Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken immediate notice of the new regulations issued by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) regarding solar consumers.A high-level meeting was convened under the chairmanship of the prime minister to review the matter. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, along with relevant federal ministers and senior officials, attended the meeting.During the session, the prime minister directed the Power Division and NEPRA to file a review appeal to safeguard the contracts of existing solar consumers and ensure maximum protection of current agreements. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasized that the financial burden of approximately 466,000 solar consumers should not be shifted onto 37.6 million national grid electricity users. He further instructed the Power Division to formulate a comprehensive strategy in this regard. What Are the New Solar Regulations? Under the revised NEPRA rules, the rates for selling electricity to the national grid have been reduced. Existing solar consumers will continue to sell electricity to the national grid at the previous rate of Rs25.32 per unit. For new consumers, the per-unit rate has been reduced by Rs17.19. New solar users will now receive Rs8.13 per unit, nearly three times lower than the earlier rate. Additionally, a new net billing system has been introduced. Under this system, units generated by consumers will no longer be treated as equal to government-supplied units. Electricity drawn from the national grid will be charged according to the applicable government tariff and slab rates. The license duration for new net-metering consumers has also been reduced from seven years to five years.
PM Shehbaz Takes Notice of NEPRA’s New Solar Regulations, Directs Protection of Existing Consumers’ Contracts
