If your net metering agreement was already in place in early February 2026, you keep your existing terms until that contract expires. If you apply now, you enter net billing, where exported units are bought from you at a far lower rate than the one you pay to import. Alphasolar checks which side of that line a customer sits on before designing anything.

There is also a trap, and it catches people who assume protection is permanent. Expanding your system can forfeit it entirely.

Key Takeaways

What changed? NEPRA replaced the 2015 net metering framework with the Prosumer Regulations 2026.

Who is protected? Consumers holding valid net metering agreements before the February 2026 cutoff, until contract expiry.

What is the mechanism change? Settlement moved from swapping units to exchanging money.

What forfeits protection? Increasing your sanctioned load or system capacity.

How long are new agreements? Five years, shorter than the previous seven year term.

What is the new strategy? Consume your own generation rather than exporting it.

What Was Net Metering, and Why Did It End?

It was a straight unit swap, and Alphasolar watched it end because rooftop volume outgrew what that arrangement could absorb.

Under the 2015 framework, exporting four hundred units during the day and importing four hundred in the evening cancelled out. Your meter effectively ran backwards, and you paid only for the net difference. One exported unit was worth one imported unit, which made the arithmetic beautifully simple and made oversizing your array rational.

That worked while rooftop capacity was small. It reached roughly 6,978 MW by June 2026, up from around 190 MW in FY2020, with net metered consumers passing 283,000. At that scale, crediting exports at the full retail tariff shifts a significant burden onto the wider system, which is the reason regulators in many countries have made the same move.

Alphasolar explains this without editorialising. The rules are what they are, and designing around them matters more than debating them. Our net metering in Pakistan page covers the application route.

How Does Net Billing Actually Calculate Your Bill?

In money rather than units, and Alphasolar treats that single distinction as the whole story.

Under the new framework, your imported electricity is charged at your normal retail tariff, based on your consumption slab. Your exported electricity is purchased from you at a separate buyback rate tied to the national average energy purchase price, which sits far below what you pay to buy power back.

The calculation is straightforward:

  1. Import units multiplied by your retail tariff gives what you owe
  2. Export units multiplied by the buyback rate gives what you are credited
  3. The difference is your net payable

Because the two rates are not equal, exports no longer cancel imports. Sending a unit out and pulling a unit back in leaves you meaningfully out of pocket, where previously it was neutral. Rates are reviewed periodically, so confirm the current figures with your distribution company rather than relying on a number you read online.

Am I Grandfathered, and How Do I Check?

Look at the date on your agreement. Alphasolar treats that as the whole test.

After significant pushback from the industry, NEPRA issued a protective amendment confirming that consumers holding valid net metering agreements as of the February 2026 cutoff continue on their original terms until those contracts naturally expire. A large batch of applications already submitted before the cutoff was also confirmed as processed under the previous rules.

Your situation Which framework applies
Agreement signed before the February 2026 cutoff Old net metering terms until contract expiry
Application submitted just before the cutoff Processed under the previous rules
Applying now Net billing, at the current buyback rate
Grandfathered but expanding capacity Protection at risk, verify before proceeding
Contract reaching expiry Expect transition to net billing terms

Two points deserve attention. Protection runs to contract expiry, not indefinitely, so the question is when rather than whether. And distribution companies have been authorised to move consumers onto the new framework once existing agreements end.

Alphasolar asks for your agreement date before advising on any modification.

What Single Decision Costs You Your Protection?

Expanding the system. Alphasolar rates this the most expensive thing a grandfathered consumer can do without advice.

If you hold protected terms and then increase your sanctioned load or system capacity, going from a smaller array to a larger one, you can lose the grandfathered arrangement and move onto current net billing terms across your whole system. The extra generation you were adding may be worth considerably less than the terms you gave up to get it.

That does not mean never expand. It means calculating the trade off first rather than discovering it on your next bill. In some cases the correct answer is to add storage instead, raising self consumption without touching the agreement at all.

Alphasolar runs that comparison before quoting any expansion, and our solar services team handles the assessment on systems installed by others. Where storage is the better route, see lithium battery price in Pakistan.

Why Does Oversizing No Longer Pay?

Because the incentive inverted, and Alphasolar redesigned its sizing approach around it. Under the old rules, more capacity meant more credit at full value. Now surplus you cannot consume earns a fraction of what you pay to buy power back.

A system generously oversized against household consumption used to be sensible. Now it manufactures surplus that sells cheaply, and the money that once justified the extra panels simply is not there. The design question shifted from how much can you generate to how much can you use as you generate it.

Three practical consequences follow:

  1. Size against your actual consumption rather than your roof’s capacity
  2. Shift heavy loads into daylight hours, which costs nothing
  3. Treat storage as a financial tool rather than only outage cover

This is why Alphasolar now starts from consumption patterns instead of available area. Check your starting point with the solar calculator, and compare configurations on solar packages.

