Federal govt to end solar net metering policy? - PMLN Leader's Reaction
Federal govt to end solar net metering policy? - PMLN Leader's Reaction
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00:00 "The government is taking such decisions instead of providing cheap electricity to the middle class, which will harm the people."
00:07 "In the past, Shabaz Sharif was not only very enthusiastic about solar energy, but he used to talk about spreading it to the whole country."
00:15 "We will have to go towards solar and wind, where you don't have to import gas."
00:21 "This is the way, solar energy, not just for Tewal, but for all the provinces, houses, factories, shops."
00:30 "We have with us Bilal Azarqiani, Assistant Secretary General PMLN. Thank you very much Bilal for being with us."
00:36 "Sir, please tell us what is this? In such a confusing policy, wrong policies, the people are the ones who are bearing all the burden."
00:43 "On average, you give us a unit of Rs. 62, and you have a capacity charge of 58% from that."
00:50 "Even if people go towards solarization, they are incentivized to go, as Shabaz Sharif has said, we are fed up of this."
00:57 "And now you are talking about gross metering."
01:00 "Yes, thank you very much for inviting me to your show."
01:04 "I think, any change in the net metering or any change in this policy at all, that will come first."
01:12 "But I think, there has been a panic in this before."
01:16 "But I would like to make one thing clear at the outset, categorically, because I think this is perhaps one of the most important points related to this."
01:24 "On which I have seen confusion in the media at least."
01:27 "That is, if any change comes in the policy of solar customers, or in the case of net metering customers, then any change will not be applicable to existing net metering customers."
01:41 "There will be no change in any tariff of existing net metering customers, which is a contractual policy."
01:48 "And you think this will incentivize them?"
01:51 "No, no, I mean to say that..."
01:53 "Leave it, all those few hundred people, there are a hundred thousand people."
01:57 "No, no, no, that's not the case. Look, I would like to clarify this to you."
02:00 "Two years ago, when Shabaz Sharif was talking about solarization, and he has always been a big proponent of solarization."
02:08 "And also of having more renewable energy in our mix."
02:11 "At that time, you had a net metering of about 500 megawatts."
02:17 "This was for the last year, if you add up the last 8 years, by June 2023, your net metering had reached 900 megawatts."
02:25 "In the last year, that is, from June 2023 to today, the net metering of 900 megawatts that was implemented in the last 8 years, it has taken almost a year."
02:35 "The pace is rapid."
02:36 "I understand that."
02:38 "This is a good thing."
02:39 "Sir, when you will go towards gross metering, who will go and send you cheap electricity and at night, you will buy it back at high prices."
02:47 "Has the sun started charging its light money?"
02:50 "I mean, how are you incentivizing anything? We have to go towards the green revolution."
02:54 "Just now, while standing on the economic forum, the Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif was saying that we are one of the worst hit carbon countries."
03:00 "We have to improve our footprint, we have to go towards the revolution."
03:02 "And you are disincentivizing any other people coming towards solarization."
03:06 "No, no, no, at the moment, I am telling you that by the end of this year, or by the end of the last year, in the next few months, you will have only net metering customers of 2000 megawatts."
03:15 "Whose payback period is approximately 1.5 years, maximum 2 years."
03:19 "Who have made agreements, which you will not revise."
03:22 "No, no, we will not revise them."
03:23 "But look ahead, no one is being stopped or discouraged at all."
03:27 "But yes, it is possible that the payback periods, because even in your grid, there is a part of your solar energy mix."
03:37 "There is a certain portion of your demand, beyond which it should not go."
03:41 "And this applies to any country in the world."
03:43 "You have a solar frontier in your energy mix, which you cannot go beyond."
03:49 "And in this, the capacity of the system also comes forward, your demand is also a factor."
03:53 "But I would like to make it clear that in the future, net metering..."
03:57 "You are telling me that in environmental sustainability, we have a capacity on solar."
04:01 "No, look, anywhere in the world, energy mix, never, completely beyond a certain percentage, you will not see that too much, or the demand, whatever it is, whatever it is, the catering that has to be done."
04:10 "We are not even close to that yet."
04:11 "No, no, look, this is a request."
04:12 "The peak demand in your winter, for example, is up to 11,000-11,500 megawatts."
04:17 "At the moment, in winter, you are already at a point, that your demand is almost fulfilled only with nuclear, hydel, solar and wind."
04:27 "600-700 megawatts, you have to use more energy from the central region, you have to turn on power plants for the sake of system stability."
04:35 "But largely, you are now reaching a point already, because of your demand."
04:40 "If your solar goes beyond a certain point, there will come a point when you will not be able to use all this solar."
04:48 "I have one question for you, will all the future panels that will be invested, will they go on gross metering?"
04:55 "No, no, look, I will just say this much."
04:57 "Yes or no?"
04:58 "No, no, at the moment, I am..."
05:00 "But in 2-3 months, the minister himself said that he will revise it, so he will tell you."
05:04 "No, no, look, this can definitely happen, that in the next few months, on net metering, which is being implemented now."
05:09 "The incentive is that you have a payback period of 1.5-2 years."
05:13 "That will still be very attractive, but it may go on for 3.5-4 years."
05:18 "But it would still be attractive..."
05:20 "But that's the only thing, why are you doing this?"
05:23 "Why will the investor invest, so that he can sell you cheap electricity and you sell him expensive one."
05:28 "No, no, no, look, it's not about cheap or expensive."
05:34 "What do you mean then, that if it's 1-2 years, it will be 4 years, that means he's making up for his investment over a longer period."
05:40 "Over a longer period, but it's still attractive, it still makes sense to invest in solar."
05:44 "And at the same time, you also see that at the moment..."
05:48 "Sir, that means that the public, as always, is using your wrong policies."
05:52 "No, no, I'm saying the opposite."
05:53 "That means, you should not revise the contracts with Chinese IPPs, we have given a huge amount of capacity charges this year."
05:59 "It will be 1.5 crores next year, go and revise those things."
06:01 "No, no, those will happen too, look, those things are in addition to this."
06:05 "It is not an either or, you have to do that, you have to do this, you have to do that."
06:08 "Thank you very much, you have given a lot of time."