Updated: August 2026
Net billing vs net metering in Pakistan comes down to one difference that decides everything else. Under net metering, your exported solar units cancelled your imported units one-for-one, and any leftover surplus was bought from you at roughly Rs 21–27 per unit. Under net billing, which applies to every new rooftop solar connection in Pakistan since 9 February 2026, the grid buys your exported units at only about Rs 10–11 per unit, while you keep paying your full slab rate of Rs 22.44 to Rs 47.20 per unit for everything you import. For a typical 5kW home that swap works out to roughly Rs 8,900 more per month, or close to Rs 107,000 a year, than the old net metering deal.
If you signed your net metering agreement before 9 February 2026, none of this touches you yet. You are grandfathered on the old one-to-one terms until your agreement expires. If you are shopping for solar now, net billing is the only option on the table, and the whole calculation has shifted from sell your surplus to use your own power before it leaves the roof.
This page explains the two systems side by side, in plain rupees: what each one is, why NEPRA changed the rules, who is affected and who is protected, and whether solar is still worth it now that the export rate has been cut. We don’t sell panels. We help you read your bill. For the full application process, rates table and DISCO timelines, our net metering in Pakistan 2026 guide goes deeper; this page is the straight comparison.
Net billing vs net metering: the difference in one line
| Net metering (2015–2026) | Net billing (from 9 Feb 2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| What gets counted | Units | Rupees |
| Exports vs imports | Cancel one-for-one | Priced separately |
| You earn per exported unit | ~Rs 21–27 (surplus only) | ~Rs 10–11 (NAEPP) |
| You pay per imported unit | Full slab rate | Full slab rate |
| Settlement | Quarterly (rolling unit credit) | Monthly (rupee credit) |
| Agreement length | 7 years | 5 years, renewable |
| Who gets it today | Nobody new; closed to fresh applicants | All new solar connections |
The row that changes your payback is the export rate. Under net metering a unit you sent out at noon was worth a unit you pulled back at night, whatever each was worth to the grid. Under net billing a unit you send out earns about Rs 11, and a unit you pull back costs Rs 36 to Rs 47 at the higher slabs. It now takes three to four exported units to pay for one imported unit.
What net metering was
Net metering ran on a single idea: your meter spun both ways, and units settled against units. A bidirectional meter recorded what you drew from the grid and what your panels pushed back. At the end of the billing cycle the two were netted off. Push 300 units to the grid during the day, draw 300 back at night, and your energy charge was zero, even though the daytime unit and the evening unit cost the power system very different amounts. Whatever export was left over after the offset was bought from you at a NEPRA-set rate that had climbed to roughly Rs 26 per unit for recent agreements.
That was a generous deal, and it was designed to be. It treated the grid as a free battery. It is also why solar payback in 2023–2024 could land under three years, and why hundreds of thousands of rooftops went up fast enough to worry the distribution companies about who was left paying to keep the wires running.
What net billing is now
Net billing keeps the same two-way meter but throws out the unit-for-unit swap. Now the two flows are priced separately and settled in rupees every month:
- Imports are billed at your normal consumer tariff: the same slabs, taxes, surcharges and fuel adjustment as any other household. See the current per-unit price breakdown for every slab.
- Exports are bought from you at the National Average Energy Purchase Price (NAEPP), the average bulk rate at which DISCOs buy power. As of August 2026 that sits at roughly Rs 10–11 per unit. Some industry sources quote a range as low as Rs 8.13 and as high as Rs 13, and NEPRA revises it periodically, so confirm the currently applicable figure with your DISCO before you sign anything.
The gap between the two prices is the entire story. You sell at about Rs 11 and buy at Rs 36–47 before tax, and comfortably over Rs 40 once GST and surcharges are added. The unit you export no longer erases the unit you import. This is why self-consumption, running your heavy load while the sun is actually on the panels, matters far more under net billing than it ever did under net metering.
One point that trips people up: net billing still lets you consume your own solar for free. Power your house directly off the panels during the day and you never buy or sell those units. Only the surplus that spills onto the grid is bought at Rs 11, and only the shortfall you draw back is billed at your slab. That behind-the-meter self-use is where the savings now live.
