Rejections are almost never about your roof, your panels or your installer's workmanship. They are about four or five pieces of paper that are supposed to agree with each other and do not.
That is good news, because documentary problems are fixable. It is also bad news, because the one rejection that cannot be fixed — installing before approval — looks like the most harmless mistake of the lot.
The nine reasons, and what each one costs
| Reason | Fixable after the fact? |
|---|---|
| Vendor not empanelled on the portal | No — the claim cannot be filed |
| Name mismatch between bill, applicant and bank | Yes, but slowly |
| Wrong consumer category on the connection | Sometimes, by applying for recategorisation |
| Capacity above the sanctioned load | Yes, through load enhancement |
| Installed capacity does not match the approved capacity | Usually, by correcting the record |
| Installed before approval | No |
| Inspection not completed or commissioning not recorded | Yes — chase the DISCOM |
| Bank details rejected by the transfer | Yes, easily |
| A claim already exists against the connection | Depends on the history |
Each one in turn, with what to do about it.
1. The vendor was not empanelled
The single most common reason, and the most expensive. Only a vendor registered on the national portal for your state can file the subsidy claim against your application. If you used somebody else, there is no route to the money afterwards.
Work out what that cheaper quote actually costs:
A quote Rs 20,000 cheaper becomes Rs 58,000 dearer. Redo that sum with your own two quotes before you decide anything on price.
The fix: there isn't one after installation. Before installation, check the portal's empanelled list for your state yourself. A vendor saying "subsidy will be arranged" is not the same as being on that list.
2. The names do not match
Three names have to be the same person: the name on the electricity bill, the name of the applicant, and the name on the bank account receiving the transfer. This is the second most common rejection and it catches honest applicants constantly.
Typical versions of it:
- The connection is in a parent's name and the application is in yours
- The connection is in a late parent's name and was never transferred
- The bank account is a joint account in a different primary name
- The bill says an initial and the bank says the expanded name, or vice versa
The fix: either transfer the electricity connection into the applicant's name at the DISCOM, or apply in the connection holder's name and use their bank account. Both work. Both take time, so start before you apply rather than after you are rejected. For inherited property where the connection is still in a deceased holder's name, the transfer has to happen first and cannot be worked around.
3. Wrong consumer category
The subsidy is for residential connections. A domestic-looking building can easily be on a non-domestic tariff — a shop below the house, a connection taken originally for a commercial purpose, a mixed-use premises billed under a commercial category.
Your bill shows the category. Look for the tariff description rather than the amount. If it says anything other than domestic or residential, the application will not survive scrutiny.
The fix: apply to the DISCOM for recategorisation if the use genuinely is residential, or apply for a separate domestic connection for the residential portion. Do not apply hoping it will be overlooked — the connection category is one of the first fields checked.
4. Capacity above the sanctioned load
Your sanctioned load is the maximum demand your connection is approved for, printed on the bill in kW. Many states will not permit a rooftop system larger than it.
| Sanctioned load | System typically permitted | What to do for 3 kW |
|---|---|---|
| 1 kW | 1 kW | Load enhancement needed |
| 2 kW | 2 kW | Load enhancement needed |
| 3 kW | 3 kW | Proceed |
| 5 kW | 5 kW | Proceed, and 3 kW is still the subsidy ceiling |
The fix: a load enhancement application at the DISCOM, which is separate from the solar application and has its own queue, fee and sometimes a security deposit revision. Do it first. A raised sanctioned load also usually raises your fixed charges, so check that before enhancing beyond what you need.
5. Installed capacity does not match the approved capacity
You applied for 3 kW. Panels come in fixed sizes, so six 545 W modules is 3.27 kW and five is 2.73 kW. Neither is 3 kW, and the inspection compares what is on the roof against what was sanctioned.
The fix: agree the exact panel count and wattage with the vendor before installation, and ask how your DISCOM handles the rounding. Some accept the nearest module combination, some want the application amended. Either way the arithmetic should be settled on paper first. Multiply panel wattage by quantity yourself and check it against the capacity on your approval — this is one of the lines a quotation should spell out.
