Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed the Power Division to file a review petition against the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA)’s revised rules for rooftop solar users, emphasizing that existing consumer contracts should not be impacted.
Earlier this week, NEPRA notified new terms for all existing and future net-metered solar consumers, citing rising solar penetration and the need to protect the state-run power network. In essence, the notification ended net-metering, replacing it with net billing.
In a statement regarding the new policies, the Prime Minister’s Office said Sharif had taken “immediate notice” following criticism from lawmakers in the Senate. It said the prime minister had directed the Power Division to file a review petition before NEPRA “to ensure every possible safeguard of the existing consumer contracts.” Maintaining that the “burden of 466,000 users benefitting from solar should not be put on 37.6 million domestic consumers,” he also directed the Power Division to devise a comprehensive strategy in this regard.
The directions follow Power Minister Awais Leghari’s defense of NEPRA’s decision. Speaking in the Senate, he claimed it would ease the burden on non-solar consumers, adding it was a regulatory measure and did not reflect the government’s policy.
On Wednesday night, he appeared on Geo News and assured people that no changes would be made for existing solar consumers availing net metering. Blaming “social media” for the furor over the NEPRA decision, he claimed even his wife had criticized it.
Fixed charges
Also on Wednesday, NEPRA approved a government decision to impose around Rs. 132 billion in fixed charges on domestic electricity consumers falling in the “protected” category, with the policy coming into retrospective effect from February. Under the new policy, the effective unit price increases by up to 75% for the lowest consumption, with a declining scale for higher consumption groups.
The fixed charges are meant to benefit industrial consumers, reducing their average tariff by Rs. 4.04/unit. The revised schedule of tariff shows new fixed charges on monthly consumption of up to 300 units, higher charges for the 400-600 unit slabs, and slightly lower charges for higher consumption to discourage defection from the grid.