Going solar has always made sense on paper — lower electricity bills, cleaner energy, less dependence on the grid. The catch, for most Malaysians, has always been the upfront cost. That may be changing.

Public Islamic Bank Bhd (PIBB) signed a deal with local solar company Helios Photovoltaic Sdn Bhd in November 2020 to offer financing packages covering up to 100 per cent of solar panel installation costs for private property owners. No big lump sum needed — just a monthly repayment, offset by the savings on your electricity bill.

The collaboration is built around the government’s Net Energy Metering (NEM) scheme and the Energy Commission’s self-consumption (Selco) guidelines, which let homeowners generate their own electricity and feed excess power back into the grid. PIBB’s CEO Syamsul Azuan Ahmad Fauzi said the partnership could eventually generate up to one gigawatt of electricity — enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

For Helios Photovoltaic chairman Datuk Seri Ibrahim Muhammad, the deal goes beyond kilowatts. His point was direct: the shift to renewable energy keeps getting delayed because ordinary people either can’t afford it, or don’t have a roof suitable for panels. A financing arrangement that removes the money barrier changes that equation.

The deal also ties into Bank Negara’s Value Based Intermediation initiative, which pushes Islamic financial institutions to deliver outcomes that benefit the wider economy and environment — not just the bank’s bottom line. PIBB positioned this collaboration squarely within that framework.

It’s a practical pairing. A bank with financing muscle. A solar company with the technical know-how. For Malaysian homeowners sitting on the fence about solar, the pitch is simple: you don’t have to pay everything upfront anymore.