Islamabad [Pakistan], March 16 (ANI): Pakistan People's Party (PPP) spokesperson Shazia Marri has strongly criticised the government's newly introduced policy for alternative energy, describing the change as a 'direct assault' on consumers, ARY News reported.

ARY News reported that Marri described the policy change as a direct assault on alternative energy consumers and a betrayal of the nation's green energy ambitions.

Marri condemned the government's amendment to net metering regulations, which now require solar energy users to sell electricity at a significantly reduced rate of 10 rupees per unit compared to the previous rate of 27 rupees per unit.

Marri labelled the policy as 'economically unfair and unjust' and accused the government of corruption, inefficiency and the influence of mafia in the sector.

Shazia Marri also dismissed claims that net metering imposes a mere 90 paise per unit burden on consumers, arguing that the real financial strain stems from 'idle capacity payments' and an annual loss of Rs 600 billion due to power theft and unpaid bills.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet has approved a set of amendments to the existing net-metering regulations aimed at reducing the growing financial burden on grid consumers, as reported by ARY News.

The ECC has revised the buyback rate from the National Average Power Purchase Price (NAPP) to Rs 10 per unit. The government claims that the net metering policy has increased tariffs for other electricity consumers.

The Pakistani government has clarified that the new net metering policy will not affect existing consumers but will apply to new consumers.

The government has argued that the new metering policy is necessary to release the burden from the other general electricity consumers. (ANI)