The shift to gross metering, however, disrupts this equilibrium. Under the new policy, solar consumers are forced to sell all their generated electricity to the grid at a meager Rs 10 per unit, only to buy it back at the inflated grid rate of Rs 50 per unit. This means that a household generating 500 units of solar energy would earn just Rs 5,000 from the grid but still have to pay Rs 50,000 for their 1,000-unit consumption, resulting in a net bill of Rs 45,000—nearly double what they would have paid under net metering.
Energy Minister Awais Leghari has defended the policy, citing a Rs 150 billion burden on non-solar consumers who allegedly subsidize net metering users. However, former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has challenged this claim, pointing out that solar purchases amounted to just Rs 34.3 billion in bill reductions last year—a fraction of the Rs 150 billion figure. Ismail also highlighted that transmission and distribution (T&D) losses, which totaled 24,020 GWh, dwarf solar’s 1,269 GWh contribution.
