- Electrical energy drawn from grid to be charged at client tariffs.
- Settlement time period lower to 5 years from earlier seven years.
- Govt ends one-to-one offset mannequin for neutralising payments.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has successfully ended its web metering regime, because the nation’s energy regulator launched sweeping new guidelines shifting rooftop photo voltaic and different small mills to a “web billing” system, The Information reported on Tuesday.
The transfer has essentially modified how electrical energy is priced and is reshaping the economics of distributed technology.
Underneath the Nepra (Prosumer) Laws, 2026, notified on Monday, the Nationwide Electrical Energy Regulatory Authority will now require energy utilities to buy surplus electrical energy from prosumers, together with households, companies and industries producing as much as one megawatt on the nationwide common power buy value, whereas promoting electrical energy again to them on the relevant client tariff.
This ends the one-to-one offset mannequin that beforehand allowed photo voltaic customers to neutralise their electrical energy payments.
The shift additionally shortens the contract horizon, with the usual settlement time period lower to 5 years from the sooner seven years, renewable by mutual consent. Present prosumers will stay below their present contracts till expiry, however all future renewals and new connections will fall below the five-year web billing framework, considerably altering long-term funding returns.
If the worth of electrical energy provided by the prosumer is increased than the electrical energy taken from the utility, the additional quantity will both be adjusted within the subsequent invoice or paid to the prosumer each three months.
The brand new laws, which take impact instantly, repeal the Nepra Various & Renewable Power Distributed Era and Web Metering Laws, 2015, and apply to photo voltaic, wind and biogas methods.
Nepra has capped the utmost dimension of a distributed technology facility at one MW and restricted capability to the sanctioned load of the patron. A significant technical restriction bars new connections if technology on a distribution transformer reaches 80% of its rated capability, whereas methods of 250 kW or above should endure a compulsory load circulate research.
Utilities are sure to strict timelines, together with acknowledging functions inside 5 working days, finishing technical opinions inside 15 days, and putting in interconnection amenities inside 15 days after cost. Prosumers should additionally get hold of formal concurrence from Nepra, which is to be issued inside seven working days.
Monetary duty has shifted to customers, with all interconnection prices, together with meters and grid upgrades, to be borne by the prosumer. Nepra has additionally imposed a non-refundable concurrence payment of Rs1,000 per kilowatt, whereas mandating two-way metering by both a single bidirectional meter or twin meters.
Utilities retain powers to disconnect methods in case of faults, non-compliance or upkeep, and prosumers are barred from promoting electrical energy to 3rd events utilizing the utility’s community. Nepra has additionally reserved the appropriate to revise buy charges, situation binding instructions, demand operational knowledge and impose penalties.
The choice goals to curb rising monetary losses, tariff distortions and grid instability triggered by the fast growth of distributed photo voltaic technology. Underneath web billing, electrical energy provided to the grid will probably be bought on the nationwide common power buy value — at the moment round Rs11 per unit — whereas electrical energy drawn from the grid will proceed to be charged at prevailing client tariffs, which for a lot of households exceed Rs50 per unit, in response to Energy Division officers.
The coverage shift follows an unprecedented surge in rooftop photo voltaic installations, pushed by hovering electrical energy costs, unreliable provide, and falling photo voltaic tools prices. Complete rooftop photo voltaic capability is now estimated at round 6,000 megawatts nationwide, largely concentrated amongst city residential, business and industrial customers.
Whereas rooftop photo voltaic has diminished daytime grid demand, official knowledge exhibits it has additionally sharply eroded utility revenues. In FY2024 alone, grid electrical energy gross sales declined by 3.2 billion models, translating into income losses of practically Rs101 billion for energy distribution corporations (Discos).
These losses didn’t disappear. Energy sector officers say they have been absorbed into the tariff construction, contributing to a mean improve of Rs0.9 per kilowatt-hour for remaining grid customers.
Regulators argue that the web metering regime more and more produced a regressive consequence. Rooftop photo voltaic adoption has been concentrated amongst higher-income households and companies, whereas mounted system prices — equivalent to capability funds to energy producers, transmission infrastructure and grid upkeep — remained unchanged.
As photo voltaic customers diminished their billed consumption, these mounted prices have been redistributed throughout a shrinking client base, shifting the burden onto non-solar customers, a lot of whom lack the monetary capability to put money into rooftop methods.
In response to Energy Division projections, if web metering had continued unchanged, misplaced grid gross sales might attain 18.8 billion models by FY2034, with a cumulative monetary affect of Rs545 billion. Officers warn this might drive electrical energy tariffs increased by Rs5-6 per unit, additional suppressing demand and deepening the sector’s monetary disaster.
On the coronary heart of the reform lies a widening value distortion. Whereas new utility-scale photo voltaic initiatives are being contracted at under Rs10 per unit, rooftop photo voltaic exports below web metering have been credited at Rs22-27 per unit, excluding taxes and surcharges.
“This meant the grid was being compelled to purchase costly rooftop electrical energy whereas cheaper technology was out there,” a senior power official stated. “The grid successfully grew to become a free battery for photo voltaic customers, with out recovering system prices.”
Operational challenges have additionally intensified. Throughout winter months, nationwide electrical energy demand usually drops to eight,000-9,000 megawatts, whereas photo voltaic technology peaks throughout daytime. Power planners warn that extra photo voltaic injection throughout low-demand durations will increase the danger of over-generation, frequency instability and compelled curtailment.
Officers have cited Sri Lanka’s 2022 nationwide blackout, partially attributed to unmanaged rooftop photo voltaic growth, as a cautionary instance of the dangers posed by uncontrolled distributed technology.
Regulators have additionally recognized widespread misuse of the web metering system. In a number of circumstances, customers with sanctioned a great deal of 10 kilowatts have been exporting as much as 20 kilowatts to the grid, successfully changing residential connections into unregulated energy crops.
To handle this, DISCOS have begun deploying good meters able to real-time monitoring, export limiting, and enforcement of sanctioned load caps. Underneath the brand new laws, utilities are additionally empowered to refuse new connections the place transformers or feeders are nearing capability.
Power analysts count on the shift to increase payback durations for brand spanking new rooftop photo voltaic methods, notably for households exporting a big share of their technology. Nevertheless, methods designed primarily for self-consumption, equivalent to places of work, outlets, factories and daytime-heavy customers, are anticipated to stay financially engaging.
“The motivation construction has modified,” stated a renewable power marketing consultant. “The message now could be clear: generate in your personal use. Promoting surplus energy to the grid is not the principle enterprise case.”
In a gathering on October 22, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the Energy Division and Nepra to evaluation and confirm the buyback tariff and assess its broader system-wide implications earlier than finalising reforms.
Web metering performed a pivotal function in accelerating rooftop photo voltaic adoption over the previous decade, serving to customers hedge towards excessive tariffs and unreliable provide. Web billing marks a strategic pivot — from fast, incentive-driven growth to a extra managed part centered on monetary sustainability, grid stability and price fairness.
Critics warn the coverage might gradual rooftop photo voltaic development at a time when Pakistan faces gas import constraints and local weather obligations. Officers counter that the reform preserves self-generation incentives whereas eliminating arbitrage that threatened the viability of the ability system.
