Issued by NEPRA: TheNetwork concerned over Draft Prosumer Regulations, 2025

ISLAMABAD: TheNetwork for Consumer Protection has expressed serious concern over the Draft Prosumer Regulations, 2025 issued by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), which propose to significantly reduce the size, duration, and economic viability of net-metered solar power for consumers.

While the draft regulations are presented as a measure to balance the interests of consumers and utilities, their practical effect would be to sharply reduce incentives for household and small commercial prosumers, risking a major setback to Pakistan’s clean energy transition.

NEPRA has rightly recognized the concept of a prosumer — a consumer who both produces and consumes electricity.

However, its own reports have repeatedly highlighted how consumers have been disadvantaged by distribution companies through sub-optimal service quality, excessive surcharges, and unreliable supply.

Instead of addressing these systemic issues, the proposed regulations appear to protect an inefficient and financially distressed utility model by shifting the burden onto consumers who have invested in clean, decentralized energy solutions.

Nadeem Iqbal, CEO of TheNetwork, noted that NEPRA’s mission statement commits the regulator to developing a safe, reliable, affordable, modern, and market-driven electricity sector while maintaining a balance between consumer and service provider interests. This mandate must now be read in light of Pakistan’s recently recognized constitutional right, which states that every person shall be entitled to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.

Any regulatory framework that discourages renewable energy adoption directly undermines this constitutional guarantee.

At a time when Pakistan is facing record air pollution, extreme heatwaves, floods, and other climate-induced disasters, discouraging rooftop solar adoption sends the wrong signal.

Consumers are turning to solar not to generate profits, but as a survival response to unaffordable electricity tariffs, frequent outages, and rising fuel costs. For many households, rooftop solar is also enabling the transition to electric mobility, particularly electric two-wheelers, helping reduce dependence on fossil fuels in both the power and transport sectors.

The proposed reduction in buyback tariffs, the lowering of allowable system capacity from 150 percent to 100 percent of sanctioned load, and the shortening of contract duration to five years significantly increase financial uncertainty for consumers. These changes are likely to disproportionately affect middle-income households and discourage future investments in clean energy, slowing Pakistan’s progress toward climate resilience and energy security.

NEPRA itself has acknowledged that high taxes, levies, and surcharges are driving consumers away from the grid. Penalizing those who adopt clean energy does not resolve these challenges.

Prosumers should be viewed as partners in reducing peak demand, lowering fuel imports, improving grid stability, and achieving environmental objectives—not as a threat to utility revenues.

TheNetwork, a member of Consumers International’s Advisory Council and Clean Energy Task Force, Consumers International represents more than 200 consumer organizations across over 100 countries and advocates globally for fair, sustainable, and consumer-centric energy transitions. From a consumer perspective, clean energy adoption must be accelerated, not constrained.

TheNetwork urges NEPRA and the government to revisit the Draft Prosumer Regulations with a forward-looking approach that prioritizes consumer rights, public health, affordability, and Pakistan’s long-term transition away from fossil fuels.

A regulatory framework that aligns with constitutional guarantees and international best practices is essential to ensuring that clean energy remains accessible, inclusive, and economically viable for all consumers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025