Virtual net metering · MPMKVVCL, Madhya Pradesh

One solar plant, shared across many bills.

Virtual net metering lets several MPMKVVCL consumers share one solar plant. The plant sends everything it makes to the grid, and MPMKVVCL credits the units to each member’s bill in the shares you agree. It suits apartment societies, shop complexes and anyone whose own roof can’t take panels. Falak Enterprise checks your group, files the application, installs the plant and keeps an eye on every member’s credit.

Check your groupHow it works

How it works

One plant. One meter. Many bills.

Step 1

One plant at the host’s premises

The plant sits on one consumer’s premises, such as a society terrace or the roof of a shop complex. Under MPERC rules it can be from 1 kW up to just under 100 kW.

Step 2

Every unit goes to the grid

A separate generation meter records everything the plant exports. None of it is used behind the host’s own meter.

Step 3

MPMKVVCL splits the units

Each billing cycle MPMKVVCL deducts line losses and credits the rest to the members’ connections, in the priority and percentage written in your VNM agreement.

Solar plant

On the society terrace, say 60 kW

Generation meter

Records every unit exported

MPMKVVCL

Deducts losses, splits the rest

  • Flat 10140%
  • Shop 335%
  • Flat 20425%
Shares for a three-member group. Yours are set in the VNM agreement and add up to 100%. Members keep their existing meters. Only the plant gets a new one.

Choose the right arrangement

Net metering, group or virtual?

MPERC’s rules allow four arrangements. Gross metering sells every unit to the DISCOM at the lowest solar bid rate. The other three set solar units against bills, and they differ in who shares the units and what each shared unit costs.

CompareNet meteringGroup net meteringVirtual net metering
Who it is forOne consumer, one connectionOne consumer with several connections in its own nameSeveral consumers sharing one plant
Plant size1 kW to 500 kW, within your sanctioned load or contract demand1 kW to under 100 kW, within the combined load of its connections1 kW to under 100 kW, within the combined load of the host and members
The host’s own useSolar is used first; only the surplus is exportedThe host uses solar first; the surplus goes to its other connectionsNone: everything is exported and shared
Charges on shared unitsNoneWheeling and losses on the other connectionsWheeling, losses, cross-subsidy surcharge and, where applicable, additional surcharge
MetersOne bidirectional net meterNet meter at the host; the other meters stayGeneration meter at the plant; members keep their meters
Best forA home or business with its own usable roofA business, school or trust with several metersFlats, shop complexes and members without a roof

If your own connection has a usable roof, ordinary net metering gives every solar unit set against your bill its full value. Virtual net metering is the answer when it doesn’t, or when one good roof can serve many bills.

Who can apply

Who can join a shared plant.

Who it suits

  • Housing societies and apartment owners with separate MPMKVVCL meters.
  • Shops, offices and clinics in one complex, each on its own connection.
  • Families and neighbours who want to share one good roof.
  • Consumers with no usable roof, through a plant on another member’s premises.
  • Homes, businesses, institutions and industry alike: the regulation opens virtual net metering to consumers of all categories.

The conditions

  • Every member’s connection is with the same DISCOM. For Bhopal, Narmadapuram, Gwalior and Chambal divisions that is MPMKVVCL.
  • The plant is under 100 kW and no bigger than the sanctioned loads or contract demands of the host and all members added together.
  • The distribution transformer has room. Renewable capacity on one transformer is capped at 80% of its rating and allotted first come, first served. If it is full, MPMKVVCL or the applicant augments it under MPERC’s cost-recovery rules.
  • The host and every member are clear of arrears. A connection with pending arrears is not entitled to virtual net metering, so dues are cleared before you apply.
  • Neither the host nor any member already has a net-metering or gross-metering arrangement.
  • The power is shared only among the members named in the agreement. Selling it to anyone else is not allowed.

What is needed

What you need to apply.

From your group

  • The latest bill of every connection that will share: consumer number, name, category, supply voltage and sanctioned load or contract demand. Twelve months of bills help us size each share.
  • A share table: each connection’s priority and percentage, adding up to 100%.
  • An undertaking from each member, signed by the person named on that connection (Annexure-8 of the regulation).
  • For a society or association: a resolution or authorisation letter naming who signs for the group, and its consent to use the roof.
  • The MPMKVVCL processing fee of ₹1,000.

