The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Tuesday abolished the Rs. 1,000 one-time fee and licensing requirements for solar consumers installing systems of up to 25 kilowatts in both residential and small commercial settings.
According to the Power Division spokesperson, this follows special instructions issued by Federal Minister for Power Sardar Owais Ahmed Khan Leghari, after which the Power Division formally wrote to NEPRA requesting removal of the licensing condition for small solar systems.
After receiving the request, NEPRA issued an official notification eliminating the license requirement for systems up to 25kW.
The Power Division had argued that recent regulatory changes risked discouraging rooftop solar adoption by increasing procedural requirements for smaller consumers.
Under the Distributed Generation and Net Metering Regulations introduced in 2015, solar systems of 25kW or below were exempt from licensing and applications were processed directly by electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) without any fee.
However, the later Prosumer Regulations shifted approval authority to NEPRA and introduced application fees even for small systems.
The Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) had earlier warned that the revised framework could slow solar deployment and recommended restoring the previous mechanism.
Industry bodies including the Pakistan Solar Association and other renewable energy firms also raised concerns that centralized approvals would create delays and unnecessary bureaucracy.
With the latest notification, the earlier license-exempt regime for solar systems up to 25kW has now effectively been restored.
📢 For the latest Business news and analysis join ProPakistani's WhatsApp Group now!
Follow ProPakistani on Google News & scroll through your favourite content faster!
Shares
