LAHORE – Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) has introduced new charges for bi-directional meters used for solar systems. A notification shared by electric supply company said the price of bi-directional meters has been set at Rs43,000, with an additional Rs3,000 for installation charges.
Consumers have been instructed to deposit the meter price and installation charges through demand notices at the relevant bank. Materials Management Department has sent circular to all offices about installation of solar net metering.
In previous months, there had been deadlock regarding solar system connections, which has now been resolved through the notification and circular issued by LESCO. Additionally, a notification has been issued stating that no further No Objection Certificates (NOCs) will be issued for solar system connections in the future.
In 2024, LESCO restricted issuing green meters in solar systems and mandated the installation of Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI) meters instead. The switch to AMI meters aims to resolve issues like overbilling and electricity theft.
NEPRA, in sites recent update, revealed that energy production capacity of pending solar net metering applications was previously miscalculated by a factor of 1,000. As of now, there are 4,742 pending applications with a total capacity of 58,822 MW, which exceeds the country’s total power generation capacity of 46,000 MW.
The surge in applications is driven by high electricity costs, with significant backlogs at companies and delays are mainly due to high buy-back rates in the net metering system, and NEPRA called for a review of the tariff structure to resolve the issue.
