Most people who call us about solar have the same picture in mind. Panels on the roof, a meter that runs backwards through the day, and an electricity bill that drops to almost nothing. A neighbour or a relative probably told them about it, usually with some pride.
That picture is out of date for anyone installing solar now. The solar policy changes in Sri Lanka in 2026 closed the arrangement behind those near-zero bills to new customers. People who connected earlier keep their terms. Everyone else starts from a different place.
Net metering vs Net Plus: what actually changes for you
Under net metering, the power your panels sent to the grid in the afternoon cancelled out the power you used in the evening. Day and night netted off against each other, and the bill shrank.
Net Plus keeps the two apart. Everything your panels produce is sold to the utility, and everything your household uses is bought back separately at the normal rate. The price you are paid for selling is not the price you pay for buying, and that gap between the CEB feed-in tariff rate and your own electricity tariff is where the surprise comes from. It is also why we have started calling it the CEB solar export price gap when customers ask why their savings look smaller than a friend’s.
Whether your supply comes from the CEB or from the LECO rooftop solar scheme in your area, it is worth confirming how the new connection rules apply to you before you sign anything. We check this for every customer.
Why evenings are the problem
Think about how a typical Sri Lankan household uses power. The house is quiet through the working day, then the evening arrives. Lights, fans, the air conditioner, the geyser, the kitchen. Evening electricity demand is where most homes use the bulk of their units, and it is exactly when panels have stopped producing.
So your panels do their work at noon, sell it at one price, and then you buy power back at a higher one. The system runs perfectly and the bill still arrives. A lot of homeowners will feel that more sharply than they expect, because they were promised a bill close to zero and received something quite different.
And then there are the power cuts. A standard grid-tied system switches itself off when the grid goes down, as a safety measure. It offers no blackout protection at all, so a house with a full solar system on the roof can still sit in the dark. Many customers have told us that was the part they found hardest to accept.
On-grid vs hybrid solar installation
A hybrid solar system in Sri Lanka adds a battery to the panels. The panels power the house directly during the day, and what you don’t use goes into storage instead of being sold off at midday. When evening comes, the house runs on your own stored power, not on units you have to buy.
The practical difference is simple. More of your electricity comes from your own roof, and less of your bill depends on a price someone else decides. With solar battery backup, a power cut stops being an event: the lights stay on, the fridge keeps running, and the router stays connected for anyone working from home.
There is a second reason to take the battery seriously. A time-of-use electricity tariff, which pays and charges differently depending on the hour, has been part of the policy discussion. If it arrives, a home that can store its power and use it in the evening is better placed than one that cannot.
A hybrid system costs more upfront than panels alone, and most of the extra sits in the battery. Lithium-ion solar battery prices in Sri Lanka vary a good deal by capacity and brand, which is why we quote against your actual usage and not a generic package. We also give you an honest solar system payback period for your situation, and for some households a simpler system is the better answer. A small home that is empty all day may fall into that group. A fully off-grid rooftop system with energy storage is another route, though for homes already connected to the grid it rarely makes sense.
We design every installation around the connection rules as they currently stand, so nothing about it should come as a surprise after the work is done.