The net metering application, step by step — and why files come back

The application to your distribution company is the part of a solar project most likely to take longer than anyone told you, and it is almost never delayed for the reason people assume. It is rarely a refusal. It is nearly always a file that was incomplete or internally inconsistent when it was submitted.

What actually goes in the file

• The application form for your distribution company — LESCO, FESCO, GEPCO, MEPCO and the others each have their own.
• CNIC and proof of ownership of the premises.
• Your existing connection agreement and a recent bill, showing sanctioned load and connection category.
• The system single-line diagram, showing protection and the metering point.
• Equipment datasheets evidencing inverter certification and protection compliance.
• Test and commissioning documentation for the installed system.

The list is not long and none of it is exotic. What defeats applications is that the documents have to agree with each other and with the physical installation.

The five reasons files come back

1. Proposed capacity sits wrong against the sanctioned load on the connection agreement. This is the single most common cause and it is entirely avoidable at design stage.
2. The name on the bill does not match the applicant — an inherited property, a business in a company name, a plot bought and never transferred.
3. Inverter certification not properly evidenced. The datasheet has to demonstrate compliance, not merely accompany the file.
4. Protection and earthing arrangements that do not match the submitted single-line diagram.
5. The installation changed after the drawing was filed. If a string layout was altered on site, the drawing must be updated to match — the inspection compares the two.

Notice that four of the five are design-stage problems that only surface at application stage. That is the practical argument for the person who designed the system being the person who prepares the file, and it is how I run net metering applications and DISCO liaison — the drawing, the file and the installation are all the same person's responsibility.

What net billing changed about all this

In February 2026, NEPRA replaced net metering with net billing under the Prosumer Regulations 2026. Under the old regime, exported units offset imported units at close to parity. Under net billing they are priced separately, and exported units are bought back at roughly a third of the old rate.

The application process itself is broadly unchanged. What changed is what the arrangement is worth — and therefore what size of system it was rational to apply for in the first place. If you were quoted a payback figure calculated before February 2026, it is describing a regime that no longer exists.

These figures were last verified on 29 July 2026 against the NEPRA Prosumer Regulations 2026. They are contested and still moving, and anyone quoting you a buyback rate should be asked when they last checked it.

How long to expect

Several weeks is normal and it varies by distribution company and by how complete the file was on submission. I will not give a guaranteed figure, because the timeline belongs to the DISCO. What is within anyone's control is starting the application alongside installation rather than after it, and attending the inspection with someone who can answer technical questions on the spot rather than generating another round of correspondence.

If your application has stalled

It is usually fixable. Establish first whether what was submitted matches what is physically installed, because that mismatch is the most frequent cause and the least often suspected. Then check the capacity against the sanctioned load. Between those two you will find most stalled files, and neither requires starting again.