6. The system was installed before approval
Feasibility approval has to come before installation. Systems built first and applied for afterwards are rejected, and this is the one failure with no remedy.
It usually happens to people who moved quickly, often encouraged by a vendor who wanted the order confirmed. There is nothing to fix afterwards.
7. Inspection not done, or commissioning not recorded
The claim is processed after the DISCOM has inspected the installation and recorded it as commissioned. An application can sit apparently complete for weeks because the inspection never happened or the result was never entered.
The fix: this is a chase, not a correction. Get the net metering application reference from your vendor and follow it up at the DISCOM office yourself. Ask specifically whether the inspection is recorded and whether the commissioning entry has been made, because those are two separate things.
8. Bank details rejected
The transfer is a direct benefit transfer, so it fails the way bank transfers fail: a wrong IFSC, a closed account, a name that does not match, a number entered from a faded passbook.
The fix: the easiest of all of them. Correct the details on the portal and the transfer is re-attempted. Upload a clear passbook page or cancelled cheque rather than typing from memory, and use an account in the applicant's own name.
9. A claim already exists against the connection
The subsidy is per residential connection. If a previous owner, or the builder, already claimed against that consumer number, a second claim will not go through.
The fix: check the history before you spend anything. If you have bought a property with an existing rooftop system, ask whether subsidy was claimed on it. This is worth asking even when there are no panels visible, because equipment can be removed and a claim cannot.
What a rejection actually looks like
The portal shows a status rather than an explanation, and the status is often less specific than you would like. The mapping is usually this:
| What you see | Usually means | Where to go |
|---|---|---|
| Rejected at feasibility | Sanctioned load, category, or network capacity | DISCOM |
| Stuck after installation | Inspection not done or not recorded | DISCOM |
| Claim rejected after commissioning | Vendor, capacity mismatch or documents | Vendor, then portal |
| Approved but no money | Bank details | Portal |
The pattern is worth noticing: almost everything before commissioning is a DISCOM matter and almost everything after it is a portal matter. Knowing which desk owns your problem saves more time than anything else.
A ten-minute check before you apply
- Take out your latest bill. Note the consumer number, the tariff category and the sanctioned load.
- Confirm the category says domestic or residential.
- Confirm the sanctioned load is at least the capacity you want.
- Check the name on the bill against your identity proof and your bank passbook, letter for letter.
- Look up your shortlisted vendors on the portal's empanelled list for your state.
- Ask whether subsidy has ever been claimed on this connection.
Six checks. They cost ten minutes and they remove most of the ways this goes wrong. The subsidy calculator will tell you what the capacity you have in mind is actually worth, which is the other thing to know before you commit.
Questions people ask
If I am rejected, do I lose the money I spent on the system?
No — the system is yours and it still generates. What you lose is the subsidy, which turns a Rs 97,000 net cost into a Rs 1,75,000 one on the example above. The payback stretches accordingly, which is exactly the arithmetic the payback guide works through.
Can I reapply after a rejection?
For most reasons yes, once the underlying problem is corrected. For installing before approval, and for a vendor who was never empanelled, no.
My vendor says the rejection was the DISCOM's fault. Is that likely?
Sometimes it genuinely is, particularly on inspection and meter delays. But ask him to show you the portal status and the rejection reason rather than relaying it. The status is visible from your own login.
Does the subsidy depend on which panels were used?
Schemes have carried domestic content requirements, which is why quotations specify whether modules are DCR. Ask your vendor to confirm in writing that the modules he is supplying meet the current requirement for the scheme, and verify the requirement on the portal rather than taking the answer on trust.
How long should I wait before assuming something is wrong?
Three weeks at feasibility, two weeks for an inspection after installation, four weeks for the meter, eight weeks for the credit after commissioning. Past those, something has usually stalled rather than queued.
Is there an appeal?
There is no formal appeal in the sense of a tribunal, but most rejections are corrected and resubmitted rather than appealed. Start at whichever desk owns the stage you failed at — the DISCOM before commissioning, the portal after it.