How to Verify a Solar Company Before You Pay

Three quotes, three companies, three confident salespeople. One is ₹40,000 cheaper and the brochure looks the same.

You are about to hand over two lakh rupees to a business you found last week, for equipment that is supposed to sit on your roof for twenty-five years. The awkward truth is that the cheapest quote is sometimes from a company that will not exist in year three, and nothing in the brochure tells you which one that is.

Almost everything you need is checkable in an afternoon, and most of it is free. This guide shows you how to verify a solar company properly: which registrations to look up, what the empanelment rules actually mean for your subsidy, and the questions that separate an EPC from a reseller with a WhatsApp catalogue.

Key takeaways

• Empanelment matters for your money. Net metering and the subsidy route generally run through a vendor registered on the national portal, so this is the first thing to confirm.
• Check the components, not just the company. Panels must be ALMM listed and the inverter on the approved list, or the subsidy fails at verification.
• A Udyam number and a GST number are public and verifiable in minutes. A company that will not share them is telling you something.
• The cheap quote is usually cheap somewhere specific. Ask what structure, cable and protection it includes, because that is where the money is removed.
• Ask who attends in year three. Warranty is only as good as the entity honouring it, and most rooftop disputes are about service, not panels.
• Insist on written specifications before payment, with makes and models named. A quote without model numbers is not a quote.

How to verify a solar company: start with the registrations

Four checks, none of which needs the company's cooperation.

Empanelment on the national portal

The PM Surya Ghar portal lists registered vendors by state. If you intend to claim the central subsidy, confirm your installer appears there before you sign, because the subsidy route and the net metering application are normally handled through a registered vendor.

Do not accept a screenshot. Look the company up yourself, and check the name matches the entity on your quotation exactly. A common trap is a quotation issued by one entity while a differently-named associate holds the registration. Our guide to the PM Surya Ghar vendor list walks through the portal search and what registration does and does not prove.

ALMM listing for the panels

The Approved List of Models and Manufacturers is the list your panels must appear on for the subsidy. Ask for the exact make and model being supplied, not the brand, and check it.

This matters because a brand can have both listed and unlisted models. Getting "Brand X panels" in writing is not the same as getting the model number that will actually be delivered.

Do the same for the inverter against the approved inverter list.

Udyam registration

Udyam is the government's MSME registration, and the number is verifiable on the Udyam portal. It confirms the business exists as a registered enterprise with a traceable date of registration.

Ours is UDYAM-TN-02-0495778, published on every page of this site, and you can check it in under a minute.

GST registration

A GST number can be verified on the GST portal, which will show the legal name and the registration status. A business doing rooftop solar at any scale will be registered.

Be careful with the claim rather than the number. Plenty of websites state that a company is GST registered without publishing the number. The claim is only useful if you can check it, so ask for the number.

What the quotation should contain

A quotation you cannot verify is a quotation you cannot compare. Insist on:

• Panel make, model and wattage, with the quantity
• Inverter make, model and AC rating
• Mounting structure specification: material, galvanising standard and height
• Cable specification and the make of the DC and AC cabling
• Protection equipment: DC and AC distribution boxes, surge protection and earthing arrangement
• Scope of work: who files the net metering application and the subsidy claim
• Warranty terms separated out, because the panel, inverter and workmanship warranties are different lengths
• What is excluded, stated explicitly

If a quote is materially cheaper than the others, the difference is almost always in the structure, the cable or the protection. Those are the parts nobody sees after commissioning and the parts that fail first in a coastal, cyclone-exposed climate like Chennai's.

Structure is where Chennai quotes diverge

Worth singling out, because it is specific to this coast. Chennai sits in a 50 metres per second basic wind speed zone under IS 875 Part 3, with a cyclone importance factor applied.

That has a real cost in steel. A structure designed for inland conditions is cheaper and will hold in normal weather. Ask what wind speed the structure is designed for and what the galvanising specification is, then compare quotes on that basis rather than on the total.

