ISLAMABAD: To salvage government credibility, Power Minister Awais Leghari on Thursday decided to honour all applicants of net-metering solar connections till the change of regulations on Feb 8 and directed electricity distribution companies (Discos), including K-Electric, for its implementation.
At a meeting of the Power Division’s attached entities, the minister was informed that 5,165 consumers had applied for net-metered connections by the cut-off date of Feb 8 — the day the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) notified the Prosumers Regulations 2026, replacing the net-metering framework with net billing and negatively affecting rooftop solar economics for households and industry.
All these applications entailed a net-metering capacity addition of about 250.8 megawatts.
“All net metering applications minister on commerce and industry. He was later sworn in as the provincial minister for agriculture and cooperatives.
Meanwhile, Sardar Bhootani continued his legal fight and filed a petition against the ECP’s decision in the FCC. The court, after prolonged hearings, accepted the petition of Sardar Bhootani and reserved its verdict.
A day before the FCC was set to announce its verdict, Mr Zehri tendered his resignation. The next day, the FCC suspended Mr Zehri’s notification as the returned candidate from the Balochistan Assembly PB-21 constituency.
Later, the ECP issued a notification de-seating him as an MPA.
As a minister, he had differences with CM Bugti and, after resigning, accused the chief minister of interfering in his constituency.
Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2026
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