Net metering in Bangladesh: the application file, the utility sequence and why approvals stall

A walkthrough of the net metering approval route for BPDB, DPDC, DESCO, NESCO and REB consumers: which office receives the file, which documents it must contain, who prepares each one, and the errors that send an application back.

The engineering on a rooftop solar plant is rarely what delays it. The delay is usually a file sitting in a distribution utility office because the single line diagram was drawn without the existing transformer on it, or because the sanctioned load written on the application does not match the sanctioned load printed on the last bill. This is the net metering approval route as it is actually processed: which office takes the file, what goes in it, who prepares each item, and what sends it back.

What the utility is actually approving

Net metering in Bangladesh is governed by the Net Metering Guidelines 2025, issued by the Power Division and administered through SREDA. The guideline allows eligible consumers, both single-phase and three-phase, to install rooftop solar of up to 100% of their sanctioned load, and 80% of transformer capacity for MV consumers at 11 kV and above, and to export surplus generation to the grid. The utility nets imported and exported energy on the monthly bill. Any surplus at the end of the financial year is settled at the prevailing BERC bulk-purchase rate.

The reviewing engineer is not assessing whether solar is a sensible investment for you. They are assessing whether your plant can sit on their network without causing them a problem, and three questions decide it: does the declared capacity fit inside the sanctioned load and the transformer rating, will the inverter disconnect cleanly when the grid goes down, and can the metering be read and billed correctly. Every document in the file exists to answer one of those three.

Which utility takes your file

The application does not go to SREDA. It goes to the distribution utility that issued your connection, and the receiving office depends on where the meter is, not where your head office is.

Utility	Service area	Application office	Contact
DPDC	Dhaka city (east)	DPDC head office, Wari	02-9556001
DESCO	Dhaka city (north)	DESCO head office, Mirpur	02-8034400
BPDB	Outside Dhaka, major cities	Divisional/district offices	16196
REB/PBS	Rural areas	Local PBS office	Varies
NESCO	Rajshahi, Rangpur divisions	NESCO head office, Rajshahi	0721-775060

Two consequences follow. DPDC and DESCO split Dhaka between them, so a Tejgaon site and a Mirpur site are separate applications to separate organisations with separate queues, even where one company owns both. And a large share of Bangladesh's agro processing, cold storage, feed and rice milling capacity sits on a Palli Bidyut Samity connection, where the file starts at the local PBS office and is escalated for approval. That handling step has nothing to do with your plant and everything to do with internal routing. Put it in the programme rather than discovering it in month three.

Who is eligible

• Consumer class. Industrial, commercial, public, agricultural and educational consumers, which covers the great majority of factory, mill, hospital, campus and office applications.
• Connection type. A three-phase connection is the normal case. Single-phase residential consumers can apply, but the economics are less favourable and the meter change costs proportionally more against a small plant.
• Connection voltage. 230/400 V LT, or 11/33 kV HT. The voltage decides which capacity ceiling applies to you.
• Plant size ceiling. Up to 100% of sanctioned load. For MV consumers the binding figure is usually 80% of transformer capacity instead, and on a shared or heavily loaded transformer that is the number which limits the design.
• Minimum size. None is specified. In practice the fixed costs of survey, design, application handling and the meter mean the arithmetic starts working around 50 kWp and improves above it.

The application file, item by item

The file is short. What makes it slow is that roughly half of it comes out of the applicant's own records and half out of the EPC contractor's engineering, and the two halves have to agree with each other and with what the utility already holds on your account. Most returned applications are returned over an inconsistency, not an engineering objection.

Document	Who produces it	What it must agree with, and the usual problem
SREDA-format application form	Applicant signs, EPC completes the technical fields	Consumer name and account number must match the utility's records exactly, including spelling carried over from an old trade licence
Single line diagram (SLD)	EPC contractor	Must show the existing transformer, incoming breaker, AC combiner, protection settings and the net meter position, not only the PV side of the wiring
Module and inverter datasheets	EPC contractor	The inverter needs recognised grid protection and anti-islanding certification, and the model on the datasheet must be the model that actually arrives on site
Roof plan and array layout	EPC contractor, from the site survey	Array area has to be consistent with the declared kWp; walkways, setbacks and inverter platforms left off at this stage force a revision later
Recent electricity bill	Applicant	The sanctioned load printed on the bill is the number the utility sizes your approval against, whatever your connected load has grown to
NID or trade licence	Applicant	Must be in the same name as the electricity account; a plant bought from another company needs the name transfer completed first
Load and generation summary	EPC contractor	Declared capacity against sanctioned load, and against transformer rating where the MV ceiling applies

One line on that table causes more trouble than the rest combined: sanctioned load. Plenty of Bangladeshi factories have added machinery across a decade without revising the sanctioned load on record. If your connected load has outgrown it, resolve that first, as a separate matter, before the net metering file goes in. A load enhancement application and a net metering application moving through the same office at the same time will slow both.

