How to Choose a Solar Installer and Avoid Common Scams

Rooftop solar is a 25-year purchase installed in three days. That mismatch is exactly what a bad installer exploits - the system looks identical on day one and diverges badly by year three. These are the checks that separate the two.

Eight warning signs in a solar quotation

1. No module make, model or DCR status. Without DCR certification you can lose the entire ₹78,000 subsidy. Insist it is printed on the quotation.
2. Inverter listed only as 'branded inverter'. Ask for make, model, warranty years and where the nearest Gujarat service point is.
3. Mounting structure not specified. Gauge, galvanisation and height determine whether the array survives a decade of Ahmedabad summers and monsoon wind.
4. Net metering and liaisoning excluded or described vaguely. This is real work; if it is not in the price, it will be in a later bill or in your lap.
5. Subsidy promised as a guaranteed deduction. The credit reaches your bank account after commissioning; nobody can guarantee a date.
6. Large cash advance with no written work order. Standard practice is a staged schedule against a signed quotation.
7. A price far below the market band (below roughly ₹40,000/kW). Something has been removed - see price per kW.
8. No local address, GST number or installation references. You need somebody to call in year four.

Due diligence you can do in an afternoon

• Confirm the vendor is registered on the national rooftop portal for your DISCOM area - subsidy eligibility depends on it. See what MNRE approved means.
• Ask for two or three completed installations in your area and call the owners. Bopal, Satellite, Maninagar, Chandkheda - someone nearby has one.
• Check GST registration and a physical office address you can visit.
• Compare quotes on a per-kW, like-for-like scope basis, not on total price.
• Read the warranty document, not the warranty claim: module performance warranty, inverter years, workmanship period, and what voids it.

How many years of experience should a solar EPC company have?

Experience matters less than continuity and traceability. A three-year-old firm with a verifiable local portfolio, its own installation crew and an office you can walk into is safer than a ten-year-old brand that subcontracts your job to a crew you never meet. Ask who physically installs the system and who returns for service.

Payment structure that protects you

1. Token/booking amount against a signed quotation and work order.
2. Material stage payment when modules and inverter are delivered to site - verify serial numbers against the quotation.
3. Balance on mechanical completion and commissioning, after the DISCOM inspection is scheduled.

Learn to read every line of a real quotation on our quotation explained page, compare brands honestly in the brand comparison, and see the criteria we hold ourselves to in the best solar company buyer's guide.

When you are ready, get a written quote from us - module model, inverter make, structure spec and scope all itemised, so you can hold it against any other quotation you have.