LAHORE: Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, the federal minister of energy, stated on Sunday that there were no intentions by the government to discontinue the solar net-metering program.
The minister made these comments in response to media reports that said the administration was abandoning the scheme and substituting a new gross-metering system.
Through net metering, customers can sell the extra electricity generated by their solar system to their power distribution provider, which can save a substantial amount on their monthly electricity bill.
The money advantage may be diminished, though, because under the gross metering system, the electricity produced by customers’ rooftop solar systems is sent into the national grid, which they subsequently purchase from the government.
Speaking at a press conference at the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) headquarters, the minister refuted media reports and stated that the government would support the move to solar power because PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, who ordered its promotion during his previous term as prime minister, was the driving force behind the policy.
In 2017, [PML-N] unveiled this solar net-metering program. And since net metering is a program that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif is passionate about, we will keep supporting it,” the minister stated.
The party was “proud” of the plan, he continued, saying that “a large number of people benefitted from it.”
Customers who already had solar power installed and were under contract with the Disco for net-metering “would not be affected at all,” according to Mr. Leghari.
In the future, the government will support net metering as well, and he said that any changes to the policy will only be made after consulting with all relevant parties.
He claimed that because solar panels are so expensive, not many people sought for net-metering licenses when the concept was first introduced in 2017.
He claimed that although the number of customers requesting for net metering has grown over time, it climbed by 125 percent in 2023–2024.
According to his claims, rooftop solar net-metering connections are held by 0.3 percent of all electricity consumers. “There are now 113,000 net metering connections overall.”
Speaking of additional problems facing the power industry, he stated that a fall in industrial growth has resulted in an 8% decrease in the total demand for electricity.
In response to a query, he stated that the CEO of Lesco has been instructed to fully address system limitations in order to keep it from overloading during hot weather.
The minister expressed dissatisfaction that “one province has made the issue of power theft political” without identifying the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
In addition, he conveyed optimism that over the next 15 days, the KP CM would offer “a viable plan” to curb power theft.
