• Notifies new regulations, shifts all prosumers to net-billing
• New contracts will be limited to five years; existing seven-year terms will remain valid until expiry
• Buyback rate for future prosumers cut to Rs10-11 per unit from Rs26
• Imported electricity from Discos to be billed separately at Rs37-55 per unit
ISLAMABAD: In a rapid move, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Monday drastically changed the terms of contracts for all existing and future net-metered solar consumers — known as prosumers — to contain rising solar energy penetration and protect an expensive and inefficient state-owned power network.
The contractual changes were introduced through a predetermined set of regulations that had been published as draft for public opinion but were notified without any change after a public hearing. The notification effectively terminates the existing net-metering regime and replaces it with net-billing for all.
As a result, earlier public pronouncements by officials and ministers that the terms of contracts with existing prosumers would remain unchanged until completion of their seven-year terms have proven incorrect. Under the new regulations, the existing registered prosumers will be shifted immediately to net-billing instead of net-metering, and their export units will be credited for one month only instead of the current three months. All other existing terms will remain unchanged until expiry of their seven-year contracts.
New prosumers will be granted only five-year contracts, and their export units will be accepted at Rs11 per unit compared to Rs26 under the existing contracts. Consumers’ import units from distribution companies (Discos) will now be billed separately at Rs37-55 per unit, depending on the relevant slab, excluding taxes, surcharges and duties.
Surplus generation exported to Discos will be calculated separately — at Rs26 per unit for existing and around Rs10 per unit for future prosumers. The net difference will be billed to consumers, unlike the existing system of unit-for-unit exchange in import and export.
Nepra held a marathon public hearing on Friday evening but restricted dozens of relevant consumers, independent think tanks and business representatives from suggesting alternative solutions. By the afternoon of the first working day, the regulator notified the same draft without changing a single clause, indicating a predetermined conclusion.
