 has suggested the government to impose a tax on both residential and commercial consumers who have installed){kind=link}
The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA-G) has recommended that the government charge a tax on homeowners and businesses that use solar energy. According to sources, CPPA-G has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) for this tax.
The suggested tax is Rs. 2,000 per kilowatt for both residential and commercial users with solar panels. This means that someone with a 12-kilowatt solar system would have to pay Rs. 24,000 as a tax. The proposal is now with the prime minister, who will decide whether to approve it.
This proposed change comes as more people in Pakistan are installing solar panels, with the total capacity now at 3,000 megawatts.
Currently, if solar power users generate more electricity than they use, they can sell it back to the grid at a rate of Rs21 per unit. However, the government is considering reducing this rate to Rs11 per unit, which means a loss of Rs10 per unit for those who generate and sell solar power.
The government explains that this potential rate cut is because of the costs of capacity charges paid to Independent Power Producers (IPPs). These charges must be paid even if the government doesn’t buy any electricity from them.
Sources have also mentioned that there’s another proposal being reviewed, which concerns the rates at which excess electricity from solar users is bought back through net metering.
Read Also: FBISE Federal Board Roll No Slip 2024
If this proposal is approved, an application will be submitted to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to lower these buyback rates for solar-generated electricity.
Although the government says it supports solar energy, officials claim that the current net metering rate of Rs21-22 per unit is too high and can’t be maintained.
According to sources, government representatives argue that this rate lets people recover the cost of installing solar panels in just 18 months. They would rather see the payback period stretched to about 10 years.