Govt plans to revise rooftop solar buyback tariff policy

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is planning to revise the buyback tariff of rooftop solar consumers after the existing system has reportedly imposed a Rs103 billion burden on consumers using grid electricity.

Under the revised policy, the current net-metering will be replaced with a gross-metering mechanism.

The national grid will purchase electricity from rooftop solar consumers at Rs8-9 per unit, a significant reduction from the current Rs21 per unit.

This will extend the payback period for rooftop solar investments from the current 18-24 months to approximately 4-5 years.

In the existing net-metering system, solar users sell excess electricity to the grid at Rs21 per unit and repurchase at Rs42 per unit during non-generative periods, such as nighttime. It has increased tariffs for underprivileged consumers by Rs1.03 per unit.

The gross-metering mechanism proposed under the new policy will sell all solar-generated electricity to the grid at lower rates, preventing solar users from achieving zero electricity bills.

This approach contrasts with net metering, where consumers first meet their energy needs from solar production before exporting the surplus to the grid.