PM Solar Scheme 2026: Eligibility and How to Apply

Start with the thing almost nobody tells you: there is no single national “PM Solar Scheme.”

What people search for under that name is actually a group of separate federal and provincial programs, each with its own eligibility rules, its own portal, its own deadlines and its own funding. Some are free system giveaways. Some are subsidised loans. Some apply only in one province.

Understanding which one you are actually eligible for is the whole task. It is also the reason so many people fill in the wrong form, wait for months, and hear nothing.

This guide sorts out what exists, who qualifies, and how to apply without getting defrauded along the way.

One caution before anything else. Government scheme phases open and close, deadlines shift, and eligibility thresholds get revised between rounds. Everything below reflects the published position at the time of writing. Verify current status on the official portal before you act on any of it, and treat any date you read on a blog, including this one, as something to confirm rather than rely on.

The programs people mean by “PM Solar Scheme”

CM Punjab Solar Panel Scheme, also called the Roshan Gharana Program. This is the one most search traffic is actually looking for. It is a Punjab provincial scheme providing free solar systems to low-consumption domestic users, allocated by computerised balloting. Administered through the Punjab government’s portal.

PM Solar Scheme for Gilgit-Baltistan. A federal initiative aimed at off-grid and underserved areas of GB, tied to a large solar project intended to address chronic outages in remote mountain districts.

Punjab Solar Tubewell Scheme. Aimed at farmers rather than households, subsidising the solarisation of agricultural tube wells. Requires land ownership documentation.

Bank of Punjab solar financing. Not a giveaway. A government-backed loan route for households that earn too much or consume too much to qualify for a free system, but still want to solarise.

If you live outside Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan, check your own provincial energy department, since equivalent programs vary by province and change frequently. Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have run their own initiatives at different times.

Eligibility, program by program

Punjab free solar scheme (Roshan Gharana)

The published criteria have centred on:

• Residence in Punjab with a CNIC showing a Punjab address
• A domestic electricity connection with a Punjab DISCO
• Monthly consumption within the low-usage band, generally 0 to 200 units averaged over the preceding twelve months
• No illegal connection and no significant outstanding dues
• Ownership of the property, or written permission from the landlord
• Usable roof space
• No existing solar system already installed

Priority in balloting has generally gone to households on very low consumption, widows and women-headed households, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and residents of rural or heavily load-shed areas.

Who is excluded: commercial premises, factories and shops; households consuming above the unit threshold; senior government officers in higher pay grades; anyone who already has solar installed; and electricity defaulters or theft cases.

Gilgit-Baltistan PM scheme

Published criteria have centred on GB residence, a valid NADRA CNIC, low or middle income, limited or no access to stable electricity, and no history of electricity theft. Priority has gone to off-grid, remote and disaster-affected areas.

Punjab solar tubewell scheme

Aimed at farmers holding agricultural land in Punjab with an existing tube well connection, and requiring proof of land ownership. Minimum landholding requirements have applied.

What you actually receive

This is where expectations most often outrun reality.

The Punjab free scheme has been structured around small systems sized to the applicant’s consumption band. Households in the lowest usage bracket have been allocated a single-panel system, while those slightly higher up the band have received a system in the region of one kilowatt. Reported allocations have included panels, inverter, battery backup, wiring and installation as a complete package at no cost to the recipient.

Be realistic about what that means. A system of that size covers lights, fans, a television and phone charging. It will not run an air conditioner, and it is not intended to. The scheme targets lifeline consumers whose entire monthly usage is under 200 units, which is roughly what a single air conditioner uses in a fortnight.

If you are hoping a government scheme will eliminate a Rs 50,000 monthly bill, it will not, and you are not eligible for it anyway.

How to apply

Punjab

The application runs through the Punjab government’s official portal at cmsolarscheme.punjab.gov.pk, which is a Punjab Information Technology Board project. Some phases have also accepted SMS registration through the shortcode 8800.

The sequence:

1. Open the official portal and register using your CNIC and mobile number.
2. Enter your electricity bill reference number, taken from a recent bill.
3. Complete the household and personal details requested.
4. Upload the required documents.
5. Submit, and record the application reference number shown on the confirmation screen.
6. Track your status on the portal using your CNIC or bill reference number.

Selection is by computerised balloting rather than first-come-first-served, so applying on day one gives you no advantage over applying on day thirty, provided you apply before the deadline for that phase.

