ISLAMABAD:
Senators from treasury and opposition benches on Tuesday lambasted the government for its new net metering policy, urging it to rein in independent power producers (IPPs) rather than penalizing common people who are turning to solar power due to the energy crisis.
As the upper house resumed its session, Senator Zarqa Suharwardy presented a resolution opposing National Electric Power Regulatory Authority’s (Nepra) (Prosumer) Regulations, 2026.
The resolution argued that the proposed framework could discourage citizen investment in rooftop solar and undermine the country’s renewable energy transition.
The power regulator has overhauled the country’s net metering regime, moving rooftop solar and other small generators to a new ‘net billing’ system under the NEPRA (Prosumer) Regulations, 2026, fundamentally changing how electricity producers are paid and repealing the decade-old framework.
Under the new rules, notified on Monday by Nepra, utilities will be required to purchase excess electricity from prosumers – households, businesses and industries generating up to one megawatt – at the national average energy purchase price, while selling electricity back to them at the applicable consumer tariff, effectively ending one-to-one net metering.
Senator Zarqa called for a transparent solar policy, accused the IPPs of looting the country, demanded their closure, and urged the government to frame policies that facilitate the public.
Speaking on the resolution, PTI Parliamentary Leader in the Senate, Senator Ali Zafar, said the energy minister, Awais Leghari, had earlier stated in the Senate that the government was not withdrawing the solar policy, but was now doing exactly that.
He alleged that IPPs had become a powerful mafia and said the government continued paying them even when they did not generate electricity, calling it an injustice.
He accused the government of further oppressing poor citizens who had installed solar systems. He said Nepra merely follows government directives and that the law requires the government to honour promises made even to ordinary citizens.
Zafar questioned which investor would invest in Pakistan when the government itself fails to uphold commitments, and demanded that the Nepra chairman be summoned and jailed.
Speaking on the same resolution, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said she supported the stance taken by Senators Zarqa Suharwardy and Ali Zafar.
She said Pakistan has the most expensive electricity in the entire region, while many government institutions do not pay their electricity bills. She questioned whether the burden should then be placed on poor citizens.
She said Pakistan was purchasing furnace oil worth billions of dollars, while the power distribution system remained highly corrupt. Sherry accused the government of using electricity bills as a tax-collection tool, imposing nearly ten different taxes and surcharges.
She questioned why unannounced load-shedding was continuing if surplus electricity was available.
The senator warned that unemployment in Pakistan had reached seven percent — a level at which governments collapse — and said investors were leaving the country.
She added that she herself would not invest in Pakistan when tariffs were being changed repeatedly.
Responding to the criticism, Minister for Energy Awais Ahmed Leghari reiterated that solar electricity costs Rs56 per unit, questioning the fairness of buying it at Rs27 per unit under net metering.
He said out of 33.5 million electricity consumers on the national grid, only 466,000 were net-metering users, and they could not be allowed to impact the majority.
He said there had been no change in Nepra’s net-metering policy, only a regulatory adjustment, which had been made in the past as well. Replying to PPP and PTI senators, the minister said the government and the ministry had begun engaging stakeholders 10 to 12 months ago.
He said even the solar association had acknowledged the necessity of these changes to protect public interest. He stressed that NEPRA’s role is to prevent unjustified increases in electricity prices and said the regulator had not altered a single clause of consumer contracts.
He said the rupee’s decline against the dollar began during the PTI era, pushing electricity prices to unsustainable levels. He added that net metering was approved during his ministry’s tenure in 201718.
He said Pakistan had already achieved 55 percent green energy by 2025 and was on the right reform trajectory, with institutions including the World Bank praising the government’s measures.
Following the minister’s address, the presiding officer put Senator Zarqa Suharwardy’s resolution on solar panels to a vote, and the house rejected the resolution.
