Pakistan Replaces Solar Net Metering With Net Billing Under NEPRA Prosumer Regulations 2026

Pakistan has officially ended its net metering programme for rooftop solar, replacing it with a net billing framework under NEPRA's (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority's) Prosumer Regulations 2026 — repealing the 2015 net metering rules that drove the country's decade-long solar boom. The country's 283,000 registered solar prosumers, who together operate more than 6,000 MW (6 GW) of rooftop capacity, will no longer receive a unit-for-unit bill credit for electricity exported to the grid.

How Net Metering Worked — and Why It Spread

The original 2015 framework was built on a simple exchange: every unit of electricity a rooftop solar system fed back to the grid earned the owner exactly one unit of credit against their electricity bill. That one-for-one arrangement grew dramatically more attractive as grid tariffs climbed. The average retail price of grid electricity stood at roughly PKR 9 per kWh when the policy launched; by 2024 it had reached PKR 44 per kWh — nearly five times higher. Every exported unit was, in effect, worth five times more in bill savings than it had been when the policy began.

The financial logic drew in hundreds of thousands of consumers. Rooftop solar capacity surged from just 50 MW to over 6 GW between the mid-2010s and 2026. For middle-class households crushed simultaneously by load shedding and soaring electricity bills, solar was not a luxury — it was a financial lifeline.

What Net Billing Changes

Under the Prosumer Regulations 2026, the unit-for-unit symmetry is gone. Net billing separates the rate a solar owner pays to import electricity from the grid from the rate they receive when they export surplus generation. Exports are compensated at a separately determined rate — typically set well below the full retail tariff — rather than being credited at parity. The grid is no longer treated as a free energy bank.

In practical terms: a household that exported 200 units monthly and received a full 200-unit credit under net metering will now receive a monetary credit calculated at the lower export rate. That translates directly into higher residual bills and a longer payback period on the solar investment — for new installations and, depending on transition rules NEPRA specifies, for existing ones too.

Why Pakistan Made the Switch

Several pressures converged behind the policy change. Distribution companies (DISCOs) argued that the one-for-one credit model offloaded grid maintenance costs onto consumers who could not afford solar, turning net metering into an implicit cross-subsidy for wealthier households. As the prosumer base grew to 283,000, that cross-subsidy became harder to ignore politically and financially.

• Non-solar consumers were absorbing a growing share of fixed grid infrastructure costs with each new prosumer that joined the network.
• IMF programme conditions on energy-sector reform pushed for elimination of distortive subsidies embedded in electricity pricing.
• NEPRA and the Power Division sought a framework that preserves solar investment incentives while recovering grid fixed costs more equitably across all users.