Govt Stops Implementation of New Solar Policy After Backlash

The federal government has stopped the implementation of the decision to shift consumers from net metering to net billing and ordered an appeal against the regulator, as the government faces mounting political and public pressure over solar policy.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Federal Minister for Power Division Awais Leghari said criticism over the net metering issue should be viewed in the broader context of power sector reforms. He said the government has reduced circular debt by Rs. 780 billion and renegotiated agreements with independent power producers, resulting in relief of Rs. 3,400 billion.

He added that the government has brought down IPP tariffs and even secured Rs. 100 billion in cuts from a project linked to the prime minister’s relative. He also said electricity tariffs for industrial consumers have been reduced to support economic activity.

On net metering, the minister said the system was introduced in 2017 during the PML N government and has undergone regulatory changes four to five times. He said the matter went to the Economic Coordination Committee and then to the federal cabinet, and that the government has the right to file an appeal against the regulator’s decision.

Leghari said the volume of solar power in the country currently stands between 20,000 and 22,000 megawatts. Of this, around 6,000 megawatts are under net metering, while about 7,000 megawatts are in the industrial and commercial segment. He said nearly 700,000 consumers are currently on net metering.

He questioned whether it was fair for the government to purchase electricity at Rs. 27 per unit under net metering when it is receiving power at around Rs. 8 per unit from other sources. He said about 35 million consumers are not on net metering and asked whether the policy is truly public-friendly.

The minister noted that in Islamabad’s F and G sectors, most solar systems are on net metering, whereas in suburban areas such as Burma Town, many systems are not. Overall, he said, only about 8 to 10 percent of consumers nationwide are on net metering.

During the question hour session, the power division acknowledged that out of 12,665 feeders nationwide, 2,223 feeders are facing load shedding of more than 10 hours. The worst situation was reported in Quetta Electric Supply Company, where 604 out of 814 feeders face over 10 hours of load shedding.

In the Sukkur Electric Power Company, 407 out of 707 feeders face similar outages, while in Tribal Areas Electric Supply Company, 174 out of 357 feeders are affected. In the Peshawar Electric Supply Company, 642 out of 1,376 feeders are experiencing extended load shedding.

By contrast, Lahore Electric Supply Company, Islamabad Electric Supply Company, Gujranwala Electric Power Company and Faisalabad Electric Supply Company have no feeders facing more than 10 hours of load shedding.

He also revealed that total transmission losses exceeded Rs. 600 billion over two years. In FY24, losses stood at Rs. 322 billion, while in FY25 they were Rs. 284 billion. Losses in Peshawar Electric Supply Company reached Rs. 96 billion, followed by Rs. 51 billion in Quetta, Rs. 46 billion in Lahore, Rs. 37 billion in Sukkur and Rs. 22 billion in Hyderabad.

Between July and December 2025, consumers used 8.78 billion units of electricity. The total number of electricity consumers across 11 distribution companies stands at 39.22 million. The number of protected consumers has risen to 21.55 million, compared to 9.5 million in October 2021.

The power minister said capacity under net metering reached 7,000 megawatts by December 2025, while off-grid solar capacity stands at 12.62 megawatts.

He further informed the house that electricity consumers are paying Rs. 310 billion annually to service circular debt. He said agreements with multiple IPPs have been revised and the resulting relief has been passed on to consumers, while negotiations with more IPPs are ongoing. He also said projects totaling 7,967 megawatts of high-cost electricity have been cancelled.