A high electricity bill is useful, but it is not a qualified project. The load may fall outside solar hours; the tenant may not control the roof; the consumer category and metering route may limit the configuration; finance may prefer a different model; or the contact may have no authority to release inputs or approve a survey. The purpose of qualification is to expose these conditions early without pretending that sales can replace engineering, structural, safety, legal or regulatory review.

This India-focused checklist follows the earlier Eligoo guides on building a C&I-only solar lead pipeline and finding factories before the RFQ. Use it for inbound enquiries, outbound conversations, referrals and tenders.

Download the commercial solar qualification checklist

Download the editable CSV checklist. The file contains fields for entity, bill, load, site, policy, economics, authority and survey handoff. Adapt it to the state, DISCOM, project model, data policy and technical risk standard used by your EPC.

Four outcomes—not just qualified or unqualified

This routing keeps weak enquiries visible without sending all of them to engineering. “Nurture” is not a parking lot: it needs a specific missing condition and date. “Survey-ready” is not proposal-ready; it means a site visit is now a justified way to resolve defined questions.

Gate 1: verify the buyer, legal entity and facility

Record the company’s legal entity, GST or registration details when relevant to vendor onboarding, exact facility address, operating site versus registered office, meter identifier, consumer category, industry, contact role and relationship to the premises. Ask whether the enquiry is from the end consumer, a consultant, an intermediary, landlord or tenant.

One group may have several factories and meters. A bill from one site cannot qualify another. Confirm which facility is under review and who is authorised to share data. If a broker or consultant is involved, document the end-customer access and commercial role rather than assuming representation.

Minimum entity questions

• Which legal entity holds the electricity connection?
• Which facility and meter are being considered?
• Who owns or leases the premises?
• Who authorised this evaluation and data sharing?
• Is any formal procurement or consultant-led process already active?

Gate 2: qualify the electricity bill

Request a recent sequence of bills appropriate to the buyer’s seasonality; a longer history is useful when consumption changes materially across the year. Use an approved secure transfer method, explain the purpose and restrict access. Do not ask prospects to publish bills in an open form or informal group.

Capture the DISCOM, consumer category, billing period, units consumed, sanctioned load or contract demand when shown, recorded maximum demand, tariff components, power factor information where available, time-of-day elements, existing renewable adjustments, taxes and notable arrears or one-off credits. The objective is not to produce an instant savings promise. It is to identify what must be validated in the commercial model.

A single high total may include demand charges, penalties, taxes or prior adjustments. Compare like periods and ask what changed operationally. Do not reconstruct missing load data from a sector average.

Gate 3: understand sanctioned load and daytime demand

Sanctioned load or contract demand is not the same as energy consumption, maximum demand or solar capacity. Record each separately. Ask for operating days, shift pattern, seasonal production, shutdowns, weekly closure, planned expansion, major daytime loads and whether consumption occurs mainly during or outside solar-generation hours.

If interval data or an energy-management-system export is available, route it to a competent reviewer. If not, mark the load profile as an open question. A buyer may still progress to desktop assessment, but the uncertainty must remain visible and affect modelling and survey scope.

Load-fit warning signs

• most production runs at night;
• the bill belongs to a shared or mixed-use connection;
• large expansion or contraction will change the baseline;
• planned equipment will alter demand but specifications are not final;
• existing captive, open-access or on-site generation has not been disclosed.

Gate 4: establish usable roof or land—not gross area

Ask whether the site is owner-occupied or leased, who controls the roof or land, remaining tenure, landlord consent, roof type and age, available drawings, existing equipment, access limitations, fire and safety routes, shadow sources, planned construction and any known structural concerns. Gross roof dimensions are not usable area.

Maps, satellite imagery and prospect photographs can support early discussion but cannot confirm legal rights, structural capacity, waterproofing, safe access, obstructions, fire separation or interconnection. These are survey and engineering matters. Qualification determines whether there is a credible path to investigate them.

For leased assets, include the landlord or asset manager early. A willing tenant with a short lease and no consent path is not survey-ready. For ground-mounted options, land title, permitted use, access and evacuation constraints need their own expert review.

Gate 5: identify the DISCOM and regulatory route

The MNRE Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Programme page states that its central financial assistance under the referenced programme is for residential electricity consumers; do not advertise a residential subsidy as an automatic C&I benefit. The page also links DISCOM contacts and relevant programme documents.

CEEW’s 11 April 2025 analysis of state rooftop policies and regulations shows why qualification must capture state, consumer category, sanctioned load and distribution-transformer context: metering regimes and capacity restrictions vary across states and can change.

