Under 1 MW in Madhya Pradesh? Rooftop Solar vs Open Access

The threshold that matters

The Green Energy Open Access Rules, 2022 allow renewable open access from 100 kW of contracted demand. Legally, a 300 kW factory can buy solar power from a third-party plant. Commercially, in Madhya Pradesh, it almost never should. The reasons are the charges and the fixed costs, not the law.

The charges do not shrink with size

Under the MPERC FY2026-27 tariff order, a third-party open access consumer pays cross subsidy surcharge of ₹1.49 per unit (HV-3.1), additional surcharge of ₹1.18 per unit, and wheeling of ₹0.69 per unit at 11 kV or ₹0.17 at 33 kV. Most units under 1 MW are on 11 kV. That is ₹3.36 per unit of charges on top of the solar tariff before transmission and losses. Against a daytime grid cost of roughly ₹7 after the 20% ToD solar-hours rebate, a ₹4 solar tariff lands at about ₹7.60. The saving is negative.

The fixed costs do not shrink either

Open access needs ABT-compliant metering, scheduling with the state load despatch centre, monthly energy accounting, deviation settlement and a compliance calendar. Those costs are roughly the same for a 500 kW consumer and a 5 MW consumer. Spread over 500 kW they can add ₹0.30–0.50 per unit; spread over 5 MW they vanish.

What a rooftop or behind-the-meter plant does instead

A plant on your own roof or your own land, connected behind your own meter, attracts none of the open access charges. Every unit it generates displaces a unit you would have bought at the full daytime tariff, so the saving is the grid tariff minus your own generation cost, which for a well-built plant is ₹2.5–3.5 per unit over its life. Net metering or gross metering rules for HT consumers in MP apply, and the plant size is limited by your sanctioned load and your roof or land, but for a 300 kW to 1 MW factory the comparison is not close.

Item	Third-party open access (11 kV, under 1 MW)	Rooftop / behind the meter
Solar cost	₹4.00 tariff	₹2.50–3.50 lifetime cost, or ₹4–5 under an OPEX model
Wheeling + CSS + AS	₹3.36	Nil
Metering, scheduling, compliance	₹0.30–0.50 equivalent	Nil
Landed cost	₹7.7–7.9	₹2.5–5.0
Saving vs daytime grid (~₹7)	Negative	₹2–4.5 per unit
Capital from consumer	Nil	Full, or nil under OPEX/RESCO

The exceptions

No roof and no land. A leased factory in an industrial estate with a weak roof may have nowhere to put 500 kW. Open access is then the only solar route, and a group captive share in a larger plant is the least bad version of it.
Several units under one owner. Five 400 kW units owned by one group can aggregate into a 2 MW open access consumer under the aggregation provisions the Ministry of Power clarified in 2024, and then the arithmetic changes.
33 kV connection with high load factor. A 900 kW unit on 33 kV with a continuous process is at the edge; run the numbers before deciding.

What we do with your bills if you are under 1 MW

We still read them, and we still send the one page. It will say “rooftop or behind the meter, sized to about X kW, expected saving Y per unit” and it will not try to sell you an open access PPA that does not pay. If your load is near the threshold or you have several units, it will say that too. Send the bills here.

Questions on this topic

Can a factory under 1 MW use open access solar in Madhya Pradesh?

Legally yes, from 100 kW under the Green Energy Open Access Rules 2022. Commercially it rarely pays: at FY2026-27 charges an 11 kV consumer carries about Rs 3.36 per unit of wheeling, CSS and additional surcharge, which removes the saving. A rooftop or behind-the-meter plant is normally the better choice.

What saves more for a 500 kW factory: rooftop solar or open access?

Rooftop or behind-the-meter solar. It avoids all open access charges and displaces grid power at the full daytime tariff, typically saving Rs 2 to 4.5 per unit, while third-party open access at 11 kV is close to negative.

Under 1 MW in Madhya Pradesh: why rooftop usually beats open access, and when it does not