Selling your home? Your net metering agreement doesn't come with the keys.

Panels stay on the roof. The agreement behind them doesn't automatically follow.

Most sellers and buyers treat rooftop solar like any other fixture — a water heater, a modular kitchen — something that simply changes hands with the property. Your net metering setup doesn't work that way. The bidirectional meter on your wall is yours to use, but the net metering agreement behind it is executed between BESCOM and your consumer number, not between BESCOM and your address. Sell the house without dealing with that agreement, and the new owner can end up with panels that generate power but a connection that isn't legally set up to bill for it correctly.

What the net metering agreement actually is, on paper.

When your system was commissioned, you signed an agreement with BESCOM covering the sanctioned capacity, the metering arrangement, and the terms under which your exported units get credited. That document is linked to your name and consumer account — the same way your electricity connection itself is. A change of ownership at the property is, as far as BESCOM's records go, the same event as a new occupant applying for a fresh connection: it triggers a name transfer or new connection process, and the net metering agreement needs to be re-executed against the new consumer number, not carried over by assumption.

What happens to your export credits the moment you sell.

This is the part that catches sellers off guard. Any banked export credits sitting against your account at the time of sale don't transfer to the buyer and don't get paid out to you either — they're tied to the consumer account being closed. If you're planning a sale, it's worth timing it deliberately: selling right after your annual settlement cycle, rather than mid-cycle with several months of banked credit sitting unused, means you're not leaving free electricity on the table for an account that's about to close. It's a small detail, but on a system exporting meaningfully every month, a few thousand rupees of unclaimed credit is a realistic outcome for sellers who don't plan around it.

What the buyer needs to do — and why it isn't optional.

The new owner has to apply for the connection to be transferred into their name, exactly as they would for a home without solar. Once that's done, the net metering agreement needs a fresh application referencing the existing installation — BESCOM doesn't recommission the physical system, but it does need to formally attach the agreement to the new consumer. Skipping this step is common, and the usual result is a bill that doesn't reflect solar credit correctly for months, followed by a scramble to backdate paperwork that should have taken a week if handled at the point of sale.

What sellers should hand over — beyond the keys.

• Original net metering agreement and commissioning certificate — the buyer's application moves faster with these in hand rather than requesting duplicates from BESCOM.
• Installer's completion report and single line diagram — useful if the buyer ever needs a capacity change or has an inspection dispute down the line.
• Panel and inverter warranty documents — most manufacturer warranties are tied to the serial number and installation date, not the original owner's name, but the buyer needs the paperwork to invoke a claim.
• AMC contract status, if you have one running — some are transferable to the new owner for the remaining term, others aren't, and it's worth clarifying with your installer before the handover, not after a panel underperforms.
• PM Surya Ghar subsidy status — if the subsidy was disbursed against your bank account, that's already settled and doesn't affect the buyer, but it's worth confirming there's no pending disbursement or compliance check still open on the connection.

What buyers should check before they sign anything.

Ask for the commissioning date, not just the installation date — that's what starts the clock on inverter warranty, typically 5 to 10 years, well short of the panels' 25-year span. Confirm the sanctioned capacity on record matches what's physically on the roof; a mismatch usually means an unrecorded expansion that BESCOM hasn't approved, which becomes your problem to fix once you're the account holder. And don't assume a working system means a properly closed loop with BESCOM — ask specifically whether the seller has already initiated the name transfer, or whether that's being left for you to sort out after possession.