Record the state, DISCOM, connection voltage, consumer category, proposed behind-the-meter or other procurement route, existing solar, and the specific primary documents requiring review. Do not mark “net metering available” from an old blog or a rule for a different consumer category. Assign a policy owner and verification date.

Gate 6: test commercial-model and financial fit

Ask what the buyer is trying to achieve: electricity-cost management, renewable target, resilience, portfolio standardisation, expansion support or another outcome. Then ask which commercial models may be considered—capex, financed purchase, RESCO/OPEX or another route appropriate to the opportunity—and what constraints apply.

Capture budget stage, internal hurdle or evaluation method, financing requirement, credit and tenure considerations, accounting or contracting concerns, vendor criteria and the decision calendar. Do not force a model because it is convenient for the seller. If an operating model depends on long-term site access, a short or uncertain lease is a material issue.

Any generation, tariff, degradation, savings or payback model must list assumptions and be reviewed against verified inputs. Qualification may estimate whether analysis is worthwhile; it must not turn preliminary values into guarantees.

Gate 7: map the decision-maker and buying process

A facilities manager may be the strongest champion but not the economic buyer. A promoter may approve spend but not understand the technical inputs. Before forecasting the lead, name the problem owner, technical owner, economic buyer, procurement owner and access owner—or explicitly mark each missing.

Use a 14-point score with fatal gates

Score the seven gates from zero to two: 0 unknown or unverified, 1 partially known with a named follow-up, and 2 buyer-backed evidence available for the next review. The maximum is 14.

• 11–14: consider survey only if no fatal gap remains and desktop review supports it.
• 7–10: hold in qualification with missing evidence, owner and due date.
• 0–6: reject or long-term nurture unless a material condition changes.

These are an editable operating framework, not an industry benchmark. Customise the bands to your EPC. Fatal gaps override the score: no lawful contact basis, residential/out-of-scope site, no owner or consent path, unserviceable geography, unsafe or prohibited access, refusal to provide essential evidence, or no identifiable decision process.

What the survey handoff must contain

Sales should give engineering a concise handoff pack: facility and meter identity, objective, bill and load evidence, premises-control status, existing solar or generation, policy questions, known roof/land constraints, commercial models under consideration, buyer map, survey purpose, access instructions, safety requirements, attendees, unresolved assumptions and the decision the survey must enable.

Agree the expected output before travel: measurements, feasibility questions, drawing checks, electrical information, photographs with permission, structural-data request or a go/no-go recommendation for further design. A site visit that has no question owner and no next decision is not a qualified milestone.

Worked example: hypothetical factory enquiry

Hypothetical—not a client result: a food-processing plant submits a form saying its monthly bill is high and requests a 500 kW quote. The sales team does not accept the requested capacity as verified. It confirms the factory and meter, then receives recent bills through the approved channel.

The plant runs two shifts, but a material part of consumption is outside solar hours. The roof is leased with six years remaining, and landlord consent is not yet available. The Plant Engineer is the technical owner; Finance wants to compare capex and an operating model; procurement has not started vendor registration.

The lead scores partially on bill, load, economics and authority but fails the premises-control gate. It is held in qualification rather than sent to survey. The next actions are landlord consent, lease review, authorised interval-data check and policy verification for the specific DISCOM and consumer category. Only after those items are owned does the EPC decide whether a survey is justified.

Exceptions and limitations

• This checklist screens opportunities; it does not establish structural, electrical, fire, safety or interconnection feasibility.
• State and DISCOM rules, consumer eligibility, metering and capacity restrictions can change. Verify current primary documents for every project.
• Bill and load data are commercially sensitive. Collect only what is necessary, with permission and controlled access.
• Open-access, captive, group-captive, storage and off-site structures require additional legal, commercial and regulatory diligence.
• No preliminary calculator should guarantee generation, savings, tariff outcome or payback.

Automate C&I lead scoring before the site survey

Eligoo is an AI Employee Resourcing Company: “Hire AI Employees who work from the cloud” through WFC. Within an approved process, Radar can organise public account evidence and missing qualification fields, Hook can prepare role-specific follow-ups for human approval, and Ledger can score completeness, assign owners and prevent weak leads from reaching survey stage. The EPC retains data permission, policy, engineering, safety, pricing and approval decisions.

Request an Eligoo C&I solar qualification workflow built around your geography, project size, commercial models and engineering handoff rules.