Three years. That’s how long it took between the passage of a law authorizing self-generation of electricity and the publication of the decrees that make it truly feasible. On June 9, 2026, the legal vacuum closed: procedures defined, rates set, and capacity limits quantified. The real question now is: how much does it cost, how much does it yield, and is it worth the effort?
Businesses: Go for it, but get your paperwork ready
For installations ranging from 11 kW to 5 MW—including warehouses, hotels, big-box stores, office buildings, and light manufacturing facilities—the program is most operational and cost-effective. These entities can now submit an application for a connection agreement to the Regional Multiservice Companies (SRMs), which have one month to respond. At last, there is a clear procedure, a designated point of contact, and—most importantly—a legally enforceable feed-in tariff. The utility can no longer take the surplus for free.
For a 100 kWp installation—a common size for a medium-sized industrial or commercial facility— the market price is around 450,000 dirhams—or approximately 4,500 dirhams per installed peak kilowatt, excluding batteries—according to estimates from industry professionals contacted by TelQuel.
At the same time, ONEE (National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water) rates have risen by 21.7% since 2022, with an upward trend expected to continue. This trend clearly favors investment.
A realistic return on investment ranges from five to eight years, with a 30–50% reduction in electricity bills starting in the first year. The structural advantage of this segment is decisive here: businesses consume most of their electricity during the day, precisely when the panels are generating power. An 85–95% self-consumption rate is easily achievable without batteries, making the model viable even without relying on the resale of surplus energy.
A boon for distributors
The distributor buys back the surplus at between 0.18 and 0.21 dirhams per kWh to resell it to nearby consumers at between 0.85 and 1.20 dirhams. “I don’t know whether this should be classified as an incentive policy for self-generation or as a gift to distributors”
For this surplus, the ANRE (National Electricity Regulatory Authority) has set a feed-in tariff for the first time: 21 centimes per kilowatt-hour during peak hours and 18 centimes during off-peak hours, strictly limited to 20% of annual production.
Energy expert Amin Bennouna, who has been following this issue since 2020, points to a structural imbalance: The utility buys back this surplus at between 0.18 and 0.21 dirhams per kilowatt-hour to resell it to nearby consumers at between 0.85 and 1.20 dirhams. “I don’t know whether we should classify this as a policy to encourage self-generation or as a handout to distributors, ” he remarks ironically.
Connections are granted on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to the capacity limits set by ANRE at 691 MW across the entire distribution network. In certain areas where demand is already high, there is a waiting list, which can affect a project’s timeline.
The application package is also substantial: location, connection diagram, environmental impact study, and three-year production forecasts. This preparatory work, often delegated to a specialized installer, determines the quality and speed of the SRMs’ response. The average time to commissioning, including all administrative procedures, ranges from three to five months.
Residential Customers: Waiting in the Wings
A high-quality residential system costs between 45,000 and 180,000 dirhams, depending on the installed capacity, with a return on investment of between five and eight years based solely on bill savings. Over twenty-five years, cumulative savings are estimated at between 150,000 and 200,000 dirhams for a standard installation, according to industry professionals.
The profile that benefits the most is one characterized by high energy consumption—including air conditioning, household appliances running during the day, and working from home. For a household with predominantly nighttime energy consumption, the calculation is significantly less favorable, and will remain so until the low-voltage feed-in tariff is set.
For that is the crux of the problem. While the decree simplifies the framework for households—with no fees for installations under 11 kW and the legal status that had been missing for years finally in place—the feed-in tariff for low-voltage customers still does not exist.
The ANRE has specified that it will be set“after the appropriate regulatory and technical framework is in place”—a phrase that leaves the timeline open-ended. A homeowner can install solar panels, consume the electricity they generate during the day, and feed up to 20% of their annual production into the grid. But without a set feed-in tariff for low-voltage customers, this feed-in currently generates no revenue. And any output exceeding this 20% cap is also fed into the grid for free.
This is where household consumption patterns pose a structural problem. Bennouna highlighted this in his July 2024 study: more than 70% of the energy consumed by households is used in the evening, when the solar panels are no longer generating any power. A household that consumes little during the day will quickly exceed the authorized 20% threshold, without being able to generate any revenue from it. “In the evening, you produce practically nothing and have to draw power from the grid,” he explains. The business model for residential customers therefore currently relies almost exclusively on direct self-consumption during the day, not on reselling excess power.
Gaps in the System
Three regulatory issues remain unresolved. The revision of the 20% feed-in limit—which would radically change the equation for households as well as for certain businesses whose installations are oversized relative to their daytime consumption—was presented to the Council of Ministers in October 2025 and then postponed indefinitely.
The decree on storage has not yet been published, even though it is precisely storage that would allow households to consume in the evening what they produced during the day and transform a partial model into a fully profitable one. And the feed-in tariff for low-voltage systems remains the major missing piece of the framework. Six years later, the inevitable now has a decree, a date, and rates. This is not the finish line.
Written in French by Safae Hadri; edited in English by AngloMedia Group.
