ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has amended the rules for net metering consumers on the government’s review petition.
According to the regulatory authority, the new rules will not apply to old solar consumers, while the existing net metering agreements will remain in force until their term expires.
According to Nepra officials, the new net metering rules will apply only to new consumers; old prosumers will be billed as per the agreement.
The Nepra amendment will be considered effective from February 9, 2026.
It should be noted that the Prime Minister, taking notice of the issue of converting solar net metering to net billing, had directed the Power Division to file a review petition.
New net billing rules
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has established a new net billing system that compensates small power producers with reduced payments for their extra power while imposing standard consumer rates for grid access.
The Nepra has issued the official Prosumer Regulations 2026, which discontinues the unit-for-unit electricity supply mechanism.
The current buyback rate for electricity exported by solar net metering consumers stands at Rs. 25.9 per unit, which may be reduced to around Rs. 11 per unit under the proposed framework.
The new policy will not apply to existing net metering consumers during the validity of their contracts. However, Discos have been authorised to either terminate contracts or transition consumers to the new policy framework upon contract expiry.
Distribution companies (Discos) will charge consumers the applicable retail tariff for electricity supplied from the grid, which may reach Rs. 50 per unit while purchasing extra solar power from solar customers at a much lower rate of Rs. 11 per unit.
Electricity produced by distributed generation plants that use solar, wind, or biogas energy sources with a capacity of up to 1 MW will be settled through net billing instead of unit-for-unit adjustment.
The actual energy supplied and consumed will determine billing amounts, which will occur at the end of each billing cycle that lasts 30 days. The new framework allows net metering consumers to sell their electricity to the national grid at the National Average Energy Price, while their electricity usage will be charged at the current applicable rate.
