Power distribution companies are seeking regulatory approval to impose fixed charges on solar net metering users, in a bid to offset mounting financial losses as more consumers shift away from the national grid.
At a public hearing on Tuesday, Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) and Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) told the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) that the proliferation of solar net metering was eroding their revenues.
The companies’ proposal, backed by the Ministry of Energy, argued that imposing fixed charges on electricity exported by net metering users would help recover transmission and distribution costs.
The move comes as the government grapples with falling electricity demand and a glut in the gas sector, driven by high tariffs that have pushed consumers to adopt solar solutions. Previous attempts by the Power Division to overhaul the net metering policy, including a proposal to slash the buyback rate to Rs. 10 per unit, were met with public backlash and ultimately rejected by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Nepra’s hearings on Tuesday also addressed multi-year tariff petitions from both Mepco and Gepco for the 2025-26 to 2029-30 period. Officials from the power companies said that fixed charges would make their operations more viable, while the Power Division warned that the burden of capacity charges was increasingly falling on grid-connected consumers.
The regulator also raised concerns about payment delays to solar net metering users and criticized Gepco for the unauthorized installation of advanced metering infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Mepco reported achieving 100% recovery targets for fiscal 2024-25, though acknowledged that a portion of billed amounts typically remains outstanding and is collected in subsequent months.
The government has recently introduced a three-year scheme offering lower rates for incremental electricity consumption, aiming to stem the shift to solar and boost demand for grid power.
The simpler thing would be to lower the tariff and increase usage without having to depend on solar
So finally the truth comes out. IPPs are lobbying that solar users must pay for generating cheaper electricity
This is daylight robbery. They are openly demanding people who generate their own electricity to pay charges despite the fact that They already pay income tax and sales tax.
This is beyond unfair.
So solar users who generate their own electricity should pay for generating THEIR OWN electricity ?
Ok. Every IPP should pay fixed charges for generating electricity.
National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) that the proliferation of solar net metering was eroding their revenues.
Yes how dare people generate their own electricity .
Nepra should be ashamed to even utter such nonsense. Your revenue is illegal as solar users generate their own power.
Nepra should be paying solar users. Ungrateful losers.
Just get rid of all the IPPs running on imported coal and LNG . But they won’t because they are involved in this money grabbing scam ” Capacity Payment”
It’s a legal dead end. Once these agreements have been made they cannot be undone. Not without downgrading Pakistan’s credit rating.
Bureaucratic approaches of pressing or depressing consumers or end user will not only destroy the economy but are proven failures.
Only in PKHO!
Cheers!
(And sarcastic, if any fucking idiot doesn’t get it. Since this cuntry is filled with “geniuses”…)
If electric companies cant control their over head expenses, line lossess offering free electricity units to anyone and every one, stealing of electricity by theives, and so on why on the earth this loss they want to recover from solar users whos energy comes from natural light and their own hard earned money for installation of solars, energy companies want money from public for their own incompetence & mismanagement this is not fair and not a legal practice, companies should address aggressively their own mistakes, governace, incompetence and generosity to distribute free units to those who can afford otherwise
Suraj ki Roshni tumharay baap ki hai yaa maa ki Jo tex loo ge ?
Wapda is become white elephant on consumer and looting mony.
They should reduce their unlegal incentive like free units to wapda employees to reduce the cast.
Also wapda officer should not allow the wapda vehicle must use their own transport