ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari on Tuesday emphasised on making the procedure of new applications simple, transparent and user-friendly.
The power minister made the remarks while chairing a review meeting regarding the provision of new net metering connections through the online portal.
During the meeting, he directed relevant authorities to identify and address any issues hindering the process efficiently.
The minister also said that necessary training should be given to personnel of the power distribution companies on the functionalities of the new portal, and its practical demonstration should also be done.
Furthermore, he advocated for the launch of awareness programs aimed at educating electricity consumers about the portal’s use and the transparency it offers.
In March this year, the minister claimed that the number of solar net-metering consumers would increase after new regulations.
Earlier, the cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) revised the buyback tariff of solar rooftop consumers to Rs10 per unit from Rs27 per unit.
Speaking on Geo News’ programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, the energy minister was of the view that the solar consumers would recover the cost of installing a solar system in around four years, commonly known as the payback period.
Dismissing the speculations and reports circulating on social media, the minister said that the government never discouraged solarisation, adding that they did not impose taxes on solar panels.
Proliferation of solar on the system was around 1500MW to 2000MW during the past 1.25 years, he said, adding that they were expecting that around 1200MW of solar electricity would enter the system every year.
Responding to a question, the minister said that the new rates would be applied on those consumers would apply for net-metering in the future, adding that it would not be applied on existing consumers.
In a major policy shift, the cabinet’s ECC on March 13 revised the buyback tariff of solar rooftop consumers to Rs10 per unit from Rs27 per unit.
