Software that times factory solar, batteries and gensets to ToD tariffs
TL;DR Tariftimer is software for mid-sized factories that already have rooftop solar and a diesel genset, and are adding a battery. It decides each day when to charge, when to discharge, when to start the genset and when to run heavy machines, so the factory buys less power at peak rates.
Since 1 April 2024, commercial and industrial consumers with demand of 10 kW or more have been moved to time-of-day tariffs. Power in solar hours costs 10–20% less than normal and peak power 10–20% more[1]. Some reports quote a steeper solar-hours discount, so do check your own state commission's order.
Factories now have the hardware to respond. India had 33.41 GW of grid-connected rooftop solar by September 2026[2], and many plants keep a diesel genset for outages. What they don't have is a plan. A battery left on factory settings charges and discharges at the wrong times, and the shift supervisor runs the compressor when the order book says so, not when power is cheap (Which is fair, he has orders to ship).
Tariftimer connects to the factory's meters, inverter, battery controller and genset panel through a small gateway. Each evening it forecasts the next day's solar output and the plant's load from weather and production schedules. It then writes a dispatch plan - charge the battery from solar at noon, discharge it in the evening peak, hold a reserve for outages, and start the genset only when grid power is down or costs more than diesel. Movable loads, such as water pumping or chilling, get suggested time slots that the plant manager approves.
The seed pitched AI microgrids to stabilise the grid, and I'd reframe it. Grid balancing is the job of load despatch centres and utilities, and a startup will struggle to sell to them. Tariffs now pay a factory to shift its load, and if enough factories do that then the grid sees a flatter evening peak anyway.
The factory owner or its energy manager pays a monthly fee per site, sized to a share of the measured savings. The price is an assumption to test. A second channel is rooftop solar and battery installers, who could bundle Tariftimer to make their batteries pay back faster. Building-automation firms already sell on a promise of 20% lower energy bills and a two-year payback[3].
The ToD rules took effect for industry in April 2024 and for most other consumers by April 2025, starting as smart meters are installed[1]. Battery packs fell 20% in 2024 to US$115/kWh, about ₹11,100[4], which brings factory batteries within reach. Rooftop solar keeps growing[2]. Without a schedule each of those investments earns less than it could.
I found no public count of Indian factories running solar, batteries and gensets together, so there is no direct market figure. The adjacent number is 33.41 GW of grid-connected rooftop solar[2], which includes homes. Demand for energy software in commercial buildings is real though - a global electrical major now owns an Indian building-automation startup that sells to retail chains and hotels[3].
Building-automation startups control lighting and air conditioning in retail stores, hotels and offices[3]. Mini-grid operators build and runs solar mini-grids with its own control software, mostly for rural and off-grid customers[5]. Inverter and battery makers ship their own apps, but each controls only its own hardware. The gap is a vendor-neutral scheduler for a factory's whole power stack, priced for an MSME.
| Difficulty | Moderate (43/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹65 L–1.2 Cr |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
The forecasting is the easy part. Integration is harder, because every site mixes inverter, battery and genset brands that talk in different and often closed protocols. Selling needs patience too. MSME owners trust their electrician more than a dashboard, so the first sites must show savings on the actual electricity bill.
Tariftimer is software, so it needs no licence to operate. The rules that matter are the ones its customers' equipment sits under.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI start gensets or cut machines without limits a human set, and keep an outage reserve it can't touch.
Want to work out the AI layer for Tariftimer? Talk to Yash →
I like this for a founder with power-electronics or industrial-automation experience and contacts among solar installers. If you're a pure software team that has never wired a meter then it is a poor fit. Before you raise money, prove that five factories cut their monthly bill by more than three times your fee over a full billing quarter.
Plan for roughly ₹65 L–1.2 Cr, much of it on integrating mixed inverter, battery and genset brands at real sites.
It can be where the gap between peak and solar-hour tariffs is wide. Prove that savings run several times your fee before you scale.
Yes, wherever businesses pay time-of-day tariffs and own solar and batteries. Rebuild the tariff tables for your local regulator first.
The free Tariftimer validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the tariff, genset and battery-rule checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for factory owners and installers, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Tariftimer or something close to it? The make-or-break bit is getting mixed hardware to take orders from your software and showing the saving on a real electricity bill, and that's the kind of thing I help founders with. 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.