Solar Owners Could Earn Extra for Sharing Electricity With Grid At Night
The Power Division has proposed a new incentive mechanism where solar battery owners can earn extra for supplying stored electricity during evening peak hours.
It proposed a Time-of-Use (ToU) net metering/net billing formula where solar owners with battery backups could earn Rs. 18-22 per kWh extra between 5 PM and 10 PM when demand is highest.
The proposal is gaining traction because Pakistan’s evening peak electricity demand has crossed 26,000 MW. The pressure on expensive grid system operators has spiked and they’re struggling to manage peak-hour electricity distribution.
The local battery storage market has expanded quickly. Lithium-ion battery imports have reached 6.004 GWh worth Rs. 126 billion ($454.7 million) between January 2024 and June 2026.
Monthly imports surged by 1,640 percent from 42 MWh in January 2024 to a record-high 652.2 MWh in April 2026.
Pakistan’s solar market is visibly shifting from simple rooftop generation toward off-grid battery-supported systems. We’re now storing daytime solar energy and using/supplying it during evening peak demand.
Telecom operators, commercial users, and larger projects are also quickly shifting towards battery storage.
But Pakistan’s battery sector is expanding faster than regulations. There isn’t enough work done on safety standards, grid connection rules, battery registration, and a formal tariff structure for storage services.
Without proper regulation, increasing solar adoption could lead to more consumers reducing dependence on the national grid. This way, struggling grid consumers will have to bear an even bigger chunk of power bills.
The proposed payment model aims to turn batteries into a grid-support tool by encouraging users to store solar power during the day and release electricity when the system faces its highest demand in the evening.
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