Govt Plans Net Metering Reforms Ahead of Budget 2025

The federal government has announced that no alterations will be made to the net metering regulations without first consulting all relevant stakeholders.

This assurance was given by Federal Minister for Power Division Owais Leghari during a high-level meeting convened to review net metering policies ahead of the 2025-26 federal budget.

According to sources, the meeting saw participation from key representatives of the Solar Association, provincial governments, and various other stakeholders. The forum extensively discussed suggestions presented by participants.

It was collectively agreed that “any changes to the regulations will be made with consultation from stakeholders.”

Reiterating the government’s stance on protecting both businesses and consumers, Leghari emphasized, “the government will not harm any business, and any changes in the regulations will be made keeping consumer protection in mind.”

He added that “stakeholder concerns regarding the protection of the national grid will be taken into account.”

Highlighting recent developments, the minister shared that the government had “scrapped 9000 megawatts of expensive and unnecessary projects that were burdening the power system.”

Reflecting on his earlier role in energy reform, he said, “in 2017-18, he himself played an important role in introducing net metering, and at that time the system was in its early stages.”

However, he acknowledged that the growing scale of net metering now requires adjustments to avoid potential harm to the national power grid. “Now that the scope of net metering has expanded, it is having serious effects on the grid, which need to be addressed in a timely manner,” he noted.

In March 2025, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had approved a controversial decision to cut the buyback rate to Rs10 per unit and eliminate net billing entirely.

But following widespread backlash, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif intervened, delaying the implementation and instructing the ECC to “re-submit the recommendations to the federal cabinet for review.”