The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Friday held a hearing on proposed amendments to net metering regulations, including the inclusion of biogas and changes to contract duration and buyback rates, officials said.
Nepra officials told the hearing that under the proposed regulations, biogas would be included along with wind and solar in net metering. They said new net metering user contracts would be signed for a period of five years, while existing users would continue under seven-year contracts, with current buyback rates remaining applicable to old users.
Officials said it had been proposed that for new net metering users, the price of electricity supplied to the grid be aligned with the prevailing energy price. They added that the objective of the regulations was to enable consumers to meet their own energy needs. According to officials, more than 6,000 megawatts were currently part of the net metering network.
Pakistan People’s Party spokesperson Nadeem Afzal Chan also attended the hearing and called for it to be made public. Nepra Member Amna Ahmed said the hearing was open to everyone and was being held on Zoom, adding that any interested person could attend.
Chan, however, said that common people were not familiar with Zoom and urged that such hearings be broadcast live on social media. Nepra officials responded that the authority’s rules were silent on live streaming and that it could not be arranged immediately.
Officials said that in the future the load on the consumer section would be reduced, adding that existing consumers had been allowed load and would continue to use it. They said net billing was also being proposed on the recommendation of distribution companies.
Officials from the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) said that maintaining grid stability had become a challenge due to net metering. They said capacity charges had reached 73 percent, while cross-subsidies were increasing as the number of protected consumers rose due to solar adoption.
Power Division officials told the hearing that the pace of solar net metering had reached 7,000 megawatts and could rise to 14,000 megawatts by 2034. They said grid instability was increasing due to solar users and that the burden on non-solar consumers was rising.
According to Power Division officials, the number of net metering solar users across the country, including Karachi, stood at 466,000. They said non-solar consumers were bearing an annual burden of Rs270 billion due to solar users, warning that if the trend continued, the burden could increase to Rs628 billion annually.
During the hearing, Chan alleged that distribution companies charged bribes for issuing net metering licences. He said net metering had provided convenience and stability to consumers and called for more hearings to seek public opinion. He also warned that if changes were made to solar regulations against consumers, he would challenge them in court.