Gross vs Net Metering vs Net Billing for C&I Plants: Which Suits a Factory?

Net metering offsets imported units with exported units, so each solar unit you use saves your retail energy charge. Net billing pays for exports in money at a commission-set rate. Gross metering sells all generation to the DISCOM at a set tariff while you keep buying consumption at retail. For a factory with a daytime load, net metering is usually worth most where it is available.

What does each arrangement mean in practice?

The three names describe how the meters and the bill treat your solar units. The central rule, in the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules as amended in 2021, leaves the detail to each state commission: net-metering, gross-metering, net-billing and net feed-in arrangements follow the state's regulations. Where the regulations are silent, the commission may allow net metering up to 500 kW or the sanctioned load, whichever is lower, and net billing or net feed-in for larger loads, and may permit gross metering for prosumers who want to sell all their solar energy to the DISCOM.

Check the last row against your own tariff: a solar credit offsets energy units, not the fixed or demand charge on your contract demand. The Jharkhand regulations say so explicitly for net metering.

How do the settlement rules change the economics?

The headline arrangement matters less than the settlement terms around it, and those differ sharply between states.

• Jharkhand (2015 regulations). Surplus units carry forward within the financial year. Credits left at year end are paid at ₹0.50 per unit or at the rate the commission notifies. For time-of-day consumers, consumption in each time block is offset first by generation in the same block. If your tariff bills in kVAh, injection is measured in kVAh too. A consumer or third-party owner claiming accelerated depreciation may use net metering only.
• Punjab (2021 order). The commission kept a yearly settlement for net metering but added that rooftop generation should not exceed 90% of consumption in the period; generation above that is treated as inadvertent injection, unpaid and not carried forward. Later amendments may have changed this, so read the current text.

Jharkhand's gross-metering terms show the other side. The DISCOM pays a "solar injection compensation" set by reference to the commission's tariff for new solar projects, and your whole consumption is billed separately. Jharkhand also treats the choice as binding: a consumer on gross metering cannot use net metering in the same premises, and the reverse.

What does the difference look like in rupees?

Take a 100 kW plant generating about 12,000 units a month, using the 120 units per kW per month assumption on our cost pages. Assume, for illustration only, that your retail energy charge is ₹9 per unit and the gross-metering tariff is ₹3 per unit. These are not quotes; replace them with the figures from your bill and your commission's order.

• Net metering, all 12,000 units used on site: the plant displaces about ₹1.08 lakh of energy charges a month.
• Gross metering, same 12,000 units sold: about ₹36,000 a month of compensation, while the ₹9 consumption bill stays whole.
• Net billing: self-used units earn the retail charge, exported units earn the export rate; the result lies between the two and moves with your daytime load.

The gap shrinks if your load is small or your roof is leased to a developer, which is why gross metering suits roof-owners who do not consume much. For a plant with real daytime demand, use the net-metering savings calculator with your tariff and load profile.

Which arrangement fits which factory?

Match the arrangement to your daytime consumption, your sanctioned load and who owns the roof.

• Daytime-heavy factory within the cap: net metering, where eligible, usually values each unit highest. Size the plant so exports stay small.
• Plant above the net-metering cap: net billing, gross metering, or captive and open access. Check your headroom with the sanctioned-load checker first, and see our open-access solar page for the off-site route.
• Low consumption, large roof, or a third-party developer: gross metering can be simpler. Jharkhand allows third-party owners to use it on leased roofs.
• Heavy night or continuous load: limit the plant to what you can use; batteries change the picture, see battery energy storage.

Eligibility by consumer category also varies by state, and some regulators have narrowed net metering for industrial or commercial categories, so confirm yours before you model savings. Where a DISCOM imposes zero export, the arrangement matters less than the export-limiting design.

What should you ask the DISCOM before you choose?

The regulation tells you what is possible; the DISCOM's practice tells you what you will get. Put these questions in writing before you freeze the design:

• Which of the three arrangements is open to your consumer category, and up to what capacity?
• How are surplus units settled at the end of the period, and at what rate?
• Is there a cap on generation as a share of consumption?
• If you are on a time-of-day or kVAh tariff, how are credits matched to time blocks and to kVAh?
• Can the arrangement be changed later, and on what terms?
• Who pays for the bi-directional and generation meters?

Answers to these decide whether the savings in your model are real. A plant that looks good at the retail tariff can look ordinary once a cap on surplus or a low export rate is applied.

How Secured Engineers helps

We design solar plants in-house and file the DISCOM net-metering application, Fire NOC and CEIG approval ourselves, so the metering arrangement is chosen with the electrical design, not after it. MEPF and solar can sit under one contract. We work from offices in Noida (Delhi NCR) and Ludhiana, and have delivered 535+ projects across 18+ states with 89.77% repeat clients. Our published band for C&I solar is ₹24,000–32,000 per kW excluding GST, with larger plants at the lower end.

Send your latest bill and sanctioned load and we will tell you which arrangement your state allows and what it is worth. Start from our solar EPC page, message us on WhatsApp, call +91 70099 85817, or ask for a free proposal.