The Pakistan Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved a new electricity purchasing policy with net control consumers, reducing the rate of RS27 per unit to only 10 rupees per unit.
This decision comes after a significant increase in the number of houses and offices in Pakistan to install solar panels to generate their own electricity, a trend caused by the escalation of power outages and the increase in electricity costs in recent years.
The new government policy aims to deal with the economic burden imposed on general consumers due to the growing number of net measurement users. “The attack on regular consumers due to the net measure has created an additional economic burden, and this policy has been approved to mitigate it,” said a government spokesperson.
According to official data, the number of networking consumers in the country should reach 283,000 at the end of 2024, compared to 226,440 in October 2024. The government calculated that, in December 2024, net wick consumers will have transferred an additional burden of 159 billion rupees to other electricity users. If the policy was not revised, this financial burden could reach 4.24 rumber of rupees by 2034.
The number of megawatts produced by measuring the solar net has also experienced significant growth. From only 321 MW in 2021, the number of megawatts of consumers for the solar net measure reached 3,299 MW in October 2024 and is expected to reach 4,124 MW by December 2024.
Under the new policy, the government will now buy electricity from net consumers at a rate of RS10 per unit, significantly lower than the previous rate of RS27. However, the new policy also allows the import of electricity during peak hours at a rate of RS60 per unit, including taxes, net users.
Given all of these circumstances, the question is how long it will take to recover the cost of the solar system as part of the new clear measurement policy?
Energy Expert Rao Amir Ali, Arif Habib Limited, expressed his concerns about the new policy, declaring that she will discourage people from adopting the net measure.
“The new policy will extend the time necessary to recover the cost of a solar system. Under the previous rate, the solar costs have been recovered within three to four years, but with the new policy, it will take 10 to 12 years,” he said, adding that the government’s objective seemed to be to discourage consumers from opting for net recruitment systems.
The government has explained that consumers of net measurement do not pay capacity payments and are exempt from paying fixed costs for electricity distribution companies, which put additional financial pressure on the government. The revised policy aims to restore the balance of the energy distribution system.
In addition, the government has stressed that around 80% of net measurement consumers are located in the nine best cities in the country, mainly in rich areas. This change of policy aims to ensure fair balance in the electricity distribution network and to respond to the growing disparity between users of the net measurement and regular consumers.
While the country faces growing energy challenges, the change in policy should have significant ramifications on the solar energy market and the wider electricity landscape in Pakistan.