The Prime Minister’s Third Pause on Net-Metering Revision

Dawn reported on 21 July 2025 that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had, for the third time, stopped the Power Division from pursuing a revision of net-metering terms before a formal summary reached his office. The Pakistan Economic Survey 2023-24 counted 117,807 net-metered installations with 1,822 MW as of March 2024. The 6,500 MW figure is 2.3 times the March 2025 official total (6,500 divided by 2,813). Some of the gap may be new connections since March, and some may be capacity approved but not yet connected.

Power Minister Awais Leghari has argued that net metering gives some users unjustified returns and adds to surplus-capacity costs, while promising that existing users would not be penalised. Net-metering terms are NEPRA regulations, and that is where this should be settled: a published draft, an estimate of the cost shift onto non-solar consumers, a hearing, and grandfathering for existing agreements until they expire.