Net billing vs gross metering: not the same thing
People often hear “net billing” and assume Pakistan switched to gross metering. It didn’t, and the difference is worth Rs thousands a month.
| Model | How your own solar is treated | What hits the grid |
|---|---|---|
| Net metering | Free self-use, plus exports offset imports 1:1 | Only net surplus is sold |
| Net billing (Pakistan, 2026) | Free self-use; exports sold at NAEPP, imports bought at slab | Only your surplus is sold; only your shortfall is bought |
| Gross metering | No self-use; everything you generate is sold | 100% of generation sold, 100% of consumption bought back |
Under true gross metering you would sell every unit your panels make at the low buyback rate and buy back every unit you use at the full retail rate, with no free self-consumption. That would be far worse for a homeowner. Pakistan’s Prosumer Regulations 2026 adopted net billing, not gross metering, so you still burn your own daytime generation for free. If someone tells you the new rules mean you sell everything and buy it all back, they’re describing gross metering, not the policy.
Why NEPRA changed the rules
The switch came through the NEPRA Prosumer Regulations 2026 (SRO 251(I)/2026), notified on 9 February 2026, which repealed the 2015 net metering framework. The regulator’s stated reason, reported by Dawn and Tribune when the rules landed, was cost shifting. When a net-metered household zeroed out its energy charge, it still used the grid at night and during cloudy spells, but paid almost nothing toward the fixed cost of poles, wires, transformers and capacity payments. Those costs did not disappear; they rolled onto everyone else’s bill, mostly onto households without solar. As rooftop capacity crossed several thousand megawatts, the regulator moved to price exports at what the grid actually pays for bulk power rather than at the full retail rate.
Whether that reasoning is fair is a live debate. What matters for your decision is that the change is done and notified, and the buyback rate for new prosumers is now the NAEPP, not the retail slab. The Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) and NEPRA remain the official references. Check them or your DISCO before trusting a vendor’s number.
Who is affected, and who is grandfathered
This is the question most people actually came for.
You are grandfathered (old net metering terms stay) if: your net metering agreement was validly signed before 9 February 2026. After early panic that existing users would be moved too, the Prime Minister intervened and NEPRA issued a protective amendment, retrospective to 9 February 2026. Your one-to-one offset and your old buyback rate hold until your seven-year agreement expires. Applications still pending on 8 February 2026, around 5,165 of them, were also directed to be processed under the old framework.
You are on net billing if: you apply for a new solar connection now. Every fresh interconnection agreement since 9 February 2026 is a five-year net billing agreement at the NAEPP export rate.
Two traps sit inside the grandfathering rule. First, it attaches to the agreement, not the house. If you sell the property, the net metering agreement has to be transferred properly with the connection, or the buyer loses the old terms. Second, do not “upgrade” a grandfathered system by adding panels: the amendment is explicit that any modification increasing your system’s maximum output forfeits the old tariff and pushes the whole system onto net billing. Get your DISCO’s position in writing before touching an existing installation.
The rupee difference for a typical 5kW home
Numbers make it concrete. Take the same household under both regimes so nothing changes but the policy. Assumptions, all conservative: a 5kW system generating about 600 units a month (120 units per kW), a household that consumes 600 units a month on unprotected residential slabs, roughly 250 of the solar units self-consumed during the day and 350 exported, 350 units still imported at night. Export rate Rs 11. Taxes and surcharges are left out on both sides, which understates the real saving.
| No solar | Net metering (old) | Net billing (2026) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Units imported | 600 | 350 | 350 |
| Units exported | — | 350 | 350 |
| Import charge | 600 × 40.22 = Rs 24,132 | Offset to zero | 350 × 36.46 = Rs 12,761 |
| Export credit | — | 350 offset 1:1 | 350 × 11 = Rs 3,850 |
| Net energy cost | Rs 24,132 | Rs 0 | Rs 8,911 |
Under net metering the 350 exported units wiped out the 350 imported units, so the energy charge fell to zero and the household saved the full Rs 24,132 a month. Under net billing the same house pays Rs 12,761 for its imports, gets Rs 3,850 back for its exports, and lands at Rs 8,911. The saving is still real, Rs 15,221 a month versus no solar, but it is Rs 8,911 short of what net metering delivered.
That Rs 8,911 a month is the price of the policy change: about Rs 107,000 a year for this household. On a Rs 850,000 installed system, payback stretches from roughly 2.9 years under the old net metering rules to about 4.7 years under net billing. Notice one thing working in your favour, though. Cutting imports from 600 to 350 units drops every imported unit from the Rs 40.22 slab into the Rs 36.46 slab, because unprotected consumers get no previous-slab benefit and the whole month bills at whichever slab it lands in. Solar that pulls you into a cheaper slab saves you twice.
Does net billing kill rooftop solar? Not for most, but the math is stricter
Solar is still worth it for a lot of Pakistani households, just for a narrower, more disciplined reason than before. The case now rests on avoiding expensive imports, not on selling cheap exports. A right-sized 5kW system on a home with genuine daytime consumption still pays for itself inside five years, on hardware warrantied for 25, while grid tariffs keep trending up. For a fuller breakdown of the break-even math at today’s rates, see is solar worth it in Pakistan 2026.
