Islamabad: Federal Minister for Power Awais Leghari directed power distribution companies to clear 1,355 pending net metering connections by June 1 and warned penalties for deliberate delays.
The Power Division told DISCO chief executives to fast-track approvals and withhold bonuses of officers responsible for unnecessary delays, Business Recorder reported. The direction followed complaints over slow processing and rejected applications.
A briefing informed Leghari that transformers had not been properly tagged with net metering consumers, leading to several application rejections. The minister was also told that issue-resolution timelines had exceeded limits set by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority.
Read: Net Metering Policy Not Changed For Existing Solar Consumers
Leghari ordered administrative action against Superintending Engineers, Executive Engineers and Sub-Divisional Officers in the worst-performing DISCOs. He said officials who failed to improve performance would lose bonuses.
The direction followed NEPRA’s revision of the solar regulatory framework in 2026. The Nation reported that NEPRA replaced the older net-metering system with net-billing under new prosumer regulations, while later updates protected existing agreements until expiry.
Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the Power Division to file a review appeal before NEPRA to protect the contracts of current solar users. Business Recorder reported that he also said the burden of 466,000 solar consumers should not shift to more than 37.6 million other electricity users.
