Is [solar] power just for the privileged?

Pakistan has surged onto the global solar scene with unprecedented speed. Customs data show the country imported an estimated 17–22GW of photovoltaic (PV) modules in 2024 alone, propelling it to the ranks of the world’s largest solar-panel importers and outpacing many industrialised economies.

On-grid, net-metered capacity has jumped from 1.3GW in mid-2023 to about 4.1GW by December 2024, now spread across some 283,000 residential, commercial and industrial consumers.

At first glance, these surging numbers paint a very positive picture for the country’s climate agenda: solar generated 14 per cent of Pakistan’s electricity in 2024, up from just 4.0 per cent in 2021, moving the country closer to its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) pledge to source 60 per cent of its power from renewables and cut projected greenhouse-gas emissions in half by 2030.

However, this success has also been marred by significant concerns for the national grid. Power-sector regulators and independent power producers (IPPs) warn that wealthy households leaving the grid are eroding the revenue base that cross-subsidises other customers, while reverse flows destabilise a transmission system built for one-way traffic.

A couple of weeks back, the government approved draft rules that slash the buy-back tariff for solar exports from Rs27 to Rs10 per unit and convert net-metering into net-billing. Energy Minister Sardar Awais Leghari insists the scheme is being “reformed, not scrapped”, but c