After balloting, selected applicants go through physical verification of the residence and the meter before installation is scheduled.

Gilgit-Baltistan

Applications have been handled through a dedicated federal portal along with district administration offices. Residents unsure of the current channel should confirm with their local district administration rather than relying on third-party websites.

Documents you will need

• CNIC copy, matching the province of application
• A recent electricity bill in the applicant’s own name
• Proof of residence
• Property ownership document, or written landlord permission if renting
• Income verification, where requested
• Land ownership proof, for the tube well scheme

The single most common cause of rejection is a mismatch between the name on the CNIC and the name on the electricity bill. If your meter is still registered to a parent, a previous owner or a landlord, resolve that before applying rather than after.

How to avoid the scams, which are everywhere

This is the most useful section in this article, and it is the reason the article exists.

Government scheme keywords attract fraud in Pakistan at a scale that few other topics match. Search results for these terms are dominated by sites that look official, use government-style logos, and exist to harvest CNIC numbers or collect fake fees.

Applying is free. Always. No legitimate government scheme charges a registration fee, a processing fee, a “file charge” or a priority payment. Anyone asking for money to submit your application is defrauding you.

Only use official government domains. Punjab’s portal sits on a punjab.gov.pk address. Federal programs sit on gov.pk addresses. A site ending in .com, .pk, .org or .blog that promises to register you is not the government, whatever it looks like.

Balloting cannot be influenced. No agent can improve your chances, move you up a list, or guarantee selection. Anyone claiming otherwise is selling you something that does not exist.

Do not hand your CNIC number to third-party portals. Identity data collected through fake scheme sites gets used for far worse things than a wasted afternoon.

Be sceptical of specific deadlines you read online. Aggregator sites publish confident dates that contradict each other, and several are simply invented to create urgency. Confirm any deadline on the official portal.

No SMS from an unknown number is an approval. Status notifications come through the official channels tied to your application, and they never ask for a payment.

If you have already paid an agent, you are unlikely to recover it, but reporting it to the relevant provincial authority is still worth doing.

If you do not qualify, which is most people

The eligibility thresholds are narrow by design. These schemes target lifeline consumers, and a household consuming 200 units a month is not the household paying a large electricity bill.

If your consumption is above the threshold, the schemes are not for you, and waiting for a phase that includes you is likely to cost you more in bills than acting now would.

Three practical routes remain.

Bank financing. Bank of Punjab has run government-backed solar financing for households outside the free scheme, with criteria typically covering minimum income, employment history and age. Several commercial banks offer solar-specific products. This is a real option worth investigating if capital is the obstacle.

Buying outright. Panel prices have eased over the past two years, and a system sized correctly to your actual bill pays back faster than most people expect. Current per-watt rates by brand are tracked in our solar panel price in Pakistan today guide, and a full component-by-component costing sits in our 10kW solar system price in Pakistan breakdown, which scales down cleanly to smaller systems.

Starting small and expanding. A modular system lets you install what you can afford now and add panels or storage later, provided the inverter is sized with headroom from the start.

What net billing means for scheme recipients and everyone else

Since 9 February 2026, NEPRA’s Prosumer Regulations 2026 replaced net metering with net billing for new applicants. Exported surplus earns roughly Rs 8 to Rs 11 per unit, while imported units are charged at your full slab tariff. Agreements signed before that date were grandfathered onto the old terms until expiry.

For scheme recipients on very small systems, this matters little, since a 550W or 1kW system serving a lifeline household generates almost nothing to export.

For everyone else it changes the design logic entirely. Consuming your own generation is now worth several times more than exporting it, which is why storage has become central rather than optional. How to size a battery bank sensibly is covered in our lithium battery price in Pakistan guide, and since lithium rates move week to week, WhatsApp us now for the latest price of the battery at 03192070022.

A disclosure worth making

BuySolars is a commercial solar supplier. We are not affiliated with any government scheme, we cannot submit applications on your behalf, and we cannot influence balloting.

If you qualify for a free government system, apply for it through the official portal and pay nobody to help you. That is straightforwardly the better deal, and we would rather say so than sell you something you do not need.

If you do not qualify, we supply Tier-1 panels, hybrid inverters and storage with nationwide delivery across Pakistan. Send us your bill on WhatsApp and we will tell you what size system your consumption actually justifies.