Energy Minister Awais Leghari. Photo: Online
ISLAMABAD:
Energy Minister Awais Leghari admitted on Thursday that skyrocketing electricity prices had pushed consumers towards installing solar panels, even as the government’s main coalition partner, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), likened recent changes to net metering policy to “robbery and fraud in broad daylight”.
Despite acknowledging that rising tariffs had driven people away from the national grid, in another highly controversial move, the government has imposed an additional burden of Rs 200 to Rs 675 per meter on private users.
Launching a program to replace conventional fans with energy-efficient models, the energy minister admitted that expensive electricity had forced people to adopt solar-based solutions and that changes to net metering rules were painful.
However, the minister’s remarks seemed to be little more than lip service, as the government at the same time placed yet another unjustified burden on ordinary consumers. To give Rs4.04 per unit relief to only 301,384 industrial consumers, the government has imposed an additional burden of Rs132 billion on residential consumers.
Under the revised structure, the government has imposed a monthly flat fee of Rs 200 for protected consumers using up to 100 units, Rs 300 for protected consumers using up to 200 units, Rs 275 for non-protected consumers using up to 100 units, Rs 350 for 200 units, Rs 4,000 on Rs 4,000. units, and Rs675 per month on consumers who use more than 400 units.
Such blatant abuse of authority has forced people to switch from the national electricity grid to off-grid solutions such as solar panels. The government has also charged private consumers an additional Rs 12 per unit under the head of cross-subsidisation and Rs 3.23 per unit as debt service charges, liabilities stemming directly from inefficiencies within the power sector.
Compared to an energy price of around Rs 11 per unit, consumers are charged up to Rs 60 per
The energy minister acknowledged the net metering “reforms” could cost the government political capital, but promised the changes would continue.
However, the PPP, whose support is crucial for the government to retain its majority in the National Assembly, launched a sharp attack on the abrupt changes to the solar net metering policy.
“It was ‘robbery and fraud in broad daylight’,” PPP lawmaker Sharmila Faruqui said while addressing a call tabled by the party in the National Assembly.
PPP MNAs Syed Naveed Qamar, Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, Dr Nafisa Shah, Dr Sharmila Faruqui and Mirza Ikhtiar Baig invited the attention of the Minister for Power Division to a matter of urgent public importance regarding the implications of the revised solar policy.
Responding to the criticism, Leghari told Parliament that out of Pakistan’s total installed solar power capacity of 20,000 to 22,000 megawatts, only about 6,000 megawatts were linked to net metering. As a result, he said, only 600,000 to 700,000 consumers — about 8 to 10 percent of total solar users — would be affected.
“There will be no impact on lower income consumers,” he assured Parliament.
Only a day earlier, however, the energy minister had claimed that only 1 percent of the total consumers would be affected by the change in net metering policy. Under the new rules, the government would buy electricity from solar panels at Rs8.13 per unit while selling electricity at prices of up to Rs60 per unit.
Leghari rejected claims that the new rules were anti-solar, arguing that reducing the profit margin for net-metered consumers from 50 percent to 37 percent does not constitute an anti-people measure.
Responding to the minister’s remarks, Faruqui objected to the government “shifting the blame to net meter users for burdening the national grid”.
“These consumers are the ones who followed the government’s clean energy policy,” she said, adding that the authorities had taken a “u-turn on their policy”.
“Now they’re justifying it by blaming people who were at the forefront of your politics,” she added.
Faruqui maintained that the Power Division effectively passed on costs arising from “line losses, transmission losses, inefficiencies, inconsistencies, corruption and capacity payments” to ordinary citizens, once again calling the act “robbery in broad daylight”.
In his reply, the Minister said that the call was no longer relevant “as the Prime Minister has already said that net billing must be stopped and consumers will remain on net metering for the time being. However, this change is only intended for the existing solar panel owners, also until the National Electricity Regulatory Authority makes a decision on a not-yet-submitted notification request.”
Leghari launched together with climate minister Dr. Musadaq Malik also the Prime Minister’s Fan Replacement Program, which aims to replace 88 million conventional fans with energy-efficient models over a 10-year period.
Under the scheme, existing fans can be replaced at a cost of Rs.12,000, where the amount, including interest on loans, has to be recovered through electricity bills. The program offers on-bill financing, allowing consumers to pay in installments over six to 18 months for new fans that use 70 percent less energy.
The energy minister said the country’s cooling load requirements stood at 6,000 to 8,000 megawatts and that the introduction of energy-efficient fans could significantly reduce demand during peak hours.
He further noted that Pakistan currently lacked stable demand for electricity due to the increasing use of solar energy and low industrial activity, with nationwide demand recorded at just 8,000 megawatts on Thursday.
But despite acknowledging that winter demand was hovering around 8,000 megawatts, Power Division officials on Wednesday made a highly dubious claim to TV anchors that the government had added 8,000 megawatts of capacity to the national grid to meet electricity demand during periods of low solar output.
