Shared solar plots for flat owners and renters, credited on each power bill
TL;DR Brightlot groups flat residents into one solar plant on a society roof or nearby land, handles the DISCOM paperwork for virtual net metering, and splits the credits onto each member's bill. Residents pay a one-time share or a monthly plan. It works where state rules now allow sharing.
Most people in Indian cities live in flats and have no rooftop of their own. Under ordinary net metering a solar plant must sit on the consumer's premises, which shuts flat owners and renters out. Societies that try a shared plant face a slow paper trail with the DISCOM, fights over who pays and how credits are split, and nobody to run it once the installer leaves.
When it works though, the savings are real. A Raipur society of 20 households put up a 60 kW shared plant for ₹24 lakh in total, received ₹15 lakh in subsidy, and expects ₹6.3 lakh a year in bill savings, about ₹31,500 per home[1].
What it does, in regulatory terms: it organises and runs consumer-owned solar under each state's virtual or group net metering rules. It does not sell electricity or act as a licensee, and the DISCOM applies the credits.
The seed proposed AI-run peer-to-peer trading between neighbours. In India that has only run as a pilot - a private distributor tested it with a foreign blockchain-energy firm in North Delhi until June 2021[2]. Virtual net metering is the legal route that gets neighbours the same result, shared solar on their own bills, so I built the idea around it.
Brightlot signs up residents in a society or a cluster of nearby buildings, finds space on a common roof or leased land within the same DISCOM area[3], files the application, manages the installer and keeps a register of each member's share. When people move out or want to change their share, Brightlot handles it within the rules. Members see generation and credits in a simple app.
Residents pay in one of two ways. Either they buy a one-time share of the plant, as in Raipur, where each household put in about ₹1.2 lakh before subsidy[1], or they take a monthly plan where an investor owns the plant and members pay less than their bill savings. Brightlot earns a setup fee per member plus an annual service fee. Resident welfare associations are the buying gate and have to approve the plan.
Delhi's Seventh Amendment to its group and virtual net metering guidelines took effect on 20 January 2026. It opens virtual net metering to every consumer, including societies on a single point of supply, and makes DISCOMs bear network costs up to set caps[4]. Members can also change their share up to twice a year[4]. Other states are drafting similar rules.
No public count exists of virtual net metering projects in India. The narrowest firm figure is Delhi's capacity cap for the network-cost waiver - 110 MW, 100 MW and 30 MW for Delhi's three private distributors and 10 MW for NDMC[4], about 250 MW in all. Raipur's single project shows the household-level economics[1]. Treat other state markets as unproven until their rules are notified.
One Bengaluru startup sells community solar to renters and flat dwellers, placing panels on commercial sites and crediting bills[5]. A large rooftop-solar company markets solar to housing societies and explains virtual net metering to buyers[3]. Local installers, like the one that built the Raipur plant, do one project at a time[1]. The gap is a member-management layer, meaning the paperwork, share register and exits that installers do not want to run.
| Difficulty | Moderate (45/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹70 L–1.4 Cr |
| Time to launch | 6–12 months |
The solar part is commodity work. The hard parts are getting a society committee to agree (anyone who has sat through an RWA meeting knows), chasing DISCOM approvals that can take months, and keeping a fair share register as residents come and go. State rules differ, so each new state is close to a new launch.
Brightlot holds no electricity licence, because it organises consumer-owned solar and the DISCOM applies the credits. The approvals sit with the plant and its members.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI decide anyone's share or how credits are split. Those are money decisions the society signs off, and the DISCOM's own records win every dispute.
Want to work out the AI layer for Brightlot? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think this is a practical idea for a founder who enjoys committee meetings and government paperwork more than technology. Start in Delhi, where the rules are clearest. If you want software margins then look elsewhere. Prove first that you can take three societies from first meeting to credits on bills in under six months.
The free Brightlot validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the state rules checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for residents and society committees, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Brightlot or something close to it? The make-or-break work is getting society committees and DISCOMs to move at the same speed, and that's the kind of problem I like working through with founders. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.