ISLAMABAD: Power Minister Sardar Awais Leghari on Wednesday withdrew an order issued by the Power Planning and Monitoring Company (PPMC) that had completely deprived net-metered solar consumers of the benefit for electricity exported to the grid.

In a statement, the power division said the minister had taken notice of the “non-crediting of units of net-metering consumers under PPMC instructions”, which had been reviewed “with immediate effect”.

Informed sources said power distribution companies (Discos) had complained that some net-metered solar consumers — commonly referred to as “prosumers” — had installed solar systems significantly larger than permitted under the rules, which allow generation capacity up to 150 per cent of sanctioned load. The Discos argued that such installations created challenges for grid stability and financials.

They said the PPMC had directed Discos and the Power Information Technology Company (PITC), which handles billing for all Discos, to stop counting export units for consumers found to have exceeded the allowed capacity, instead of denying the benefit of only extra units exported beyond the authorised capacity.

Leghari intervenes as govt comes under criticism for violating its own policy

Sources said implementation of the directive led to the blocking of credit for all exported units for affected consumers, including a number of influential politicians and businessmen, among them leading parliamentarians.

Most of them belonged to Lahore, where the Lahore Electric Supply Company’s first billing cycle immediately coincided with the application of PPMC’s notification, followed by other Discos as well.

A large number of bills on the first three days after the Jan 23 notification caused a lot of hue and cry in Lahore, although there were fewer complaints in other Discos, including Islamabad Electric.

The power minister had to intervene for damage control as the government came under criticism for violating its own policy for renewable energy through a unilateral notification without stakeholder consultation or approval from any competent forum.

Mr Leghari directed that consumers who had already received their bills should be corrected in next month’s billing and stop issuing fresh bills to remaining consumers at the outset. In addition, only extra units beyond authorised capacity should not be credited in favour of prosumers.

The power division said some net metering consumers had installed systems with capacities exceeding the approved limit under their licences for distributed generation capacity.

“Last month, a number of such consumers were not given any credit for the electricity sold to the national grid,” it confirmed and conceded that “this practice was not correct”.

Mr Leghari reiterated commitment to securing consumers’ rightful entitlements without any compromise, the statement said. Under the revised directives, only those units exceeding the approved capacity will not be credited.

Units exported to the national grid within the approved capacity would now be credited accordingly as before, it said, adding that instructions had been issued to all Discos for implementation.

“For consumers whose net metering units were not credited in their bills, the relevant adjustments will be made in the next billing cycle,” it said.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2026