Prices
What net metering costs to set up
The application service for a standard domestic system runs PKR 35,000 to 60,000, covering pack preparation, submission, follow-up and attending the inspection on site. The distribution company's own bidirectional meter and processing charges are separate and paid directly to them, so a quote folding both into one figure is a quote you cannot check.
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Two separate bills, and they get confused
One is the licensed installer's service for preparing and pursuing the application. The other is the distribution company's charge for the bidirectional meter and processing. They are billed by different parties, and a quote that folds them into one figure without saying so is a quote you cannot check. Ask which of the two you are looking at.
What the service fee is actually buying
A single-line diagram, equipment datasheets, licensed installer credentials, and a file assembled to the current requirement rather than an old checklist. Then submission, tracking, and someone technical standing on site at the inspection. Applications here are returned for inconsistent paperwork far more often than for anything technical, so most of the fee is buying a file that does not come back.
Where it costs more
Commercial connections and larger systems take more preparation and land nearer the top of the range. A three-phase connection, a sanctioned load that has to be revised, or a mismatch between system size and that sanctioned load all add work — and the last one is best caught before anything is installed rather than at inspection.
Whether it is worth paying for at all
You can apply yourself. Whether that is sensible depends on how much your time is worth against the cost of a file that gets returned twice. For a straightforward domestic connection with clean paperwork, doing it yourself is realistic. For anything commercial, or where the sanctioned load needs revising, the service usually pays for itself in elapsed time.
How much does net metering cost in Pakistan?
How long does approval take?
It depends on the distribution company's queue, and nobody honest will quote you a date they cannot control. What is controllable is how many times the file comes back — most delays we see are returned paperwork rather than slow processing, and a pack assembled correctly the first time is the single biggest thing that shortens the wait.
Do I get paid for exported units?
You get credited against units you import, not paid in cash. Settlement runs against your bill under the current NEPRA-approved rate. Because that rate and the mechanism have both been revised before, treat any payback calculation as an estimate under today's rules rather than a guarantee across the system's life.
Can I install solar and add net metering later?
Yes, and plenty of people do. Without it, generation you do not consume at the moment it is produced is simply lost, so the system pays back more slowly unless your usage is genuinely daytime-heavy. The application itself does not require the system to be new — it requires it to be correctly installed and documented.
Rather have it done?
Net metering lets your meter run backwards when you export, crediting units against what you draw at night. Getting it approved means a licensed application to IESCO with the right drawings and a bidirectional meter installed. The service runs PKR 35,000 to 60,000, separate from the DISCO's own charges.
Net metering application and paperwork in Islamabad — prices and scope