Rs11 Out, Rs55 In: Why 2026 Solar Must Be Sized for Evening Use, Not Grid Export

• By Best Solar Company PK
• 19 Sep, 2026
• Buying Guide
• 8 min read

For five years, rooftop solar in Pakistan was sold on one simple promise: run your meter backwards during the day and let the grid "bank" your units for the night. That maths just broke. Under NEPRA's revised **net billing** regime, new solar consumers are paid roughly **Rs11 per unit** for electricity they export by day — while the electricity they pull back from the grid after sunset can cost **Rs45 to Rs65 per unit** once slabs, fuel adjustments and taxes are added.

That is a lopsided trade of nearly 1 unit sold for every 5 you buy back. So the single most important decision for anyone buying solar in 2026 is this: **size your solar for evening use and self-consumption, not for grid export.** This guide explains why, and how to do it with real PKR numbers.

The Rs11-vs-Rs55 gap, explained

In December 2025 the government revised the net metering framework, cutting the surplus buyback rate from around Rs27 to a fixed **Rs11 per unit** for new connections (a proposed gross-metering tariff of about Rs11.30). Existing consumers on valid 7-year agreements keep selling at roughly **Rs22 per unit** until their contracts expire — so this hits *new* buyers hardest.

Meanwhile, the import side has not fallen to meet you. For homes with a 5kW-plus sanctioned load on time-of-use metering, the grid charges around **Rs46.85 per unit at peak** and **Rs34.53 off-peak**, plus a fixed Rs675/kW/month. High-consumption households above 700 units land at an all-in **Rs55–65 per unit** after fuel price adjustment (FPA), GST and surcharges.

Here is the trade laid bare:

| Action | Time | Rate (PKR/unit) | | --- | --- | --- | | Export surplus to grid (new net billing) | Daytime | ~Rs11 | | Export (old net metering, existing users) | Daytime | ~Rs22–27 | | Import — off-peak | Late night | ~Rs34 | | Import — peak / ToU | 6pm–10pm | ~Rs47 | | Import — high slab, all taxes | Evening | Rs55–65 |

The lesson is blunt: **a unit you consume yourself is worth up to Rs55. A unit you export is worth Rs11.** Every design choice should push units from the second column into the first.

Why "self-consumption" beats "export" in 2026

Under the old net metering deal, over-sizing your array made sense — extra daytime generation became credits at 1:1. Under net billing, an over-sized array just dumps cheap Rs11 units onto the grid while your expensive evening load stays on the meter. The financial goal has flipped from *maximise export* to **maximise self-consumption ratio** — the share of your own solar you actually use on-site.

• **Every self-consumed unit avoids a Rs45–55 import.** That is your true saving.
• **Every exported unit earns only Rs11.** That is a consolation prize, not a business model.
• **Your heaviest load — evening — happens when the sun is gone.** Fans, ACs, lights, TV and cooking peak from Maghrib onward, exactly when panels produce nothing.

So the winning 2026 system is not "the biggest array that fits." It is a **right-sized array plus storage** that shifts cheap daytime solar into your expensive evening window.

How to size solar for evening load

Start with your load curve, not your roof. Pull three or four recent bills and note your monthly units and — crucially — *when* you use them.

1. **Map your evening kWh.** Add up what runs from roughly 6pm to midnight: AC(s), fans, lights, fridge, TV, water pump. A typical Lahore or Karachi home burns 6–12 units in this window in summer. 2. **Size the array for daytime self-use + a battery top-up.** Aim to cover daytime load *and* generate a surplus that charges a battery — not a surplus that floods the grid at Rs11. 3. **Add storage sized to your evening gap.** A 5kWh lithium (LiFePO₄) battery covers most of a middle-class evening; heavy AC users may want 10kWh. Charged with your own ~Rs11-value solar and discharged against ~Rs55 grid units, the battery earns the difference every night. 4. **Keep a thin grid tie for backup, not banking.** You still want the grid for cloudy spells — just stop treating it as storage.

A practical 2026 benchmark for a mid-size home: a **6–8kW array with a 5–10kWh battery.** The array clears daytime load and refills the battery; the battery carries the evening peak; only genuine excess trickles out at Rs11.

For a deeper walk-through of matching panels to consumption, see our solar system sizing guide for Pakistani homes and our breakdown of lithium vs lead-acid batteries in 2026.

Does a battery still pay back at these rates?

Yes — and the buyback cut actually *improves* battery economics. When export was worth Rs22–27, storing a unit barely beat selling it. Now that export is Rs11 but avoided imports are Rs45–55, each stored-and-used unit saves you **Rs34–44** versus exporting it.

A 5kWh battery cycling ~4.5 usable units a day, 300+ days a year, displaces roughly 1,350 evening units annually. At a Rs44 saving per unit that is around **Rs59,000 a year** in avoided expensive imports — before counting inverter and ToU savings. Quality LiFePO₄ packs now landing in Pakistan at **Rs120,000–180,000 per 5kWh** typically pay back in **3–4 years** and last 6,000+ cycles.

One practical tip installers won't volunteer

Set your hybrid inverter to **"self-consumption / zero-export" priority** and program the battery to **charge from solar first, discharge in the evening, and only draw grid at off-peak (post-10pm) if needed.** Many systems ship defaulted to "export surplus," which quietly sells your units at Rs11 while you buy them back hours later at Rs50. Ten minutes in the inverter settings can be worth tens of thousands of rupees a year. Also shift heavy daytime loads — washing, ironing, water pumping, AC pre-cooling — into peak sun hours so they run on live solar, not the battery or grid.

Confirm the current rates for your DISCO before you finalise a design — check NEPRA's official tariff notifications and the latest net metering rules, since quarterly adjustments move the numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

**Is net metering finished in Pakistan for 2026?** Not entirely, but it is being replaced by net billing/gross metering for new applicants. New consumers are compensated at roughly Rs11 per exported unit, while existing users on valid 7-year net metering agreements keep their higher ~Rs22 rate until those contracts expire. Always confirm which regime applies to a fresh connection.

**Should I still install solar if export only pays Rs11?** Absolutely — but design it differently. Solar still saves you Rs45–55 on every unit you consume yourself, which dwarfs the Rs11 export rate. The value is now in *avoiding imports*, so a right-sized array plus a battery beats a giant export-focused system.

**How big should my battery be to cover evening use?** Size it to your 6pm–midnight consumption. Most middle-class homes are well served by 5kWh; households running multiple ACs into the night should consider 10kWh. Match usable (not nameplate) capacity to your actual evening kWh from your bills.

**Is it better to add more panels or add a battery in 2026?** Once your array comfortably covers daytime load, extra panels mostly produce Rs11 export units. Beyond that point, a battery — which converts cheap solar into avoided Rs55 evening imports — delivers far better returns than more panels.

The bottom line

Net billing has rewritten solar economics in Pakistan. Exporting is now a rounding error; self-consumption is the whole game. Build your 2026 system around your evening load — a sensibly sized array paired with storage that shifts daytime sun into after-dark hours. Do that, and you stop selling units for Rs11 only to buy them back for Rs55.

Ready to size a self-consumption system for your home or business? Talk to our team at Best Solar Company PK for a load-based design built for 2026 tariffs.

Best Solar Company PK designs and installs reliable solar systems in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Taunsa Sharif and Karachi. Contact us for a free survey and the best advice for your home or business.