A short and simple analysis on how to save your money


If the consumption is above 60 kWh per month the following CEB tariffs will be applicable

Monthly Consumption kWh Unit charge(Rs/kWh) Fixed charge(Rs/month)
0-60 7.85 N/A
61-90 10.00 90.00
91-120 27.75 480.00
121-180 32.00 480.00
>180 45.00 540.00

According to above chart, a household with only 90 or less units of electricity consumption will get a bill of only around Rs 800. So the first 90 units is really cheap. In other words, there is no need to totally 0 your electricity bill. It is perfectly ok to have 90 units or less in the bill. We should generate solar electricity only to cover the units which are in excess of 90. If you are someone who uses less than 90 units per month, be happy! you are already doing great and are not a burden to environment. You don’t need solar for now.

Also, under net metering, it is not possible to have a system with less than 1kw of power. At least you system should be 1kw. Such a system would generate around 110 units per month. However there is no point in generating power to cover the first 90 units. So it makes sense to have a solar system if your electricity monthly consumption is around 200 or more. If it is below 180, it make no economical sense to have a net metering based solar system. Be happy, you are already doing ok!

If your usage is nearing 200 or above that, then you can actually save money by generating some solar units. (except the first 90 units!). Following chart shows exactly how many units you should generate in each case and what type of a system you will need for that.

Units Used Bill units to generate System needed Panels Solar Drive Package
230 6000 140 1.28kw 4 1
300 9000 210 1.92kw 6 2
370 12000 280 2.56kw 8 3
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Price Comparison

Since vendors will try to sell consumers a system which will 0 their electricity bill (as we discussed earlier, which is not economically sound), they will try to push high end systems to the consumer. when users hear these prices, only a few of them will go for a system all others get discouraged after doing the math and calculating the investment recovery period. (which normally comes about more than 7-8 years

Bill System needed What They will try to sell you Market price of suggested systems
4500 1kw 2kw 500000
6000 1.2kw 2kw+ 600000
9000 1.3kw 3kw 700000
12000 2.4kw 5kw 1000000

No wonder Solar generation is not picking up fast in here! Now lets see the difference if vendors try to sell you actually what you need, and lets compare this with Solar Drive prices.

Bill System needed Market price Solar Drive Package Solar Drive Price
4500 1kw 320000 1 238000
6000 1.2kw 360000 2 254000
9000 1.3kw 480000 3 342 000
12000 2.4kw 600000 4 440000

Note : Above prices comes with highest quality and certified brands which are leading the industry, warranty periods and linear performance warranty is exactly similar to current market standards. Now, if we compare the last column in the table 2 with last column of table 1, we can see the difference between prices as they should be and prices currently being promoted in the industry. Consumers lose in two ways.

1) They are being given a higher system than what they actually need

2) Even the system they need is bit too high in price.

Imagine many people begin to see this and imagine if there are many such systems built around the country with reliability, quality and good customer service and satisfaction! That will trigger a price reduction across the market. We believe that will be the start point of a Solar Revolution in Sri Lanka!

Price Comparison