Says burden on 466,000 solar users should not fall on the more than 37.6 million consumers relying on national grid
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Photo: File
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday instructed the power division to immediately file an appeal with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to review the new solar regulations in an effort to protect existing contracts for current solar users, said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Nepra abolished 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 officials, and energy experts, who argue it will disincentivise rooftop solar adoption and worsen power sector inefficiencies.
At present, the buyback rate for solar net generation is Rs25.9 per unit, which may 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 purchase excess electricity from prosumers, households, businesses and industries generating up to one megawatt at the national average energy purchase price, while selling electricity back to them at the applicable consumer tariff, effectively ending one-to-one net metering.
A high-level special meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, was held in Islamabad today to discuss the issuance of the new regulations 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, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kiani, Privatisation Advisor Muhammad Ali, and other senior officials.
Read: Solar dream dims as net metering winds down
The prime minister emphasised that the burden on 466,000 solar users should not fall on the more than 37.6 million consumers relying solely on the national grid. A comprehensive plan will be developed by the Power Division to address this, the statement added.
The new buyback rate has not yet been officially notified, but was discussed at Rs11 per unit during stakeholder consultations. Solar net consumers will have to pay the net difference to Discos once the exchange-of-units regime comes to an end.
The policy will not apply to existing consumers, but after contract expiry, Discos have been authorised either to terminate agreements or shift 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 electricity producers are paid and repealing the decade-old framework.
Under the new rules, notified on Monday by Nepra, utilities will be required to purchase excess electricity from prosumers – households, businesses, and industries generating up to one megawatt – at the national average energy purchase price, while selling electricity back to them at the applicable consumer tariff, effectively ending one-to-one net metering.
Read more: Power minister defends move to abolish net metering as in line with law amid Senate fury
The regulations apply to solar, wind, and biogas systems and take effect immediately, replacing the Nepra Alternative and Renewable Energy Distributed Generation and Net Metering Regulations, 2015.
The Power Minister Awais Leghari on Tuesday defended the move, stating, “These are a change in the regulations, and it is the job of the regulator to change them as per the law and the Constitution.”
He said the regulations were not being changed for the first time. “NEPRA has not changed anyone’s agreement, and we have not said anything to the existing 466,000 net metering consumers,” Leghari added.
The power minister said the net metering issue was not even part of the existing agreement. He said the government had told consumers that, in the future, whoever installed solar would have electricity purchased from them at the revised rate.
