Households and businesses equipped with solar systems could soon earn extra cash by supplying stored electricity back to the national grid during peak evening hours, under a new policy framework currently under review by the Power Division. This proposal aims to tackle the chronic mismatch between daily generation curves and domestic demand, which usually spikes sharply after sunset when residential air conditioning, lighting, and heavy appliances run simultaneously. Rather than letting excess daytime generation go waste or forcing distributors to handle sudden voltage swings, federal planners want to tap into private residential storage capacity.
How the Proposed Evening Solar Incentive Will Work
Under current net metering rules in cities like Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, and Faisalabad, consumers export surplus solar energy generated during bright daylight hours at a baseline tariff. However, batteries sit fully charged by early afternoon with nowhere profitable to go unless owners have heavy daytime loads. The fresh mechanism under consideration would introduce a separate, premium feed-in tariff specifically for the 6 PM to 10 PM window. If you pull stored kilowatts from your lithium-ion or lead-acid battery banks and push them back into the local distribution company's lines during this high-load bracket, you would receive a higher financial credit or direct payout compared to standard daytime exports.
Officials believe this strategy can relieve immense stress on overloaded local transformers and reduce the country's reliance on expensive, imported furnace oil or emergency peaking plants. For an average urban homeowner carrying a 10-kilowatt rooftop setup with adequate storage, this shift could materially lower monthly electricity bills or even turn the system into a small income generator. Yet, technical hurdles remain significant, particularly regarding smart meter compatibility, bidirectional inverter standards, and ensuring that DISCOs—such as LESCO or K-Electric—can accurately meter and credit these evening transmissions without billing disputes.
What You Should Do
If you are currently planning a rooftop solar installation or looking to upgrade your existing setup, you need to think twice about skipping battery storage. While off-grid setups or basic hybrid systems without high-capacity batteries have been popular purely for backup during load shedding, investing in smart, grid-tie hybrid inverters with scalable storage capacity will likely pay off once this policy finalizes. Keep an eye on your equipment specifications to ensure your inverter supports smart export scheduling, allowing you to automatically retain enough reserve power for household use while dispatching the surplus during lucrative evening hours. Do not rush into buying cheap, unverified batteries; look for units with high cycle life that can handle daily cycling without rapid degradation.
What to Watch Next
Expect NEPRA to hold formal public consultations once the Power Division finalizes the formal draft regulations in the coming weeks. You should watch for official notifications regarding the exact tariff rates proposed for evening exports, as the economic viability will depend entirely on whether the payout margins justify the wear and tear on your battery bank. Regional distribution companies will also need to issue technical guidelines on how homeowners must register their storage systems to qualify for the incentive. Until these operational frameworks clear federal scrutiny, treat this as a policy in motion rather than an immediate change to your next electricity bill.