Says the burden of 466,000 solar users should not fall on the more than 37.6 million consumers who rely on the national grid
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Photo: File
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed the energy department to immediately file an appeal with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to review the new solar rules in a bid to protect existing contracts for current solar users, a statement issued by the prime minister’s office said.
Nepra scrapped the exchange of electricity units in solar net metering on Monday and replaced it with a net billing framework under the Prosumer Regulations 2026, sparking widespread criticism from politicians, former government officials and energy experts who argue it will discourage the use of rooftop solar and exacerbate energy sector inefficiencies.
At present, the buy-back rate for net solar generation is Rs25.9 per unit, which can be reduced to Rs11 per unit. The contract period has been reduced from seven to five years. The burden of capacity payments is being shifted to solar consumers now.
Under the new rules, utilities will be required to buy excess electricity from prosumers, households, businesses and industries producing up to one megawatt at the national average energy purchase price, while selling electricity back to them at the prevailing consumer tariff, effectively ending one-to-one net metering.
A special high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was held in Islamabad today to discuss the issuance of the new rules by Nepra.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Federal Ministers Ahad Khan Cheema, Attaullah Tarar, Ali Pervaiz Malik, Sardar Owais Khan Laghari, Foreign Minister Bilal Azhar Kiani, Privatization Advisor Muhammad Ali and other senior officials.
Read: Solar dream is dampened as the net metering settles
The prime minister stressed that the burden of 466,000 solar cell users should not fall on the more than 37.6 million consumers who are solely dependent on the national grid. A comprehensive plan will be developed by the Power Division to address this, the statement added.
The new buyback rate is yet to be officially announced but was discussed at Rs11 per share. entity during stakeholder consultations. Net consumers of solar energy will have to pay the net difference to Discos when the unit exchange scheme ends.
The policy will not apply to existing consumers, but after contract expiry Discos have been given permission to either terminate agreements or move users to the new policy framework.
The power regulator has overhauled the country’s net metering regime, moving rooftop solar and other small generators to a new ‘net billing’ system under the NEPRA (Prosumer) Regulations, 2026, fundamentally changing how power producers are paid and scrapping the decade-old framework.
Under the new rules, announced on Monday by Nepra, utilities will be required to buy excess electricity from prosumers – households, businesses and industries that generate up to one megawatt – at the national average power purchase price, while selling electricity back to them at the prevailing consumer tariff, effectively ending one-to-one net metering.
Read more: Energy minister defends move to abolish net metering as in line with law amid Senate fury
The rules apply to solar, wind and biogas systems and come into effect immediately, replacing Nepra’s Alternative and Renewable Energy Distributed Generation and Net Metering Regulations, 2015.
Power Minister Awais Leghari defended the move on Tuesday, saying: “This is a change to the rules and it is the regulator’s job to change them according to the law and the constitution.”
He said the rules were not changed for the first time. “NEPRA has not changed anyone’s agreement and we have not said anything to the existing 466,000 net meters,” Leghari added.
The energy minister said the issue of net metering was not even part of the existing agreement. He said the government had told consumers that whoever installed solar power would have bought electricity from them in future at the revised rate.