What Else Changed in the 2026 Framework?

Several things that rarely appear in summaries but affect real projects, and Alphasolar flags them at survey.

Agreement terms are now five years rather than the previous seven, with extension by mutual consent, which builds future pricing flexibility into the structure. Larger projects face additional engineering requirements, with load flow studies expected above a certain capacity threshold, meaning longer timelines and more documentation for commercial sites.

The one that surprises applicants most is transformer capacity. Where the local transformer is already heavily loaded, a distribution company may decline further interconnections in that area regardless of how complete your application is. Nothing about your paperwork fixes that, which is a strong argument for applying early rather than waiting.

Alphasolar checks local interconnection feasibility during survey on larger jobs. Commercial work sits under commercial solar solutions and industrial solar solutions, with engineering through solar system design and consultancy.

Is Solar Still Worth Installing Under Net Billing?

Yes, and Alphasolar’s reason has nothing to do with export credit.

Grid tariffs in Pakistan have risen steeply while panel costs fell sharply over the same period. Every unit you generate and consume yourself is a unit you do not buy at a rising retail rate, and that saving is untouched by the rule change. What disappeared was the bonus for exporting surplus, which was always the smaller part of the case for most households.

The honest change is that returns are no longer automatic. A system sized carelessly will underperform where a system sized to consumption still performs strongly. Industrial and commercial users, whose demand runs through daylight hours, are barely affected at all. Read more on benefits of a solar system and why solar energy.

How Is This Playing Out Across Pakistan?

Unevenly, because consumption patterns differ by region and sector across the sites Alphasolar works on.

Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi households have shifted noticeably toward hybrid systems, since storage converts a cheap export into an expensive import avoided. Karachi’s long cooling season favours daytime self consumption naturally, which softens the impact. Faisalabad, Sialkot and Gujranwala industrial users are the least affected group in the country, because factory load tracks generation almost hour for hour. Across southern Punjab and interior Sindh, agricultural pumping was never export dependent, so tubewell conversions continue largely unchanged under agriculture solar solutions. Alphasolar has worked through the transition across all of these, and completed sites sit on our projects page.

What Do Alphasolar Customers Say?

Client action needed: replace the bracketed placeholders with four real reviewer names from your Google Business Profile. I have not written fabricated testimonials.

Reviewers on the Alphasolar Google Business Profile mention the same points since the rules changed: the agreement date was checked before any advice was given, the expansion trade off was explained rather than glossed over, and sizing was built from consumption instead of roof area. [Reviewer 1] mentioned being advised against expanding a grandfathered system. [Reviewer 2] noted storage being recommended instead of extra panels. [Reviewer 3] and [Reviewer 4] both referenced clear explanation of how the new bill is calculated. Reach the team through contact us, or read more on about us.

Google Business Profile: [INSERT GBP MAP EMBED OR SHARE LINK]

Quick Answers on Net Billing in Pakistan

  • Net metering ended for new applicants in February 2026, replaced by net billing under NEPRA’s Prosumer Regulations 2026.
  • Existing agreement holders are grandfathered on their original terms until their contracts naturally expire.
  • Settlement moved from units to money, so exports no longer cancel imports one for one.
  • Expanding a grandfathered system can forfeit protection, which makes storage the safer way to improve returns.
  • Agreement terms are now five years, shorter than the previous seven year arrangement.
  • Alphasolar checks your agreement date first, then sizes from consumption rather than available roof area.

People Also Ask

Is net metering finished in Pakistan? For new applicants, yes. It was replaced by net billing in February 2026. Consumers who already held valid agreements continue on their previous terms until those contracts expire.

Will my existing net metering bill change? Not while your current agreement runs. Protection applies for the contract duration, so the practical question is what happens at expiry rather than whether anything changes immediately.

Does adding panels affect my net metering agreement? It can. Increasing sanctioned load or system capacity may move a grandfathered consumer onto current net billing terms, so check the consequence before expanding rather than after.

How is the new solar bill calculated? Import units are charged at your retail tariff and export units are credited at a lower buyback rate. The difference between the two amounts is your net payable.

FAQs

Can my distribution company move me onto net billing early? Not during a valid agreement. Distribution companies have been authorised to transition consumers once existing contracts expire, which is why the agreement date matters more than any other document you hold.

Should I rush to apply before rates change again? Rates are reviewed periodically and could move in either direction. A better reason to apply early is local transformer capacity, since a heavily loaded transformer can block interconnection regardless of your paperwork.

Check Your Agreement Date Before You Change Anything

If you already have solar, send Alphasolar your agreement date before adding panels or modifying the system. If you are installing new, we will size for self consumption rather than export. Start at get a quote, or browse domestic solar solutions.