Solar installation in Chennai.

Before a figure is written

The bill comes before the module count.

This page is for a complete rooftop plant: the modules, the inverter, the structure, the wiring, the tests, and the papers that follow. The figure is written after a free visit from the Madipakkam office. It is not a rate per panel, and it is not printed here. Two terraces with the same electricity bill can need different steel, a different cable run, and a different clear patch.

How the size is chosen.

We start from a recent bill, not from a module count in a brochure. The units you already pay for, the months that spike, and any load you are about to add — an extra air conditioner, a pump, a floor that is still being built — set the range. The roof then confirms whether that range fits. If the clear patch is smaller than the bill suggests, the plant is reduced. We do not squeeze out the walkway to keep a round number.

Shade is measured on the roof, not guessed from the street. An overhead tank, a stair cover, a neighbour's wall, and the parapet all throw shade, and that shade moves hard after mid-afternoon. A row that is bright at 11:00 can be poor by 15:00. The layout leaves a path so the roof can still be used for the tank and for washing the modules later.

What the visit has to see.

Access is part of the design. The stair, any locked terrace door, and how the modules will be carried up are noted before a date is fixed. Each hole in the slab is drilled, anchored, and sealed, so monsoon rain does not travel into the room below. The inverter needs a wall with air around it, not a closed loft. The cable route from the array to that wall, and from the wall to the distribution board, is walked while the roof is still empty.

Frames and cable glands are chosen for humid air. That matters on the coast, and it still matters inland, because a Chennai summer and the monsoon sit on the same steel. A shared apartment roof needs written permission from the association before any hole is drilled. Without that permission, the job does not start. A balcony is not a place we mount.

What a complete plant includes.

The proposal after the visit names the modules, the inverter, the structure, the cable, the earthing, the testing, and the commissioning. Civil work for the base is part of that job when the slab needs it. Eligible homes also get help with the net-meter application and with the subsidy file. The written scope is what you approve. A message that only shows a total, with the lines left out, is not that scope.

If the modules and the inverter are already yours, that is a different service. Labour for fitting equipment you already own starts at ₹3,000 per kW. The equipment, the structure steel, the cables, the connectors, and the papers sit outside that rate. The detail is on our installation services page. This page is the full plant, chosen for the bill after the visit.

The roof days and the meter are two clocks.

Once the materials are on site, a typical home is finished across a few working days. The exact days depend on the size, the access, and how much civil work the slab needs. You do not have to leave the house. There is drilling while the base goes in, and a short planned interruption when the AC side is connected to the distribution board.

The utility's processing is not the same clock. The net meter is applied for, inspected, and changed on TANGEDCO's timetable. Generation for the home can be explained on the day of handover. Export, and the bill that follows, wait on that meter. We prepare the file and stay with the application. We do not promise a date the utility has not given.

The subsidy is a separate line.

Eligible homeowners can receive up to ₹78,000 when the modules are DCR and the file is approved. The amount and the approval follow current scheme rules. That assistance is not a discount printed on this page, and it is not subtracted from a price that has not been written yet. A cheaper module that fails the scheme can cost more once the assistance is given up. The visit is where we say whether the equipment we propose qualifies.

How to read the written quote.

Compare the lines, not a single total from a message. Ask who supplies the modules and the inverter, whether each drilled hole is sealed, whether earthing is included, and who stays until the inverter has started and the tests are recorded. Those tests are voltage, polarity, insulation resistance, and earthing. Where the inverter supports it, the phone view is set up so generation is visible from the house. The roof is cleared of offcuts and packing before the crew leaves.

Also ask what happens if the terrace is smaller than the first sketch. A row that does not fit is redesigned. It is not forced against the parapet. Ask where the crew comes from. ZeroEB works from Madipakkam, at No.5, MSP Complex, F-3, Medavakkam Main Road, opposite Kumaran Theatre. The desk is open Monday to Saturday, 09:00 to 19:00. Call +91 9042517415 or +91 63854 67892, or write to . A visit from that office is free.

What to send with the enquiry.

Send a recent electricity bill, the area of the city, and whether the building is an independent house, a villa, or a shared roof. Photographs of the terrace, the tank, the parapet, and the wall where the inverter might go make the first conversation shorter. They do not replace the visit. Shade, the tank, and the path of the cable only become clear when someone stands on the roof. If you already hold a quotation from someone else, send that too. We read the scope, not only the last line.