The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Tuesday announced it has abolished a license requirement and application fee for solar prosumers utilizing systems of up to 25 kilowatts.
In a notification, the regulator said prosumers’ regulations had been amended, eliminating license fees for distributed generation up to 25kW. Any prosumers with higher capacities, it said, would have to pay a one-time fee of Rs. 1,000/kW.
“This notification shall be applicable and deemed to be effective from Feb. 9, 2026,” it said.
The decision follows the Power Division writing to NEPRA, directing it to remove the license requirement and associated fee for solar prosumers of up to 25kW, as these are mostly household consumers and not industrial users. In the latter, Power Minister Awais Leghari had sought the rollback of the regulatory changes introduced earlier this year, as public outrage mounted over ever-increasing fees on solar setups.
Even prior to the rollback, NEPRA had clarified that off-grid solar setups do not require any license or face any fee.
Prior to the adoption of new Prosumer Regulations in February, solar setups of 25kW or less did not require any license from NEPRA, with applications for net metering processed directly by Distribution Companies without any fee. In its letter, the Power Division had noted the Private Power and Infrastructure Board had urged NEPRA to maintain the previous policy for systems of 25kW or less. Critics had also warned that requiring NEPRA licensing created unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, potentially discouraging solar uptake.