Already on Gruha Jyothi? Here's when solar still pays off — and when it barely matters.

Free power up to 200 units changes the solar conversation.

Most solar ROI pitches in Bengaluru assume you're paying a real BESCOM bill every month that solar will shrink. For a large share of Bengaluru households, that assumption is already wrong. Under Karnataka's Gruha Jyothi scheme, domestic consumers whose average monthly consumption qualified them get up to 200 units of electricity free every month — no bill at all, up to that line. If that's your household, the usual "look how much you'll save on your BESCOM bill" math doesn't work the way installers present it, and nobody selling you a system has much incentive to explain why.

This isn't an argument against solar. It's an argument for sizing it against your actual usage pattern instead of a generic quote, because for a Gruha Jyothi household the ROI story is genuinely different from a household already paying full telescopic rates.

The number that actually matters: how close are you to 200 units?

Gruha Jyothi's benefit is calculated against your average monthly consumption from your baseline year, with a revised rule giving very low-usage households (under 90 units) a flat +10 unit top-up rather than a percentage increment. The scheme covers domestic LT-1/LT-2 connections whether you own or rent. But the part that matters most for solar economics is the cliff: cross 200 units of actual consumption in any given month, and you don't just pay for the units above 200 — you lose the free-power benefit for that entire month and get billed in full, at BESCOM's ordinary telescopic slab rates.

That's the detail solar quotes rarely mention, and it's exactly where solar can either matter enormously or barely matter at all.

Your usual monthly usage	What solar actually does for you
Comfortably under 200 units, stays there year-round	Limited — your bill is already ₹0 most months. A large system has little left to offset.
Hovers near 200, tips over in summer (AC, guests, festivals)	High — even a small system that shaves your daytime peak can keep you under 200 and protect the whole free-power month, not just a few rupees of units.
Regularly well above 200 units (larger home, no realistic Gruha Jyothi benefit)	Same as any non-subsidised BESCOM household — solar offsets your costliest, highest-slab units first.

Why the "cliff" is worth more than the export credits

BESCOM's domestic tariff is telescopic — the more you use, the higher the per-unit rate on each additional slab, with current LT-1 rates running from roughly ₹3.75/unit on the lowest slab up toward ₹7.5–8/unit once you're past 200 units. If you're a Gruha Jyothi household who tips over 200 units for four months a year — say, April to July, when Bengaluru ACs actually run — you're not just paying for 30–50 extra units. You're paying the full slab bill for the whole month, often ₹1,200–₹1,800 for a month that would have cost you nothing had you stayed under the line.

A system sized specifically to cover that seasonal overage — often as small as 1.5–2 kW, not the largest system your roof or subsidy slab allows — can be the difference between four expensive months and zero. That's a very different sizing conversation from "install the biggest system your subsidy covers," and it's one most quotes skip because a smaller system means a smaller invoice.

A practical way to check before you buy anything

• Pull your last 12 months of BESCOM bills (the BESCOM app or website shows this) and note which months, if any, crossed 200 units.
• If none did, be honest with any installer quoting you a large system — your realistic annual saving is small, and a modest system aimed at future-proofing (EV charging, an added AC) is a more honest pitch than an ROI story built on bills you're not actually paying.
• If a few months did cross the line, ask specifically for a system sized to cover that seasonal gap, not the maximum your roof or subsidy allows — this is the highest-value version of solar for a Gruha Jyothi household.
• If most months already cross 200 units, Gruha Jyothi isn't really benefiting you today, and the standard net metering math in our BESCOM net metering guide applies to you directly.

A household in Banashankari we've advised had exactly this pattern: comfortably under 200 units for eight months, then 220–260 units in April, May, June and October when two window ACs ran daily. Each overage month cost them roughly ₹1,500 in full billing — about ₹6,000 a year lost entirely to tipping over one line. A right-sized 2 kW system aimed at daytime AC load, not a maxed-out roof, was projected to keep three of those four months back under 200 units, protecting most of that ₹6,000 for a system costing a fraction of what a full-roof installation would have.