How your rooftop can start earning in Bangladesh

Your electricity bill is rising every few months and it is not stopping anytime soon. But here is what most people have missed that now your rooftop can now fight back. Bangladesh changed its solar rules in 2025, and for the first time, ordinary households and building owners can earn real cash every quarter just by putting panels on a roof that is already sitting there doing nothing. Here is exactly how it works and how much you can make.

Between 2018 and mid-2025, Bangladesh spent around USD 17.6 billion importing liquefied natural gas to keep the power sector running. Those imports were bought in dollars at volatile international prices and sold domestically at subsidised rates. After renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East pushed global LNG and coal prices even higher in 2026, the pressure on Bangladesh’s electricity system intensified further.

The Bangladesh Power Development Board generated electricity last year at a real cost of Tk 12.36 per unit but sold it wholesale at Tk 7.04. The gap has been covered by government subsidies that are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. For consumers, the outcome is straightforward: electricity tariffs are rising steadily and are likely to continue rising in the years ahead.

That is precisely why rooftop solar is becoming financially attractive.

The first benefit is immediate savings on your monthly electricity bill. A standard 3-kW rooftop solar system is suitable for a typical urban apartment using air conditioning, lighting, refrigeration and regular household appliances which currently costs between Tk 2 lakh and Tk 3 lakh installed.

Under Bangladesh’s sunlight conditions, such a system can generate roughly 360 kilowatt-hours of electricity each month. At current residential tariffs of around Tk 7.74 per unit, that translates into monthly savings of approximately Tk 2,785. Over a year, the savings exceed Tk 33,000. If electricity prices rise further, those savings increase automatically.

But rooftop solar is no longer only about reducing bills. Under Bangladesh’s Net Metering Guidelines 2025, households and businesses can now earn money directly from surplus electricity sent back to the national grid.

If your solar panels produce more electricity than your property consumes during daylight hours, the excess flows into the grid and is recorded as export credit. Every quarter in March, June, September and December, utilities calculated whether you supplied more electricity than you consumed overall. If you did, the surplus is converted into cash and transferred directly to you.

That single change transformed rooftop solar from a cost-saving tool into a potential income-generating asset.

The 2025 policy reforms also widened access dramatically. Previously, only consumers with three-phase electricity connections could participate in net metering. That excluded most ordinary households in Bangladesh. Under the revised guidelines, single-phase consumers — the standard connection type for millions of homes are now eligible as well.

For many families, this is the first time their rooftop can legally generate income.

The rules also increased the allowable system size from 70 per cent to 100 per cent of a consumer’s sanctioned electricity load. In practical terms, homeowners and businesses can now install larger systems capable of covering their full consumption while still exporting surplus power during peak sunlight hours.

For apartment building owners and commercial property owners, the opportunity is even larger.

A new third-party ownership model introduced under the 2025 guidelines allows solar companies to install rooftop systems entirely at their own expense. The building owner provides only the roof space. The solar company handles financing, installation, operation and maintenance. Revenue generated from electricity sales is then shared between the company and the property owner.

In other words, a building owner can now earn passive income from unused rooftop space without making any upfront investment.

Speaking at an energy workshop in Dhaka in May 2026, Energy Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood said the rooftops of Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur alone could generate close to 1,000 megawatts of solar electricity if fully utilised.

For many property owners, that means every unused month represents lost income that can never be recovered later.

Owners who choose to invest themselves can install larger rooftop systems and receive quarterly payments directly from utilities for exported electricity. In large residential or commercial buildings with substantial daytime consumption, those payments can become significant.

Factories and industrial buildings stand to gain even more.

Industrial consumers currently pay around Tk 12.39 per unit for grid electricity. Rooftop solar, by comparison, generates electricity at a levelised cost of roughly Tk 5 to Tk 5.50 per unit. That difference creates a major long-term cost advantage for manufacturers operating energy-intensive facilities.

A factory running a 200-kW rooftop system can save several crore taka annually. A 1-MW commercial rooftop installation typically recovers its installation cost within five to six years and then continues generating electricity at minimal operating cost for another two decades.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis estimates that installing 2,000 megawatts of rooftop solar across Bangladesh could save the country between USD 476 million and USD 1 billion annually by reducing expensive oil-fired power generation during peak demand periods.

The government is now pushing the transition more aggressively.

Since December 2025, any building with at least 1,000 square feet of usable rooftop area applying for a new electricity connection must include rooftop solar. Commercial and industrial buildings with sanctioned loads of 10 kW or higher are required to install solar capacity equal to at least 20 per cent of their approved load.

This mandatory requirement is rapidly expanding Bangladesh’s rooftop solar ecosystem. More installers, suppliers and contractors are entering the market, competition is increasing and installation costs are gradually falling.

The government is also preparing additional incentives. Energy Minister Mahmood said in May 2026 that Bangladesh is considering a dedicated solar investment policy that includes a proposed five-year tax holiday and lower import duties on solar panels, batteries and inverters.

If implemented, the cost of installation could fall further, improving returns for homeowners and businesses alike.

To help consumers estimate potential earnings, the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority has launched an online calculator at nemcalc.sreda.gov.bd. Users can enter roof size, electricity usage and tariff details to calculate expected savings, payback periods and projected returns before investing.

Despite strong sunlight conditions, Bangladesh had installed only 245 megawatts of rooftop solar capacity by June 2025, accumulated over almost two decades. India, by contrast, has already crossed 18 gigawatts.

The difference is not weather. Bangladesh has abundant sunlight. The difference is awareness, policy support and willingness to act.

Every morning, sunlight falls across thousands of rooftops in Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna and Sylhet. Most still do nothing with it.

But that is changing. Slowly, rooftops are becoming financial assets instead of dead space. Electricity bills are turning into income streams. And for many households and businesses, the sun is no longer just heat overhead; rather, it is becoming part of their monthly cash flow.