In a move that has stunned millions of Pakistani households and small businesses, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has effectively dismantled the longstanding net metering regime, replacing it with a net billing system that punishes, rather than rewards, consumers who invested in solar energy.
Under the newly notified Prosumer Regulations, 2026, surplus electricity generated by solar users will no longer be credited on a unit-for-unit basis. Instead, households must sell their excess to distribution companies at the National Average Energy Purchase Price, roughly Rs. 10–11/unit, while buying back grid electricity at full retail tariffs often between Rs. 37 and Rs. 55 per unit.
For a policy that was sold as people-centric and aimed at reducing electricity bills, this marks a profound betrayal of public trust.
The shift to net billing is not merely a technical adjustment to billing rules; it represents a fundamental economic reversal that will dramatically extend the payback period for solar investments, erode consumer savings, and deter future adoption of distributed renewable energy. Under the previous net metering regime—a key driver behind the rooftop solar boom of recent years—consumers could offset their own grid consumption with solar generation on a one-to-one basis, often reducing bills to near zero. That made solar not just an environmental choice, but a lifeline against crippling electricity costs.
This shift is all the more galling when viewed against the backdrop of political promises. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) campaigned in the 2024 general elections on a manifesto that pledged to reduce electricity costs and ensure economic relief for the public. It underscored a broad objective of public welfare and prosperity—implicitly tied to affordable energy access. Yet, critics would be forgiven for questioning whether those promises were ever intended to genuinely benefit ordinary citizens or were simply convenient electoral rhetoric.
Even more striking are the ministerial assurances that preceded this policy shift. On multiple occasions since early 2025, Federal Energy Minister Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari publicly insisted that the government had no intention of abolishing net metering and would protect consumers while ensuring a sustainable energy framework. Until recently, he argued that the policy would encourage solar adoption and not harm consumers’ economic interests. The regulations now enforced tell a different story, one of assurances that ring hollow.
Rather than addressing the real root causes of grid instability and spiraling electricity costs, such as bloated power sector debt, costly Independent Power Producer (IPP) contracts, inefficiencies in distribution companies, and chronic governance failures, the government and NEPRA have opted to shift the burden onto consumers who chose solar in good faith. The regulator’s defense frames the reform as necessary for grid stability; yet it conveniently ignores that the problems are of their own making, not that of the consumer. Millions who invested in solar to escape high electricity costs must now make up for political incompetence and regulatory dysfunction with higher bills and diminished returns.
The consequences will be deep and lasting. This policy reversal not only undermines confidence in renewable energy investment, it signals a worrying shift in priorities: governance that is not for the people, nor by the people. Instead of empowering households to contribute to energy security and environmental goals, the state has chosen to penalize them to prop up failing institutions.
Public resentment will grow. And far from achieving “stability” or “growth,” this betrayal risks eroding the very social and economic foundations the government claims to champion.