Every solar salesperson throws around numbers like “save 80% on your electricity bill.” But what does that actually mean for your business — a fuel station, a factory, a warehouse, or a cold storage facility?
At Techedge, we’ve been installing solar systems since 2019. Here’s an honest breakdown of what real savings look like.
The Basics: How Solar Savings Work
Solar savings come from one source: units you generate yourself instead of buying from the grid.
If your electricity tariff is ₹7.50/unit and your 30 kWp system generates 130 units/day:
- Daily savings: ~₹975
- Monthly savings: ~₹29,250
- Annual savings: ~₹3.5 Lakhs
That’s the math. But real savings depend on three things:
- Your current tariff — commercial and industrial users in Karnataka pay ₹7–₹9/unit
- Your load hours — does your business run during the day (solar hours)?
- Your system size — matched correctly to your actual consumption
Commercial Users: What to Expect
For a 15–30 kWp system (small factory, fuel station, retail outlet):
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| System cost (net after subsidy) | ₹7–20 Lakhs |
| Monthly savings | ₹15,000 – ₹45,000 |
| Payback period | 3–5 years |
| 25-year savings | ₹40–₹80 Lakhs |
For a 50–100 kWp system (mid-size manufacturing, cold storage):
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| System cost | ₹25–55 Lakhs |
| Monthly savings | ₹60,000 – ₹1.2 Lakhs |
| Payback period | 3–4 years |
| 25-year savings | ₹1.5–₹3 Crore |
The DG Offset — The Hidden Saving
If your business runs a diesel generator during power cuts, solar-hybrid with battery backup can replace diesel entirely.
At ₹100/litre, a 30 kVA DG running 4–5 hours/day costs:
- ₹2,000–₹2,500/day in diesel
- ₹60,000–₹75,000/month
A properly designed hybrid solar system with battery backup eliminates this cost. This is exactly what we did for a cold storage facility in Mysuru — the DG savings alone halved the payback period.
What Affects Your Payback Period?
- Net metering approval — credited units reduce your bill further
- HPCL / MSME / PM Surya Ghar subsidies — can reduce upfront cost by ₹1–2.5 Lakhs
- AIF interest subvention — for agro-processing units, 3% interest subvention on loans (see our AIF guide)
- System quality — Tier-1 panels (like Goldi Solar) degrade less than 0.7%/year; cheap panels can degrade 2–3%/year
Our Recommendation
Don’t go solar based on vague promises. Ask your installer for:
- Your site-specific generation estimate (based on actual irradiation data, not generic numbers)
- A detailed investment vs. savings table — year by year
- References from similar installations they’ve done
Or just call us. We’ll do a free site survey and give you the actual numbers.