Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The Pakistan Solar Association conducted a Consultative Online Webinar where all the Registered vendors in Pakistan for Net Metering were invited to participate and give their feedback on the recently imposed increase in Net Metering License Processing Fee by NEPRA.
– NEPRA has issued a notification on 3rd Nov 2020 via SRO 1175 whereby the fees of processing Net Metering Application was increased for all slabs.
– For the residential customers with systems up to 20 kW, the new fees will reach up to Rs. 20,000 per application compared to free of cost as per Net Metering Regulations 2015.
– For small projects for commercial / industrial customers of a project size of 100 kW, the new fee will be around Rs. 50,0000 to Rs. 100,000 compared to the previous cost of Rs. 1,000 per application.
– For larger projects of size up to 1 MW, the fee could reach up to Rs. 1 Million, compared to the previously notified fee of Rs. 5,000; an increase of about 200 times.
– Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of PSA, Mr. Muhammad Farhan of Power Highway said, “The Pakistan Solar Industry is actively playing a role in the realization of the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan that by 2030, 60 percent of all energy produced in the country will be “clean” and through renewable resources. Such a drastic increase in fee goes directly against this vision and will instead discourage consumers from investing in solar energy. We want to work with NEPRA to understand the justification behind this increase and how we can encourage the adoption of solar and other clean energy sources.”
– Mr. Faheem Ashraf of Zeus Energy, representing the PSA Standing Committee on Net Metering, chaired the session and shared with the industry participants that multiple letters have been sent to NEPRA by PSA to provide feedback on the notification. However, so far no response has been received from NEPRA and the PSA has now requested NEPRA officials to provide time for a meeting to discuss the SRO 1175 further.
– Industry members lauded the efforts of Pakistan Solar Association to bring together the industry on a common platform on this issue and pledged to work together to help achieve the vision of PM Imran Khan to reach 60 percent Green Energy by 2030.