The sequence, from feasibility to first netted bill

1. Feasibility study and SLD. A licensed solar EPC contractor surveys the roof, checks structural capacity, runs a shading analysis and prepares the single line diagram. The applicant supplies twelve months of bills, the sanctioned load letter and access to the substation.
2. Complete the SREDA-format application form, available from the utility office or the EPC contractor. The signature is the applicant's; the technical annexures are the contractor's.
3. Submit the application with the SLD, module and inverter datasheets, roof plan, a copy of the electricity bill, and NID or trade licence. Submit it as one complete file. A file lodged with two items missing goes to the back of the queue, not to the front of a correction pile.
4. Technical committee review and site inspection, typically over two to four weeks. Someone from the applicant's side with keys and authority has to be available, not only the contractor.
5. Utility issues the No Objection Certificate and approval letter. Read the capacity written on it. It is occasionally lower than the capacity applied for, and the design then has to be adjusted before procurement rather than after.
6. The EPC contractor installs the plant: mounting structure, modules, DC strings, inverters, AC combiner, protection, earthing, lightning protection and monitoring.
7. The utility installs a bi-directional net meter, at the consumer's cost, typically BDT 15,000 to 25,000. Vvon handles the meter installation and grid export commissioning under Net-metering & Grid Export. Budget it separately; it is not usually inside the EPC price unless you asked for it to be.
8. Commissioning test, conducted jointly by the utility and the EPC contractor.
9. Net metering agreement signed; billing on the netted basis begins from the next cycle.

Where applications stall

• Declared capacity above the ceiling. The design was sized to the roof rather than to the sanctioned load, and nobody checked which of the two numbers binds.
• Transformer headroom. For MV consumers the 80% figure is applied against the transformer that actually serves you, including whatever else shares it. A shared transformer in an industrial estate can cut approvable capacity well below what the roof would carry.
• An SLD that shows only the solar side. The reviewer needs the interface with the existing installation, protection grading and the metering point. A diagram that stops at the inverter output is incomplete.
• Inverter certification. No recognised grid protection or anti-islanding certification, or a model substituted after approval because of a lead time problem. A substitution has to be declared, not quietly installed.
• Name mismatch. Applicant, trade licence and electricity account are not the same legal entity, common after a group restructuring or the purchase of an existing plant.
• Site not ready at inspection. No earthing, no mounting structure, no safe roof access. The inspection is rescheduled at the back of a queue.
• Leased roof without landlord consent. Obtain written consent before the file goes in, and check the tenancy runs longer than the plant's payback.
• Applying after installation. Once the plant is up, the site inspection becomes a compliance argument, and any deviation from the guideline is something you undo at your own cost.

The commissioning test, and what to have ready

The commissioning test is a joint exercise between the utility and the EPC contractor, and it goes quickly when the contractor turns up prepared. Expect the inverter to be tripped by simulating a grid outage so the anti-islanding function can be observed, earthing and insulation resistance to be measured, protection settings to be read back from the inverter, and the meter registers checked in both directions. Have the as-built SLD, string test records, earthing test result and printed inverter setting sheets physically on site, and send the electrician who commissioned the plant rather than a project supervisor, because the questions are usually settings questions. Keep your own signed copy of everything: a year later, when a meter is replaced or a billing query opens, that record is the fastest way to settle it.

What the first netted bill looks like

Under net metering your monthly bill is calculated as grid import in kWh less solar export in kWh, multiplied by the tariff rate. If the plant generates more than the site consumes in a month, the surplus carries forward as a credit against the next month's bill. At the end of the financial year, on 30 June, any remaining credit is settled at the bulk purchase tariff. In practice a well-sized industrial system shows a near-zero net import bill for eight to ten months of the year, with the remaining months reflecting shorter, cloudier winter and monsoon generation days.

Check the first bill against your monitoring platform's export total for the same period. If the meter was configured with the export register the wrong way round, it shows up immediately as an unexpectedly large import figure, and it is far easier to correct in the first cycle than after six months of accumulated error.

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