Selling rooftop to an MSME factory owner

The residential pitch does not survive contact with a factory owner. Subsidy is irrelevant to them, payback is table stakes, and the thing that actually worries them is something most EPCs never mention.

Who you are actually selling to

In most MSMEs, one person decides and two people can stop it.

The promoter decides. Usually the owner, often the founder, and the decision is made on rupees and on trust in roughly that order.

The accountant or CA can stop it, on tax treatment, on capitalisation, or simply by advising that the money is better used in working capital.

The plant head can stop it, on the grounds that installation will disrupt production or damage the roof.

Address all three in the proposal, even though only one signs.

What they care about, in their order

Rupees per unit, not payback in years. A factory owner knows what they pay per unit today. Land your number against that figure and the conversation is immediately concrete.

Whether production stops. This is the objection nobody warns you about. Answer it before it is asked: which work happens during the shutdown window, how many hours of tie-in are needed, and at what time on what day. A plan here is worth more than an extra percentage point of efficiency.

Whether the roof will leak. An industrial sheet roof that leaks over a machine costs more in a day than the solar saves in a year. Say exactly how you fix to the sheet, what sealing you use, and what your workmanship warranty covers.

The tax position. A profitable business can claim accelerated depreciation against the plant, which usually shortens the effective payback substantially, and it has a September timing consequence: commission in September or your customer loses half the tax break. For a GST registered buyer, the tax on the system is also reclaimable, as in GST on solar is 5 percent.

The tariff detail that separates you from the last vendor

Commercial bills have parts a residential bill does not, and the difference decides whether your savings number is credible.

• Demand charges are billed on sanctioned or recorded maximum demand, not on units. Rooftop solar reduces units. It does not reliably reduce recorded demand, because demand can peak at night or on a cloudy afternoon. Do not imply that it does.
• Time of day tariffs mean a unit generated at noon may be worth less than a unit at seven in the evening. The savings calculation must respect that.
• Power factor incentives and penalties are unaffected by solar in either direction, but customers often assume otherwise.

Getting these right in the first meeting signals that you have read a commercial bill before. Most competitors will have applied a single blended rate.

What to bring to the first visit

• Twelve months of their bills, requested in advance, and read before you arrive.
• A view of the roof, including sheet type, age, orientation and obstructions.
• The load pattern, at least roughly: shifts, seasonal peaks, weekly shutdowns.
• One page of arithmetic, their tariff, their consumption, the system, the savings, with depreciation shown separately.

Then the comparison they will otherwise get from someone else: capex against an OPEX or PPA offer, which is covered in RESCO took 40 percent of C and I. If you do not present it, a developer will, and yours will be the proposal that looked incomplete.

What kills these deals

A roof that is not theirs, or not sound. A leased unit with four years remaining is a different conversation. Ask about ownership and remaining lease at the first visit, not the third.

Sanctioned load and contract demand limits, the commercial version of a problem covered in sanctioned load is the ceiling nobody checks.

A savings figure that does not survive the CA. Anything built on a blended tariff or an optimistic self consumption assumption will be taken apart. Better to present a conservative number you can defend.

Silence after the quotation. MSME decisions stall on ordinary business noise, not on doubt. A short, specific follow-up with one new piece of information beats five "just checking" messages.

The short version

• One person decides, but the accountant and the plant head can both stop it. Write for all three.
• Lead with rupees per unit against what they pay today, not with payback in years.
• Answer production disruption and roof leakage before they are raised.
• Respect demand charges and time of day tariffs. Solar cuts units, not necessarily recorded demand.
• Bring twelve months of bills read in advance, the roof, the load pattern and one page of arithmetic with depreciation shown separately.
• Present the capex against OPEX comparison yourself, or a developer will.
• Ask about roof ownership and lease term at the first visit.