The Problem VNM Was Written For
Most Delhi flats cannot install rooftop solar. The terrace is common property, roof rights sit with the society or the builder, and a single family cannot claim the area needed for a system sized to their own bill. Virtual Net Metering exists precisely for this situation. DERC defines it as an arrangement where the entire energy from a renewable energy system is exported to the grid through a renewable energy or gross meter, and that exported energy is then adjusted across more than one electricity service connection belonging to participating consumers in the same distribution licensee's area. In plain terms: the plant sits in one place, and the credits land on several separate electricity bills.
How VNM Differs From Ordinary Net Metering
Under ordinary net metering, the system sits on your roof and only your surplus is exported and credited to your own connection. Under VNM, the whole output is exported and split. Nothing is consumed behind your meter, because the plant is not at your premises. That single difference is what makes solar reachable for a second-floor flat with no terrace access, a tenant, or a family whose usable roof is already occupied by water tanks.
Who Is Eligible
The 2019 guidelines make the VNM framework applicable to residential consumers, group housing societies, offices of Government and local authorities, and renewable energy generators registered under the Mukhya Mantri Kisaan Aay Badhotari Yojna. A later amendment widened this to include some non-domestic bodies such as hospitals and NGOs. Group Net Metering, by contrast, is open to all consumers of the NCT of Delhi. If you are a private company rather than a housing society, read our Group Net Metering guide instead, because that is usually the applicable route.
All Participants Must Share One DISCOM
The definition requires the participating connections to sit within the same distribution licensee's area of supply. A plant connected in BSES Rajdhani territory cannot pass credits to a connection billed by Tata Power-DDL. For a single society this is rarely a constraint, but it matters if members hold connections across different parts of Delhi. Confirm the licensee on each bill before the shares are agreed.
How the Credits Are Divided
The energy generated is credited to each participating consumer's monthly bill in the ratio of procurement recorded in the agreement or MoU between the participants. That ratio is a commercial decision the group makes, not something the DISCOM assigns. Participants can change their share once in a financial year, with two months' advance notice. Where a participant's connection is disconnected, the guidelines require the licensee to pay for that consumer's unadjusted units at the end of the financial year.
What Happens to Unused Credits
If the units credited in a billing period exceed what a participant imported, the surplus carries forward as energy credits for adjustment in later billing periods within the settlement period. Consumption in a given time block is first set off against generation in the same time block. Surplus beyond that is accounted as if it occurred in the off-peak time block, which matters for Time of Day consumers because off-peak units carry a lower value. Note that the Sixth Amendment of 2025 improved this treatment to the normal time block for Group Net Metering, and did not make the same change for VNM.
Capacity: The 2024 Change That Removed the Ceiling
The 2019 guidelines set the system between 5 kW and 5,000 kW. The Fifth Amendment, effective 1 April 2024, replaced that for ground-mounted systems with a limit of up to five times the sanctioned load of the participating consumer, capped at 10 MW, and stated that there is no cap on rooftop solar capacity under VNM or GNM. The same amendment allowed the generating system to sit in single or multiple locations rather than one site.
The Charges Waiver Has a Deadline
Systems commissioned by 31 March 2027 are exempted for their useful life from the full wheeling charge, banking charge, cross subsidy surcharge and other charges. For systems commissioned after that and up to 31 March 2030, 25 percent of those charges applies, rising in 25 percent steps every third year until it reaches 100 percent. There is also a separate waiver of Service Line cum Development and network augmentation cost on 11 kV and below networks, available until cumulative VNM and GNM capacity in each licensee reaches 75 MW for BRPL, 50 MW for TPDDL, 30 MW for BYPL and 10 MW for NDMC. Both of these make timing a real financial variable rather than a detail.
How a Society Actually Starts
The application goes to the distribution licensee in its prescribed format with a non-refundable fee of Rs 1,000 for feasibility analysis, and connectivity follows a three-tier process of feasibility analysis, registration and connection agreement. Before that stage, the group needs three things settled: which connections will participate, the procurement ratio between them, and who owns and maintains the plant. Those are society decisions, and they are the part that usually takes longer than the engineering.
Where Y2 Solar Comes In
A VNM project has an engineering half and an organisational half, and the second is usually what stalls it. Y2 Solar acts as the enabler across both. On the technical side we survey the site, confirm which distribution licensee each participating connection belongs to, size the plant against the group's combined consumption rather than whatever fits the roof, engineer the mounting structure, and install and commission the system. On the process side we prepare the feasibility application and the documentation pack, coordinate with BRPL, BYPL or TPDDL through the three-tier connectivity process, and help the society put the participation list and procurement ratio into a form the licensee will accept. After commissioning we stay on for maintenance and generation monitoring. What we cannot do is decide your eligibility or approve your application — those sit with the DISCOM and DERC — so we tell you early and in writing where we think a case is weak rather than after you have paid for it.
What to Confirm Before You Commit
VNM is a live framework that has been amended six times since 2019, and the available capacity in each licensee is finite and published quarterly on the licensee's website. Check the current guideline text on the Delhi Solar Portal or the DERC website, confirm your licensee's remaining capacity under the waiver, and get eligibility confirmed in writing for your specific consumer category before signing anything. Y2 Solar can help assess feasibility and prepare the documentation, but the approval, the eligibility decision and the credit mechanism belong to your DISCOM and DERC.
Decision pathway
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Delhi solar net meteringSources, review and limitations
Guidance is informed by Y2 Solar project and approval experience. Costs, generation, savings, eligibility and timelines are estimates or process guidance—not guarantees. Confirm changing scheme and utility requirements on the official portals before procurement or submission.
Read the complete Y2 Solar editorial policyFind out whether VNM works for your building
Send us the electricity bills of the flats or the society connections you want covered, and where the plant could sit. Y2 Solar will confirm the DISCOM, check eligibility for your consumer category, size the plant against your combined consumption and tell you plainly whether a VNM case stands up — before you take it to the society.