Guide
What Pakistan's 2026 Solar Rules Mean for Property Buyers and Sellers
By wajahat Ali
Real Estate Analyst
10 min read
The short answer: Solar still adds value to a twin-cities property, but not equally. Since 9 February 2026, new installations sell surplus power at roughly PKR 8–11 per unit while buying it back at PKR 37–55. Houses with agreements signed before that date keep the far better one-for-one arrangement until their contract runs out. For buyers, that agreement date is now worth verifying. For sellers, a pre-February system is a genuine selling point and one worth documenting.
First, what actually changed
On 9 February 2026, [NEPRA notified the Prosumer Regulations 2026](NEPRA Prosumer Regulations 2026 (SRO 251(I)/2026) and amendment SRO 547(I)/2026), repealing the net metering framework that had been in place since 2015 and replacing it with net billing.
The distinction matters commercially. Under net metering, an exported unit cancelled an imported unit one for one. Under net billing, the two are priced separately: you sell low and buy at full retail. Dawn reported on 10 February 2026 that new contracts were limited to five years, existing seven-year terms would remain valid until expiry, the buyback rate for future prosumers was cut to around PKR 10–11 per unit from PKR 26, and imported electricity would be billed separately at PKR 37–55 per unit.
The scale was significant. The Express Tribune reported that the change affected 466,506 existing solar consumers, against a national rooftop base that had grown past 6 GW.
One caution on the rate. Published figures disagree, Profit by Pakistan Today reported the notified rate as PKR 8.13 per unit, Dawn reported PKR 10–11, and installer guides commonly quote PKR 11–13. These are not all errors: the export rate tracks the National Average Energy Purchase Price, a periodically determined figure rather than a number fixed in the regulations. IEEFA's modelling of the reform used a NAEPP of PKR 9.69/kWh against the old reference of PKR 27/kWh. Treat any single quoted rate as a snapshot and confirm the applicable figure with the DISCO.
Does solar still add resale value?
Yes, but the value now sits in two separate places, and buyers should price them separately.
The hardware is worth what it saves the occupant. Because self-consumed units are still avoided at full retail, a system sized to match a household's daytime load remains valuable. Nothing in the 2026 reform touched that.
The agreement is worth what it earns on export and that is where the two-tier market has opened up. A pre-February 2026 agreement on the same physical system generates materially more than a post-February one, for as long as it runs.
The practical consequence: a solar system's contribution to asking price now depends on a date, not just a kilowatt rating. A 10 kW array installed in 2024 with three years left on its agreement is a different asset from a 10 kW array installed last month, even if the panels are identical.
The grandfathered agreement, and the trap inside it
After the February notification triggered a public backlash, the Power Division approached NEPRA on 13 February 2026 on the Prime Minister's instruction, seeking protection for existing consumers.
The protection was finalised on 3 April 2026 through SRO 547(I)/2026, amending regulation 21(2). Business Recorder's report of the notification confirms that approvals, licences, concurrences and agreements executed under the repealed regulations are unaffected, and that any distributed generator holding a valid agreement under the old rules is to be billed at the old rate and mechanism until that agreement's term expires.
Now the part that should be in every sale conversation. The same notification carries a proviso: the protection on rate and billing mechanism ceases to apply if there is a material modification of the generation facility that changes its maximum electrical output. Profit by Pakistan Today characterised the April amendment as NEPRA protecting existing users while limiting benefits for system expansions.
In plain terms: a buyer who purchases a house with a grandfathered agreement and then adds panels can lose the very thing that made the system valuable. That is a foreseeable, expensive mistake, and it is not something the average estate agent is currently flagging.
If you are buying a house with existing solar and you intend to expand the system, get the modification question answered by the DISCO in writing before you commit — not after.
What that agreement is actually worth
Take a 10 kW rooftop system on a twin-cities house generating around 1,200 units a month, with the household self-consuming 500 units during daylight, exporting 700, and importing 400 in the evening. We use PKR 48 as a mid-slab retail rate and PKR 11 as the new export rate.
| Value of those 700 exported units | |
|---|---|
| Grandfathered net metering | 400 units offset 1:1 at PKR 48 (PKR 19,200) + 300 surplus at PKR 25.9 (PKR 7,770) = PKR 26,970 |
| New net billing | 700 × PKR 11 = PKR 7,700 |
| Monthly difference | PKR 19,270 |
| Annual difference | PKR 231,240 |
Our finding: the effective value of an exported unit falls from about PKR 38.5 to PKR 11, a drop of roughly 71%. For this household, the grandfathered agreement is worth close to PKR 2.3 lakh a year over a new one.
If three years remain on that agreement, that is a running-cost advantage of roughly PKR 7 lakh attached to the property. Whether a buyer will pay for it is a negotiation but neither side can negotiate over a number nobody has calculated.
(Illustrative planning estimates using the stated assumptions. Actual generation, consumption pattern and tariff slab will differ.)
