The Competition Commission of Pakistan has welcomed the decision of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority to maintain the existing NEPRA (Alternative & Renewable Energy) Distributed Generation and Net Metering Regulation, 2015. The decision comes after NEPRA proposed amendments to the net metering regulations, which raised concerns over competition.
The proposed amendments would have replaced the National Average Power Purchase Price with the National Average Energy Purchase Price, resulting in a decrease in the amount payable to distributed generators/ prosumers (consumers/customers who both produce and consumes electricity).
The CCP had reservations over the proposed amendments and conveyed its concerns to NEPRA in Nov 2022. NEPRA assured to give due consideration to all stakeholders’ views before reaching a decision on the proposed amendments.
The Competition Act, 2010, mandates CCP to review policy frameworks for promoting competition and making suitable recommendations for amendments to any law affecting competition in Pakistan to the government. CCP noted that the proposed amendments would have been detrimental to the distributed generators/prosumers, who made investments in solar systems based on policy provisions, agreement with their respective DISCOs, and a license from NEPRA.
