Non-revision of net-metering rules: Govt can’t afford Rs550bn burden on consumers, Senate told

ISLAMABAD: The government cannot afford to overburden more than 34.5 million power consumers with Rs550 billion annually by not revising the net-metering regulations, Power Minister Awais Leghari informed the Upper House of the Parliament on Tuesday.

Over 466,000 existing net-metering consumers would not be affected with new net-metering regulations that would be applicable on the new consumers, he said.

Leghari was responding to a resolution at the Senate session regarding the net-metering.

READ MORE: Nepra notifies Prosumer Regulations

Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) moved the resolution on “Protection of Rooftop Solar Prosumers and Alignment of NEPRA’s Draft ‘Prosumer Regulations, 2025’ with National Policy,” that was eventually rejected by the House in the absence of the opposition.

Responding to the resolution, Leghari said out of over 34,500,000 power consumers, 466,506 consumers were using net-metering on 7,000 megawatts of electricity.

Of them, a few industrialists were using net-metering on 35,00 MW electricity, said the minister.

The minister said that if Nepra (National Electric Power Authority) allows continuing net-metering on the existing rates of Rs 26 or Rs 27 per unit, the annual burden on the total power consumers would increase from Rs 200 billion to Rs 550 billion annually.

The Nepra’s duty is to watch the interests of the consumers, and save people from the undue impact of rise in power tariff, according to the minister.

The power minister disclosed that a solar system of 11 kilovolts is installed at his residence. “I, Awais Leghari, am a net-metering owner— I am producing Rs 5.50 or Rs 6 per unit electricity—and when I give it to the grid for Rs 26 or 27 per unit, is it fair to the remaining 34,500,00 consumers? Shouldn’t I rationalise it?” he said.

“These are Nepra regulations. This is not a policy. Pakistan’s Constitution and the law allows regulators to change the regulations,” the minister said.

In this context, the government started consultations with all the stakeholders over the last 10 to 12 months.

“Last year, in the month of June, we settled some issues with them,” Leghari said, claiming that the Solar Association of Pakistan supported the Nepra’s net-metering decision.

“In this regulation, there is nothing in retrospective effect — in this regulation — our regulator did not reverse even a single clause of seven-year contracts and licences,” Leghari said, referring to the contracts between the power consumers and the distribution companies (DISCOs).

The issue of net-metering and net-billing is not guaranteed in the contracts, he said.

Earlier, speaking in the Senate, PTI Parliamentary Leader Ali Zafar supported the net-metering resolution moved by his party’s colleague.

He slammed the government for “allowing to permit retrospective alteration of existing net-metering licences.”

Zafar opposed the draft NEPRA (Prosumer) Regulations, 2025, which, he said, aimed at adversely affecting the net-metering consumers through unfair revision of the regulations.

Meanwhile, the senators from both the sides of the aisle in the Upper House of the Parliament expressed strong concern over the Senate meetings not having been live streamed on the national and social media by the government, demanding of the ruling side to immediately address this issue.

The Senate has been adjourned till Thursday.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026