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Pakistan’s new net billing model gets backlash from homeowners
New regulations cut solar power buyback rate to Rs11 per unit, down from Rs25.9; and export units will be credited for one month instead of three
- PUBLISHED: Tue 10 Feb 2026, 3:45 PM
Pakistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has abolished net metering and launched a new net billing system. Consumers see this as a move to "contain the rising solar energy penetration and to protect state-owned power network."
Net metering is a mechanism that allows homeowners with surplus solar energy to send excess electricity back to the utility grid in exchange for credits.
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Now, existing registered prosumers (net metered solar consumers) will be shifted to net-billing instead of net metering. This means the unit exported by solar consumers will no longer be treated as equal to the unit imported from the grid. Their export units will be credited for one month instead of three, while other terms will not be changed till the expiry of their seven-year contract.
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New consumers will have five-year contracts and export units will be accepted at Rs11 per unit (as against Rs26 under existing contracts). Additionally, import units from distribution companies will be billed at Rs37 to Rs55 a unit, depending on the relevant slab.
Homeowners who invested or have planned to invest in solar systems see the move as anti-consumer.
“Compounded by heavy taxes, levies and surcharges, particularly the Debt Servicing Surcharge, these factors collectively inflate electricity costs for consumers,” Nepra announced recently. “The result is a shifting of consumers towards decentralised or off-grid solutions, further weakening demand for grid-based electricity.”
The government and the regulator have in the past blamed prosumers with higher-than-approved solar capacity and non-metered solar homeowners grid challenges and higher capacity charges. But the new regulations have not mentioned these aspects.
According to the power division, on-grid solar capacity touched 7,000MW and off-grid topped 13,000MW. Millions of consumers had installed hybrids without meters to enjoy subsidies, but raising beyond 19,000MW outside metering.
The new metering regulations will apply to biogas consumers as well. The power division had suggested these changes in the past, but had to back out after widespread criticism.
