ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday took notice of the newly notified Prosumer Regulations 2026 issued by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) amid public concerns over sweeping changes to the solar net metering regime.
Chairing a high-level meeting on the matter, the prime minister directed the Power Division to immediately file an appeal before Nepra to safeguard the contractual rights of existing solar consumers, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
The premier also instructed the Power Division to prepare a comprehensive action plan to ensure that the financial burden of approximately 466,000 solar consumers does not shift onto over 37.6 million electricity users connected solely to the national grid.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Federal Ministers Ahad Khan Cheema, Attaullah Tarar, Ali Pervez Malik, Sardar Owais Khan Leghari, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani, Adviser on Privatisation Muhammad Ali, and other senior officials.
The development follows Nepra’s notification earlier this week replacing the net metering regime with a new “net billing” framework under the Nepra (Prosumer) Regulations, 2026.
Under the new regulations, power distribution companies will purchase surplus electricity from prosumers — including households, businesses and industries generating up to one megawatt — at the national average energy purchase price, while electricity supplied to them will be charged at the applicable consumer tariff.
The move effectively ends the previous one-to-one offset mechanism that enabled solar users to balance their electricity bills against the energy they supplied to the grid.
The revised framework also reduces the standard contract term from seven years to five years, renewable by mutual consent. While existing prosumers will continue under their current agreements until expiry, all new connections and renewals will fall under the five-year net billing model.
If the value of electricity supplied by a prosumer exceeds the amount consumed, the excess will either be adjusted in subsequent bills or paid out quarterly.
The new regulations have come into immediate effect, repealing the Nepra Alternative & Renewable Energy Distributed Generation and Net Metering Regulations, 2015, and will apply to solar, wind and biogas systems.