Seven mistakes that stall DISCOM solar applications (and how to avoid every one)

When someone calls us about a solar application that's been "pending for months," the diagnosis is almost never a rejection. Rejections are rare and come with reasons. What we find instead is a file quietly waiting on something nobody flagged — and the something belongs to a short, predictable list.

Here are the seven mistakes behind most stalled files, in the order they usually occur.

1. The name on the application isn't the name on the connection

Electricity connections outlive their holders — registered to a late parent, a previous owner, the family patriarch. If your application's name doesn't match the connection record, the file bounces or stalls.

Fix: check the name on your bill before filing. Either apply in the connection-holder's name or transfer the connection first (a routine DISCOM process with its own timeline — start early).

2. Proposed system size exceeds sanctioned load

DISCOMs cap rooftop system size relative to your connection's sanctioned load. File for a 5 kW system on a 2 kW sanctioned load and the application deadlocks.

Fix: read the sanctioned load off your bill. If it's too low for the system your consumption justifies, apply for load enhancement first — routine, small fee, some paperwork — then file the solar application.

3. Roof rights assumed rather than documented

On builder floors, shared plots and society buildings, the terrace legally belongs to someone — often not solely to you. Applications without documented consent invite disputes that freeze everything.

Fix: get written consent from the roof's owner(s) — or the society's committee resolution — before filing, not after the DISCOM asks.

4. Wrong consumer category

The residential CFA applies to residential connections. Mixed-use premises, shop-cum-residence connections and commercial categories trip applicants who assumed "my home" equals "residential connection."

Fix: verify the category code on your bill. If your premises genuinely qualify for a residential connection and don't have one, resolve the categorisation first.

5. Installing before feasibility approval

Enthusiasm (and occasionally installer scheduling pressure) puts panels on roofs before the DISCOM has approved feasibility. Work done ahead of approval risks the subsidy entirely.

Fix: treat the feasibility approval as the starting gun. No advance payments that assume a date before it, no installation without it in hand.

6. Punch-list drift after inspection

The inspection finds two small items — an earthing strap, a missing danger board. The installer, already paid and busy elsewhere, takes weeks to return; nobody books the re-inspection; the file ages.

Fix: two-part. Contractually: tie a payment milestone to commissioning, not installation, so the installer's incentive survives the inspection. Operationally: chase the punch list within days and book the re-inspection the moment items close.

7. Bank-detail errors at the last step

The system is commissioned, the subsidy is approved — and a mistyped account number or stale IFSC parks the disbursement in limbo, unnoticed because everyone has stopped watching the portal.

Fix: enter bank details from a cancelled cheque, double-checked, and keep watching the portal until the credit actually lands. The process isn't over until the money is.

The meta-lesson

Every item on this list shares a shape: a small factual error, cheap to prevent at filing time, expensive to discover mid-process. Government process rewards completeness and punishes optimism. Ten minutes of verification before submission — name, load, category, consents, bank details — buys back weeks at the other end.

Stuck right now? We diagnose where a file is sitting and what it's waiting on as part of our net metering and DISCOM approval service — the first look is free.