The questions that reveal the difference

Four questions tell you more than an hour of brochure reading.

"Who installs it, your team or a subcontractor?" Neither answer is disqualifying. A company that subcontracts and says so, and can tell you who supervises, is fine. A company that is vague about it is a reseller.

"What happens in year three when the inverter throws a fault?" Listen for a process rather than a promise. Who attends, within how long, what you pay, and whether they hold spares or order from the manufacturer.

"Can I speak to a customer you installed for two years ago?" Recent references are easy. A two-year-old reference tests whether the relationship survived the first service call.

"Which of these is your own installation?" Ask about photographs on the website. Stock imagery is not a scandal, but a company that has installed locally can show you local work, and ideally an address in your area.

Warning signs

None of these is proof of anything on its own. Two or more together is a pattern.

• Pressure on a deadline: a subsidy that is "ending this month" is usually not
• A large advance with no milestone schedule tied to delivery and commissioning
• No written specification, or models that change after you pay
• A promise that the subsidy comes off the invoice, which it does not, because it is reimbursed after commissioning
• A guaranteed zero bill, which ignores fixed charges that do not depend on consumption
• Reluctance to share registration numbers you could verify yourself

That fourth one is worth dwelling on. The central subsidy is credited to your bank account after commissioning, typically 30 to 45 days later in Tamil Nadu. Anyone telling you it will be deducted from the price is either misinformed or managing your expectations badly, and both are reasons to slow down.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if a solar company is government approved?

Look the company up on the PM Surya Ghar national portal's vendor listing for your state, and confirm the name matches the entity on your quotation exactly. Verify the Udyam number on the Udyam portal and the GST number on the GST portal.

What is ALMM and why does it matter?

The Approved List of Models and Manufacturers is the list your panels must appear on for the subsidy. Ask for the exact model being supplied and check it yourself, because a brand can have both listed and unlisted models.

Do I need an empanelled vendor to get the subsidy?

The subsidy and net metering route normally runs through a vendor registered on the national portal, so confirm registration before signing if you intend to claim.

Why is one solar quote so much cheaper?

Usually because of the mounting structure, the cable specification or the protection equipment. Those are invisible after commissioning and are the first things to fail in coastal conditions.

What should a solar quotation include?

Panel and inverter makes, models and ratings, structure specification and design wind speed, cable and protection details, the scope of paperwork, separated warranty terms, and an explicit list of exclusions.

How do I verify a GST number?

Enter it on the GST portal, which returns the legal name and registration status. Ask for the number rather than accepting a claim that a company is registered.

What questions should I ask a solar installer?

Who physically installs, what happens when the inverter faults in year three, whether you can speak to a two-year-old customer, and which photographs are their own installations.

Is a big advance payment normal?

A deposit is normal. A large advance with no milestone schedule tied to delivery, installation and commissioning is not. Tie payments to stages you can see.

Where this fits

Once you have shortlisted, our guide to appointing a solar EPC contractor covers contract terms in more depth, and solar panel price in Chennai shows what a fair installed cost looks like so you can judge an outlier. If a subsidy claim is already stuck, see PM Surya Ghar subsidy not received.

Blues Renewables has installed solar across Chennai since 2020, for homes, schools, businesses and factories. Our Udyam registration is UDYAM-TN-02-0495778, we publish our address in Guindy, and we will give you the make and model of every component before you pay anything.

Call +91 98841 07170 and ask us the four questions above. Ask the other two quotes as well.

Sources

• MNRE, Guidelines for implementation of PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, on registered vendors and Central Financial Assistance
• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Approved List of Models and Manufacturers for solar PV modules
• Udyam Registration portal and Goods and Services Tax portal, for public verification of registration
• IS 875 Part 3, wind loading, for the Chennai basic wind speed and cyclone importance factor
• Blues Renewables installation records, Chennai and Tamil Nadu, 2020 to 2026