LAHORE: The federal government would not change the existing solar net metering policy for old users though a review is in progress to assess better rate of return on newly installed panels and impact of high buyback tariff on common consumers, said Sardar Owais Leghari, Minister for Powers.

Speaking at a press conference at Lesco head-office here Sunday, Leghari said that the government is in favour of solarization in the country as the prime minister has been committed to supporting solar power. He assured that they are bound to honor all such agreements that have been made till now. The government would not tarnish its repute by revising solar net-metering policy for existing users neither they intend to hurt such investors, he made it clear. However, he said as an ongoing process, a review is in progress to assess the impact of lower rate of return due to falling solar power cost, which resulted in recovery of investment on solar net-metering now in one-and-a-half years against earlier over three years’ period. If there is adverse impact on other consumers due to high tariff of solar net-metering, the government may revise policy for rationalising tariff accordingly after consulting with the stakeholders. He stressed that the government would only take such step after giving it a serious consideration.

Leghari was of the view that the PMLN government launched solar net metering in 2017, and now over 100,000 solar connections are on net metering, stressing that the policy of encouraging net metering will continue.