· Educational guide
Feed-in Tariff vs Net Metering
The mechanical difference between a feed-in tariff and net metering, which one actually applies to a typical Pakistani household, and where sales pitches blur the two.
Disclaimer: This page is general information only. Tariffs, net-metering rules, and DISCO procedures change—verify with your distribution company and official NEPRA materials before making purchase or wiring decisions.
Different mechanisms
A feed-in tariff (FiT) pays for everything you generate at a fixed rate, separate from what you consume — every unit produced gets sold, every unit consumed gets bought, usually through separate meters. Net metering works differently: your own consumption is offset by your own production first, and only the leftover surplus gets exported and credited.
Pakistan's residential rooftop framework runs on net metering, not a feed-in tariff. Larger commercial or IPP-scale projects sometimes reference feed-in-style arrangements — verify any project-specific regime with your DISCO and a qualified lawyer before signing anything sizable.
Which one applies to a typical household
For almost every residential or small-commercial rooftop system in Pakistan, net metering is the mechanism that actually governs your bill — not a feed-in tariff. That makes self-consumption the lever that matters most for your economics (see the peak-hours guide), since offsetting your own retail-rate usage is worth more than what you'd earn exporting the same unit.
Dedicated solar farms and bulk power producers can sit under different commercial arrangements closer to feed-in structures, but that's a separate regulatory track entirely from the net-metering path an individual homeowner applies for through their DISCO.
Why the distinction matters when comparing quotes
Some sales pitches quietly assume every exported unit gets paid at the same rate as your import tariff — inflating the projected return well past what net metering actually delivers. If a quote leans on that assumption, ask the installer to show which mechanism it's based on and whether it matches your DISCO's current rules.
Check any Pakistan DISCO electricity bill
Use your 14-digit reference number on the home checker, or jump straight to the DISCO that bills your address.