But net billing does make solar a poor deal in a few real situations, and an honest answer names them:
- The house is empty during the day. If nobody is home from 9 to 5 and you self-consume almost nothing, you export most of your generation at Rs 11 and buy it all back at night at Rs 36–40 plus taxes. Payback drifts toward six or seven years, and can go past that.
- You oversize for export income. Under net metering, filling the roof paid. Under net billing, every unit above your own daytime need earns Rs 11 instead of erasing a Rs 36-plus import. A 10kW system on a house that uses 400 units a month is now a slow payback, not a money machine.
- Your bill is already small. If you use under about 200–300 units a month, or sit on protected slabs, your bill is low to begin with. The rupee saving may not cover the system plus the Rs 100,000–150,000 connection and green-meter package for years.
Three planning rules fall straight out of the numbers. Size the system for your daytime load, not your roof area. Shift heavy appliances (washing machine, iron, water pump, inverter AC) into the 10am–4pm window so you burn your own units instead of exporting them. And cut the load first: insulation, inverter appliances and the other steps in our guide to reducing your electricity bill shrink the system you need and shorten the payback. If ride-through during load-shedding matters to you, a battery changes the sums again, so weigh it in our hybrid vs on-grid solar comparison.
FAQs
What is the main difference between net billing and net metering in Pakistan?
Net metering settled in units: your exported solar units cancelled your imported units one-for-one, and only the leftover surplus was bought, at around Rs 21–27 per unit. Net billing settles in rupees: your exports are bought at the National Average Energy Purchase Price of roughly Rs 10–11 per unit, and your imports are billed separately at your full slab rate. Net metering closed to new applicants on 9 February 2026; net billing is the only option for new solar connections now.
Is net billing the same as gross metering?
No. Under gross metering you would sell every unit your panels generate at the low buyback rate and buy back every unit you consume at full retail, with no free self-use. Pakistan’s Prosumer Regulations 2026 adopted net billing, which still lets you consume your own solar directly for free, so only your surplus is sold at the NAEPP and only your shortfall is bought at your slab rate. Anyone who tells you the new rules mean you sell everything and buy it all back is describing gross metering, which is not the policy.
Which is better for me, net billing or net metering?
Net metering was better for the consumer by a wide margin. A typical 5kW home saved around Rs 8,900 a month more under it than under net billing. But you can’t choose net metering anymore if you’re applying now; it’s closed to new applicants. The real choice today is net billing versus no solar, and for a home with solid daytime consumption net billing still pays back in under five years.
What is the net billing buyback rate in Pakistan in 2026?
As of August 2026 it is the National Average Energy Purchase Price, roughly Rs 10–11 per exported unit. Some industry sources quote a wider band, from about Rs 8.13 to Rs 13, and NEPRA revises the figure periodically, so it can move during your five-year agreement. Confirm the currently applicable rate with your DISCO before you sign.
I signed my net metering agreement in 2023. Will I be moved to net billing?
No, not while your agreement is valid. A protective amendment retrospective to 9 February 2026 keeps every net metering agreement signed before that date on its original one-to-one terms until it expires. A 2023 agreement runs its full seven years, so you keep the old offset and old buyback rate until around 2030, then renew under net billing. Just don’t expand the system in the meantime; adding capacity forfeits the old terms.
Can I switch back to net metering from net billing?
No. There is no mechanism to move from net billing onto net metering, and net metering is closed to new agreements. If you’re grandfathered on net metering, you keep it until your agreement expires, at which point renewal happens under net billing. Both new applicants and expiring agreements move in one direction only.
Does net billing make rooftop solar pointless?
No, but it makes sizing and timing matter. A right-sized system on a home that actually uses power during daylight still pays back in roughly four to five years and hedges against rising tariffs for two decades. Net billing does hurt oversized systems built to sell surplus, along with homes that sit empty all day and export almost everything. In those cases payback can stretch past six or seven years.
See it on your own bill
Whether you’re grandfathered on net metering or starting fresh on net billing, the policy only becomes real on your monthly bill: the applied export rate, the units credited, the balance carried forward. You can view and download your bill for free on our service pages for every DISCO in Pakistan, from LESCO and MEPCO to IESCO and K-Electric, using just your reference number. Pull up this month’s bill, find the export-credit line, and check exactly what your panels earned against what your imports cost.
If you haven’t installed yet, the numbers above only apply once your system is actually approved and generating. See our step-by-step net metering application guide for the documents, AEDB-registered installer requirement, and realistic DISCO approval timeline.