — the extra 2 kWp covers consumption a 3 kW system would leave on the grid bill. But anyone quoting a subsidy above ₹78,000 for a home connection is quoting something that does not exist, and that is worth knowing before you compare two proposals.
The benchmark, and why your quotation is higher
MNRE's benchmark cost is ₹50,000 per kW for the first 2 kW and ₹45,000 for each additional kW — ₹2,35,000 for a 5 kW system. The subsidy is computed from that figure; nothing else is.
The benchmark is not a price. It is not a cap and not a market rate. Real installed cost sits above it, because the benchmark describes a subsidy formula rather than a system: it says nothing about module make, inverter make, structure height, roof type, cable run, or the wind zone your steel must be designed for.
Reading the benchmark as a price is the reason so many customers conclude every quotation they receive is inflated. It is the arithmetic that is wrong, not the quotations.
What it generates, and what that offsets
Madhya Pradesh's East DISCOM publishes a rooftop calculator stating its generation assumption as 5 units per kW per day. A 5 kW array on that basis produces on the order of 750 units a month, before seasonal variation — and seasonal variation is large. Monsoon months run well below the annual average, clear winter months above it. A projection should be read as an annual figure, never as twelve identical months.
MP's domestic tariff (MPERC Schedule LV-1.2, FY 2026-27) is telescopic:
| Slab | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to 50 units | ₹4.71 per unit |
| 51 to 150 units | ₹5.67 per unit |
| 151 to 300 units | ₹7.05 per unit |
| Above 300 units | ₹7.24 per unit |
Solar removes units from the top of that ladder downward. A household at 500 units a month is paying about ₹4,328 on an urban connection — roughly ₹3,308 of energy and ₹1,020 of fixed charges — and every unit above 300 is costing ₹7.24. A 5 kW system clears that entire top block before it touches anything cheaper, which is why the first year's saving is far larger than "generation × average tariff" implies.
At 750 units the monthly bill is around ₹6,618, and the marginal rate is still ₹7.24. This is the consumption band where a 5 kW system does its best work.
Fixed charges, and the MP peculiarity
MPERC was asked to stop levying fixed charges on solar households in the FY 2026-27 tariff order and declined — the network is still there, still maintained, and still relied on for backup, seasonal variation and net-metering adjustment.
However, Madhya Pradesh computes the charge from consumption above 150 units: ₹30 per 0.1 kW of deemed load on an urban connection, with deemed load derived at 15 units per 0.1 kW. Because it is computed from consumption, RG-39's Regulation 8A(5) directs that for a net-metered consumer it be computed on units imported from the grid.
So the fixed component falls with your imports too. It does not disappear — and the bill does not reach zero. Verify the line on your first post-commissioning bill.
Net metering at 5 kW
Five kilowatts sits inside both of the regulation's favourable thresholds:
- Rooftop systems up to 10 kW complete in all respects are deemed accepted without any technical feasibility study, with simultaneous enhancement of your sanctioned load by the DISCOM.
- For systems up to 5 kW, the cost of strengthening the distribution network — including the distribution transformer — is borne by the DISCOM through its revenue requirement, not billed to you. A 5 kW system is the largest that gets this.
The ₹1,000 processing fee is waived under PM Surya Ghar, no meter-testing fee may be charged, the Letter of Approval must issue within 30 days, and the DISCOM has 15 days after your installation certificate to sign, meter and commission — with ₹500 per day payable to you for unjustified delay.
Your capacity may not exceed your sanctioned load, cumulative rooftop capacity on your distribution transformer is capped at 80% of its rating on a first-come-first-served basis, and pending arrears disqualify you until cleared.
Export, and why bigger is not always better
Surplus export carries forward as credited units month to month. But the settlement period runs October to September, and unadjusted credit is paid out by 15 November at the lowest solar or wind tariff discovered in state bidding the previous year — a wholesale rate, not your retail rate. The balance then resets to zero.
That is the real argument against oversizing. Units you self-consume are worth up to ₹7.24. Units you bank beyond your annual consumption are eventually cashed out at a wholesale rate. Sizing to consumption rather than to available roof is what keeps a 5 kW system on the right side of that line.
What moves the price
Module make and technology · inverter make, and whether hybrid · structure type, height and clearance · roof construction and access · cable run length · the wind zone the structure must be designed for, at a factor of safety of 1.5 and a 25-year design life · civil work where an elevated structure is needed.