What we prepare

  • Roof survey, structural check and shade study.
  • Plant design, single-line diagram, and the equipment list with test certificates.
  • The VNM application (Annexure-4) with the member table filled in and signed by each member.
  • A generation meter of the AMI type with an RS-485 port, for MPMKVVCL to test, install and seal.
  • The installation certificate and the connection agreement between MPMKVVCL, the host and the members.
  • A members’ agreement covering costs, maintenance, exits and new members.

The procedure

The MPMKVVCL procedure, step by step.

These are the deadlines MPERC sets for the DISCOM. If MPMKVVCL misses them without just cause, the regulation provides compensation of ₹500 for each day of delay.

  1. 01

    Day 0

    Apply

    File the VNM application with the member table, every undertaking and the fee, online on MPMKVVCL’s rooftop solar portal or at the O&M division office. A registration number is issued on submission.

  2. 02

    Within 15 days

    Feasibility

    MPMKVVCL checks the connections and transformer capacity and sends its decision with the amount to deposit. The limit is 15 days for rooftop solar and 20 days for other plants. Rooftop plants up to 10 kW are deemed accepted without the study.

  3. 03

    Within 30 days

    Letter of approval

    Once the amount is paid, MPMKVVCL issues the letter of approval, within 30 days of the acknowledgement.

  4. 04

    Your schedule

    Installation

    We install the plant and its protection, then submit the installation certificate.

  5. 05

    Within 15 days

    Agreement, meter, commissioning

    MPMKVVCL signs the connection agreement with the host and the members, installs and seals the generation meter and commissions the plant, within 15 days of the installation certificate.

  6. 06

    Next bill

    Credits begin

    Each member’s bill shows the plant’s generation, the losses deducted, the units allocated to that member and any credit carried forward.

Billing disputes can be taken to MPMKVVCL’s Electricity Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum.

Charges

What a shared unit is worth.

Virtual net metering is exempt from banking charges. Members pay these on the units credited to them, at the FY 2026-27 rates in the MPERC tariff order.

ChargeFY 2026-27Note
Wheeling chargeLT ₹1.19 · 11 kV ₹0.69 · 33 kV ₹0.17 per unitBy the member’s supply voltage
Cross-subsidy surcharge₹0.67 per unit for homes (LV-1); ₹1.49 for most other categoriesPaid by each member. Tariff order Table 96 rates; for other connection set-ups MPMKVVCL works out the rate
Additional surcharge₹1.18 per unitOnly where the green energy open access regulations apply it. They do not levy it on power within the member’s contract demand when its fixed charges are paid
Line lossesDeducted from the units before they are creditedVoltage-wise, as set in the tariff order
Banking chargeExempt

Take a home on the 151–300 unit slab without time-of-day billing, where the energy charge is ₹7.05 a unit. With its own net meter, each solar unit set against its bill saves the full ₹7.05. Through virtual net metering the same unit first loses 5 to 10 percent to line losses, then wheeling (₹1.19) and cross-subsidy surcharge (₹0.67) are charged on each unit credited. It is worth roughly ₹4.70 to ₹4.90. If the additional surcharge applies, about ₹1.10 more comes off.

That is the trade: a shared unit is worth about two-thirds of a unit from your own net meter, and in return one roof can serve members who have none.

Worked example · a society plant

Plant on the terrace
60 kW
Members
20 flats, each with 3 kW sanctioned load (60 kW combined) and about 450 units a month of use
Shares
5% each
Generation
About 84,000 units a year (1,400 per kW)
Each flat’s share
About 4,200 units a year, or 350 a month, before losses
Value at ₹4.70–4.90 a unit
Roughly ₹19,700–20,700 a year off each flat’s bills, before electricity duty

Size each share to that flat’s real use: units left at the end of the settlement year are paid only at the lowest solar bid rate. Your proposal shows the plant cost and each member’s share of it.

How credits, carry-forward and the year-end settlement work

  • Every billing cycle MPMKVVCL reads the generation meter and every member’s meter, deducts the losses and credits each member by share.
  • If a member is credited more units than it used, the extra units carry forward to its next bill.
  • Members on time-of-day billing: units credited beyond that month’s use count as off-peak units, and carried-forward units are set against off-peak use.
  • The settlement year runs from the October bill to the September bill. Units still unused are paid for by 15 November, at the lowest solar tariff discovered in MP’s bidding the year before. The balance then resets to zero.
  • The host can change the shares, and add or remove members, once a financial year with one month’s notice, after informing the existing and new members.
  • If a member’s connection is disconnected, its leftover credit is paid at the end of the settlement year. A member with unpaid dues gets no credit until they are cleared, and credits earn no interest.
  • Fixed charges stay on every member’s bill, and so do minimum charges where the member’s tariff has them (homes on LV-1 have none). Where the tariff works out fixed charges on units consumed, as it does for homes, MPMKVVCL uses the units drawn from the grid.

