Government ‘plans to replace solar net metering with gross metering’

• The government is likely to purchase solar generation units at CPPA rates.
• Solar net metering is becoming an issue these days: energy minister.
• Leghari promises to intensify the drive against power theft in the coming days.
  

ISLAMABAD: In an apparent attempt to discourage domestic generation of electricity, the federal government has planned to replace solar net metering with ‘gross metering’. Geo News he said citing sources.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government has started work to envisage the gross metering policy for rooftop solar panels, which would greatly reduce the economic benefits of domestic electricity generation, according to insiders. .

The sources said recommendations have been tabled to end the unit-to-unit formula under gross metering, while unit prices of electricity fed into the national grid will be halved under the new policy.

It also came to light that the government will buy power units from rooftop solar panel owners at the price set by the Central Power Purchase Authority (CPPA). On the other hand, the electricity distribution companies (Discos) will sell the electricity to the consumers at the government rates.

The sources added that Pakistan was also in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding its gross monetary policy. The new policy is likely to come before the federal government and the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for its final approval.

Emphasizing on reducing losses in the power sector, Federal Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmad Leghari also hinted at a plan to revise the country’s solar net metering policy.

“We are facing a solar net metering issue these days,” Leghari said while addressing a press conference alongside Finance, Revenue and Power Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik on Sunday.

The PML-N-led government had encouraged solar energy in 2017 and currently, 113,000 connections were present in the grid meters, he added.

Leghari clarified that the PML-N government was in favor of continuing solar net metering, encouraging renewable energy sources as well as taking effective measures to eliminate the menace of power theft to reduce the financial burden on the national exchequer.

He further clarified that the government was studying and assessing the impact of a growing trend of rooftop electricity generation. The minister said it will be evaluated to ascertain the rate of return after making investments in solar equipment.

He added that they will also study whether the increasing reliance on solar panels affects local households in terms of inflated electricity prices. Like Australia and other countries, Pakistan will also participate in solar metering grid analysis and balancing, the minister said.

He supported the continuation of the solar metering policy, but clarified that the electricity authorities would review it if necessary. He added that there was an 8% decrease in electricity demand.

Leghari said the power demand was 19,000MW yesterday, while Discos generated over 16,500MW besides doing over 4,000MW of “economic loading” on the feeders where they had losses of 70 to 90%.

Elaborating on the strategy to reduce losses in the electricity sector, the energy minister pledged to further intensify action against electricity theft across the country.

To a question, he replied that the power authorities had already recognized pricing issues in many DISCOs and new boards would be set up to allow them to run the power companies independently without binding the concerned ministries.

He added that the country would be able to come out of the electricity crisis after the completion of different hydropower generation projects in the next six to seven years.