Solar net metering: Power division refutes speculations on policy

ISLAMABAD: The power division on Wednesday refuted the speculations regarding ending the solar net metering policy, ARY News reported.

The power division spokesperson refuted the news regarding ending net metering policy, as fake and baseless. The news channels should have contacted the ministry before airing ‘unverified’ news items, the spokesperson said.

The power division further stated that it has not received instructions on the net metering policy from the prime minister so far.

Speculations sparked after Energy Minister Awais Leghari said that the government of Pakistan will revise the net metering policy.

Addressing a press conference, Federal Minister for Energy Sardar Awais Ahmad Leghari pointed out that the country was facing an issue of solar net metering these days.

“Initially, citizens installing solar systems would recover their investment in three years, but now they are recovering their investment in just one to one and a half years,” he said.

The minister said that the PML-N-led government had encouraged solarisation in 2017 and currently, 113,000 connections were present on net meters.

Awais Leghari clarified that while the government is willing to review the solar net metering policy if needed, it supports the continuation of the scheme. “We will also take effective steps to eliminate the menace of power theft to reduce the financial burden on the national exchequer,” he added.