How we do it

How Falak Enterprise sets up your plant.

  1. 01

    Check the group

    We collect the host’s and every member’s bill and confirm each is an MPMKVVCL connection with no arrears and no net-metering or gross-metering arrangement. We add up the sanctioned loads and check the transformer’s room with MPMKVVCL.

  2. 02

    Size the plant and the shares

    We survey the roof and size the plant under 100 kW and within the combined load, with each share matched to that member’s use. You get the share table and a draft members’ agreement.

  3. 03

    File and follow up

    We prepare the application, collect the undertakings and the society’s authorisation, file with MPMKVVCL and follow feasibility and approval against the regulation’s deadlines.

  4. 04

    Install

    We install the structure, panels, inverter and protection, supply the generation meter for MPMKVVCL to test and install, then submit the installation certificate.

  5. 05

    Commission

    We see the connection agreement signed, the meter tested and sealed and the plant commissioned.

  6. 06

    Check the bills

    We check every member’s first bills, handle the yearly share changes, check the November settlement and look after cleaning and maintenance under an AMC.

We are a listed vendor on MPMKVVCL’s rooftop solar portal and have installed 68 systems totalling 278 kW across MP since 2017. See our customer installations and maintenance plans.

Check your group

Ask about a shared plant

Tell us how many connections will share, where the plant would go and the combined monthly bill. We will tell you if the group qualifies and what plant size and share split make sense.

No cost, no obligation. Your details stay with our Bhopal office.

Common questions

Virtual net metering: your questions

Do I need my own roof for virtual net metering?

No. The plant sits on the host’s premises, often a society terrace, and MPMKVVCL credits your share of its units to your connection. Your connection has to be with the same DISCOM, clear of arrears and without its own net-metering or gross-metering arrangement.

How big can a VNM plant be in Madhya Pradesh?

From 1 kW up to just under 100 kW, and no larger than the sanctioned loads or contract demands of the host and all members added together. A single connection on ordinary net metering can go up to 500 kW.

Can a tenant join?

Members join through their electricity connection, so the person named on the bill signs the undertaking. A tenant can join only with the connection holder’s signature.

Can we change the shares later?

Yes. The host can change the shares, and add or remove members, once each financial year with one month’s advance notice, after informing the existing and new members.

What happens to units a member does not use?

They carry forward to that member’s next bill. Whatever is left at the end of the settlement year, October to September, is paid by 15 November at the lowest solar tariff discovered in MP’s bidding the year before. That is far below the retail tariff, so size each share to real use.

Can I keep my own net meter and also join?

No. A connection that already has its own net-metering or gross-metering arrangement cannot take part in virtual net metering.

Will my fixed charge go down?

No. Shared units reduce the energy units you pay for. Where the tariff works out the fixed charge on units consumed, as it does for homes, MPMKVVCL counts the units drawn from the grid, so the fixed charge stays. Minimum charges, where your tariff has them, stay too; homes have none.

Is there a subsidy for virtual net metering?

PM Surya Ghar gives central financial assistance only to residential consumers; shops, offices and other non-residential members get none. Its guidelines make group and virtual net metering plants eligible when they sit on a roof, terrace, balcony or elevated structure and the DISCOM approves the metering arrangement. The modules must be made in India from Indian cells. The scheme runs till 31 March 2027. We check your group’s case before you apply.

Who owns the plant?

The host consumer on whose premises it is installed, or a RESCO that leases it to the host. How the members share the cost and the savings is a private agreement within the group; we help you draft it.

What if one member stops paying their bill?

A connection with pending arrears is not entitled to join, so its dues must be cleared before the application goes in. After commissioning, a member with unpaid dues gets no credit until the dues are cleared.

Sources

The rules this page follows

Checked against the official MPERC and MNRE documents on 25-10-2026.

One good roof can cut many bills.

Send us the members’ bills and the roof location. We will check the group and come back with a plant size, a share split and the paperwork plan.

Check your group WhatsApp us

Or call +91 89890 03670 · Mon–Sat, 9 AM – 7 PM