Where do I find my current sanctioned load?

It's printed on your UPPCL electricity bill, usually near the connection/account details, listed in kW. It's also visible when you log into the UPPCL consumer portal with your account ID.

Does raising my sanctioned load increase my bill even without solar?

Yes. UPPCL's fixed charge is billed per kW of sanctioned load every month, regardless of how much electricity you actually use, so a higher sanctioned load means a higher fixed charge whether or not you install solar. This is exactly why sizing your solar system to genuinely match your usage, not oversizing 'just in case', matters.

Can I install a system larger than my current sanctioned load and upgrade later?

No, this is one of the more common causes of a stalled net metering application. UPERC rooftop solar regulations tie your grid-interactive solar capacity to your sanctioned load at the time of application. If your proposed system exceeds it, the load enhancement needs to be completed and reflected on your connection before PuVVNL will approve net metering, not after.

Guides

Upgrading Your UPPCL Sanctioned Load Before Solar Installation

An easy-to-miss prerequisite: your grid-connected solar system can't be bigger than the load your connection is officially sanctioned for.

Short answer: your rooftop solar system's capacity is tied to your connection's sanctioned load. If our sizing calculator says you need a 5 kW system but your UPPCL connection is only sanctioned for 2 kW, you need to upgrade the sanctioned load first, not install the panels and sort it out afterward. This page explains why, and what it costs you every month either way.

What "sanctioned load" actually means

Your sanctioned load is the maximum electrical capacity, in kW, your UPPCL connection is officially approved for. It's not the same as what you actually draw day to day, it's a ceiling set when your connection was first sanctioned (or last revised), and it's printed on your electricity bill. UPPCL bills a fixed monthly charge based on this number, currently ₹110 per kW for urban LMV-1 connections and ₹90 per kW for rural connections, every month, regardless of how many units you actually consume.

Rooftop solar net metering regulations tie your permitted grid-interactive solar capacity to this sanctioned load. In practical terms: if your household draws enough to justify a 5 kW system on paper, but your connection is only sanctioned for 2 kW, PuVVNL will not approve net metering for the larger system until your sanctioned load itself is formally raised.

Why this trips people up

It's easy to size a system around your electricity bill and roof area and not realise the sanctioned load is a separate, older number that hasn't kept pace with how the household's usage has grown, especially in homes that added ACs, added a floor, or shifted to more electrical appliances over the years without formally requesting a load increase. The mismatch usually only surfaces during the net metering feasibility check, after a system has already been quoted, which is exactly when you don't want to discover it.

This is why we check your current sanctioned load (it's on your bill) as a standard part of every free site visit, before finalising a system size, not after.

How to raise your sanctioned load

Load enhancement for an existing UPPCL connection is a formal process, not an informal request to your local lineman. It's handled through UPPCL's online consumer services (marketed under the Jhatpat Portal / Nivesh Mitra single-window system for new and enhanced connections), where you submit a load enhancement application against your existing consumer account, along with the applicable security deposit and processing charges set out in UPERC's tariff schedule. Processing timelines and exact fee amounts vary by connection category and are revised periodically by UPERC, so always confirm the current figure at application time rather than relying on an old quote.

One thing worth planning for: raising your sanctioned load raises your fixed monthly charge permanently, not just while solar is being installed. Going from a 2 kW to a 5 kW urban connection, for example, takes your fixed charge from ₹220/month to ₹550/month, an extra ₹330/month, indefinitely. That's a real, ongoing cost that should factor into your solar payback math alongside the system cost itself, not treated as a one-time formality.

The other direction: don't over-upgrade

Because the fixed charge scales directly with sanctioned load, there's no benefit to sanctioning more capacity "just in case." Size the upgrade, if you need one at all, to match the system your actual roof area and usage genuinely supports, which is exactly what our solar calculator and free site visit are for. Oversizing the sanctioned load inflates a fixed cost you'll pay every month for as long as you hold the connection, solar or not.

Not sure if your connection needs an upgrade?

Send us a photo of your latest UPPCL bill on WhatsApp and we'll tell you plainly whether your current sanctioned load supports the system size you're considering.

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