What should a rooftop solar contract say about maintenance, warranty, documents and who does what, going by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy model agreement?
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) model agreement puts design, supply, net meter, commissioning and five years of comprehensive maintenance on the vendor, and access, water and payment on the agreed schedule on the owner. It lists the documents the vendor must hand over, and it says payments can follow milestones.
What the vendor takes on
This comes from the model vendor agreement in Annexure 2 of MNRE's guidelines for its residential rooftop solar scheme, Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. A factory contract is its own document, so use this as a checklist and not as a rule.
- Site survey with a feasibility study of the roof, strength of the roof and shadow free area, and a detailed project report.
- Design and engineering with drawings and selection of components to the standard of the distribution company, the state regulator and MNRE.
- Procurement and supply to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Indian Standard (IS) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards, and safety guidelines. Civil, structure and electrical work with drawings.
- Net meter supply or procurement, testing and approvals, and the grid connection, are in the vendor's scope. The distribution company installs the meters and signs the metering agreement, and the consumer may also buy a meter from enlisted vendors. The vendor is present at testing and commissioning by the distribution company.
- Five years comprehensive operation and maintenance including overhauling, wear and tear and regular checking of the system's health, plus training on cleaning.
- Complete system warranted for 5 years, with the manufacturers' warranty papers for each component and help claiming on them.
What you take on
- Submit the application and net metering papers, and keep the delivered material in secure storage until handover.
- Give roof access for installation, maintenance, testing and for meter reading from the solar meter and inverter.
- Provide electricity during installation and water for cleaning the panels.
- Report any malfunction to the vendor during the warranty period.
- Pay on the agreed schedule, including extra for additional work or customisation that the building condition needs.
Documents to get at handover
- Technical catalogues, warranty certificates, BIS certificates and other test reports.
- Serial numbers and warranty cards of the modules and inverter.
- Layout drawing and electrical single line diagram, structure design and drawing, and cable details.
- From the technical specification, section 10: an operation and maintenance manual with array layout, schematic and cleaning method, and step by step troubleshooting procedures.
Money and disputes
- Clause 15: the plant cost and payment schedule are decided between vendor and consumer, and the consumer may opt for milestone based payment, which the agreement should record.
- Extra work found on survey is invoiced separately with goods and services tax (GST) on top of the standard plant cost.
- Clause 16: for a dispute both parties must settle it mutually or as per law. The disclaimer says MNRE and the distribution utilities are not a party to a vendor and consumer dispute.
- Insurance on the vendor's side covers material transfer and storage before commissioning only. See the page on wind damage for what that leaves with you.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so your monthly grid units are on file. It does not draft or review contracts.
- Performance ratio to demand
- Wind damage to rooftop solar: who pays
- Shadow analysis report: what to ask
- Domestic content modules under PM Surya Ghar
Last reviewed 2026-11-06. Re-check clause numbers and figures against the current version of the guidelines before you rely on them. The model agreement is Annexure 2 and is written for residential connections. A factory contract needs its own legal review.