A buyer's diligence checklist
Add these to the questions you already ask about title and society approval:
- What is the agreement execution date? Before or after 9 February 2026 is the single most important fact.
- How many years remain on the term? Old agreements ran seven years; new ones run five.
- Has the system been modified since execution? If it has, the grandfathering may already be void.
- Does the agreement transfer to a new owner, and on what terms? The regulations protect agreements, not addresses. Get the DISCO's position in writing rather than assuming continuity.
- What is the actual export rate on the current bills? Ask for three months of bills, not the installer's brochure.
- Is the society's connection status clean? A DISCO relationship depends on the scheme being legally approved. Our guides to the best CDA-approved housing societies in Islamabad and CDA-approved housing projects cover which schemes give the cleanest path; on the Pindi side, our RDA explainer sets out the equivalent process.
If you are selling
With a pre-February 2026 system: document it. The agreement date, remaining term and recent bills are evidence of a running-cost advantage that a buyer cannot replicate by installing their own panels today. Most listings still describe solar as a feature; describe yours as a contract.
Thinking about installing solar to improve saleability: the case is weaker than it was, but not gone. A new system will be on net billing, so its value to a buyer comes almost entirely from self-consumption rather than export. That means a right-sized system on a house with genuine daytime load ,a family that is home during the day, running ACs and pumps, is a reasonable investment. An oversized array on a house that empties at 9 am is not, and a well-informed buyer will not pay for it.
Do not modify a grandfathered system before listing. Adding capacity to make the property look better can destroy the exact feature that differentiates it.
How this changes the house-versus-plot calculation
The reform strengthens the case for income-producing property in a small but real way. A house with a grandfathered agreement carries a running-cost advantage that a vacant plot cannot, and that advantage compounds against rising retail tariffs. Our house vs plot investment analysis sets out the wider comparison; net metering status is now one more line in the column favouring the built asset.
It also pushes solar earlier in the build process. Because self-consumption is what pays, roof orientation, load layout and wiring provisioning matter more than they used to and they are cheapest to get right during construction rather than as a retrofit. If you are costing a build, our 10 marla double story construction cost guide and 5 marla double story breakdown show where that provisioning sits against the rest of the budget.
What is coming next
One development worth watching before you commit to a system.
On 1 August 2026, Business Recorder reported that Power Division Advisor Syed Faizan Ali proposed introducing Time-of-Use net metering and net billing with enhanced evening discharge rates of PKR 18–22 per kWh between 5:00 pm and 10:00 pm, to incentivise battery storage and cut peak-hour procurement costs, noting that evening peak demand has crossed 26,000 MW.
That would nearly double the value of an exported unit but only if discharged from a battery during the evening peak. The market has already moved: the same report found Pakistan imported 6.004 GWh of lithium-ion batteries between January 2024 and June 2026, with monthly volumes up 1,640% and April 2026 setting a record, and attributed part of the shift to a structural move from export-oriented solar towards self-consumption-optimised solar-plus-storage after the February revisions.
It is a proposal, not a regulation. Nothing has been notified. But if you are budgeting a system for a house you plan to hold, the direction of travel favours storage and rewards when you export, not just whether you do.
Frequently asked questions
Does solar increase property value in Pakistan in 2026? Yes, but less uniformly than before. The hardware adds value through avoided electricity cost. The net metering agreement adds separate value through export earnings and agreements signed before 9 February 2026 are worth substantially more than new ones for as long as they run.
Does a net metering agreement transfer when a house is sold? The regulations protect executed agreements rather than addresses, and transfer handling sits with the DISCO. Confirm the position in writing before closing rather than assuming the arrangement carries over automatically.
How do I check whether a property's solar agreement is grandfathered? Ask for the agreement execution date. If it is before 9 February 2026 and the system has not been materially modified since, SRO 547(I)/2026 preserves the old rate and billing mechanism until the term expires.
Can I expand a solar system on a house I just bought? Physically yes, but a material modification that changes the facility's maximum electrical output can end the grandfathered rate and move the property onto net billing. Confirm the consequences with the DISCO before expanding.
Has net metering ended in Pakistan? For new applicants, yes, new connections since 9 February 2026 are approved under net billing. For holders of valid pre-February agreements, no, until those agreements expire.
Is it worth installing solar before selling a property? Only if the house has genuine daytime electricity load, since a new system earns almost all its value from self-consumption rather than export. An oversized array on a house that is empty during the day is unlikely to return its cost at resale.
Sources: NEPRA Prosumer Regulations 2026 (SRO 251(I)/2026) and amendment SRO 547(I)/2026; Business Recorder, 3 April 2026; Business Recorder, 1 August 2026; Dawn, 10 February 2026; Express Tribune, 9 February 2026; Profit by Pakistan Today, 10 February 2026; IEEFA. Regulatory status is as at 4 August 2026; verify current rates and transfer requirements with the relevant DISCO before acting.
Milkiyat.com is a commission-free real estate research and editorial platform for the Islamabad–Rawalpindi twin cities market. This guide is general information, not financial, legal or engineering advice.