Your LESCO bill after installing solar in Lahore

What changed on the LESCO bill in 2026

The structure of the LESCO bill has been overhauled twice since 2024. By May 2026 the residential domestic bill carries seven main charge lines plus taxes: variable energy charge by slab, fixed monthly charge, electricity duty, TV fee, GST, PTV fee, and any net-metering credit or debit line for solar customers. The biggest single change for solar households is the move from full net metering to net billing on systems commissioned after April 2025.

Under the old net metering, the homeowner received a one-for-one kWh credit. A unit pushed to the grid offset a unit drawn at the same per-kWh tariff. Under net billing, the homeowner receives a buy-back rate that is roughly 60 to 70 percent of the consumption tariff. The maths still works, but the payback period stretches by 12 to 18 months compared to the old regime.

Bill 1 — small DHA home, no solar versus 5 kW solar

Take a typical 7-marla DHA home, January 2026, no solar installed.

Monthly consumption: 580 kWh. The LESCO residential slabs hit the bill like this. The first 100 units fall in the protected slab at PKR 13.5 per unit. Units 101 to 200 land at PKR 22 per unit. Units 201 to 300 at PKR 30. Units 301 to 700 at PKR 41. Then add fixed charge of PKR 200, electricity duty at 1.5 percent, TV fee PKR 35, GST at 17 percent on the energy charges, and PTV fee.

The variable energy charge works out to PKR 16,830. Add fixed charges, taxes and fees and the total bill is approximately PKR 22,400.

Now install a 5 kW solar system on the same house. Monthly daytime generation in winter is around 550 kWh. Daytime self-consumption (loads running while the sun is up) is about 220 kWh. The remaining 330 kWh exports to the grid.

Total LESCO consumption drops from 580 kWh to 360 kWh (580 minus the 220 self-consumed). On the new slab structure, 360 kWh costs about PKR 8,860 in variable energy charges. The 330 kWh of export credits at PKR 27 per unit (the May 2026 net-billing buy-back rate) adds a credit of PKR 8,910. Net energy charge: essentially zero, with the household carrying about PKR 50 in credit forward to next month.

Add the fixed and tax line items, which are not eliminated by solar, and the bill total comes to about PKR 2,800 for the month. Savings: PKR 19,600 versus the no-solar bill.

Bill 2 — Johar Town home with 10 kW solar in May summer peak

A 10-marla Johar Town home, May 2026, with three inverter ACs running 8 hours a day in summer.

Without solar: monthly consumption hits 1,650 kWh. The slabs stack all the way to the top tier of PKR 56 per unit for consumption above 700 units. Variable energy charge: PKR 70,200. Add fixed, duty, GST and fees: total bill around PKR 91,400.

With a 10 kW solar system: monthly summer generation is about 1,300 kWh. Daytime self-consumption rises in summer because the ACs are running during sunlight hours. Self-consumption: 850 kWh. Export to grid: 450 kWh.

LESCO consumption from the grid: 1,650 minus 850 equals 800 kWh. Variable energy charge on 800 kWh: PKR 26,400. Net-billing export credit on 450 kWh at PKR 27: PKR 12,150. Net energy charge: PKR 14,250. Add fixed and tax line items: total bill around PKR 19,200.

Savings versus no-solar: PKR 72,200 in a single peak month. Over a 12-month year on a household with this load profile, total annual saving is roughly PKR 580,000 to PKR 720,000.

Bill 3 — Bahria Town home with 6 kW solar in winter low season

A 10-marla Bahria Town home, December 2025, low winter load with one heater and minimal AC use.

Without solar: monthly consumption 420 kWh. Variable energy charge: PKR 10,520. Total bill: PKR 13,800.

With 6 kW solar: monthly winter generation 550 kWh. Daytime self-consumption: 140 kWh (winter days are short and household load during sunlight is low). Export to grid: 410 kWh.

LESCO grid consumption: 420 minus 140 equals 280 kWh. Variable charge on 280 kWh: PKR 5,900. Net-billing credit on 410 kWh at PKR 27: PKR 11,070. The export credit exceeds the consumption charge, so the energy line shows a credit of PKR 5,170.

Add the unavoidable fixed charges, electricity duty and taxes (about PKR 2,400 total) and the bill at the bottom is roughly PKR negative 2,770. LESCO carries the credit forward to the next month. The household effectively has a PKR 2,770 voucher applied against the February bill.

The line items that catch new solar households out

Three things often confuse first-month solar customers when they open the bill.

The first is the meter rent. Solar households pay PKR 250 to PKR 500 per month meter rent for the bi-directional meter. This line is new and was zero before solar. It is roughly the price of two ice cream cones, but it sometimes surprises buyers.

The second is the electricity duty and GST applied on the variable consumption portion. Even when net export exceeds net consumption, duty and GST still apply on the gross consumption units before the export credit is netted. The bottom-line bill can show a small positive number even when the household appears to be a net exporter.

The third is the slab interaction. A household consuming 700 kWh from the grid sits in the PKR 41 slab. A household consuming 350 kWh from the grid sits across multiple slabs with a lower blended rate. The savings from solar are not linear with kWh reduction — they are larger at the top of the slab range because each unit avoided is a unit at the highest tariff. This is why high-consumption households recover their solar investment faster.

How to read the LESCO bill after solar installation

Look at three specific lines on the bill once net metering is active.

The "import units" line shows what the household drew from the grid in the billing period. The "export units" line shows what the solar system pushed back. The "net units" line is the difference. If the export exceeds the import, net units shows a negative number and the credit carries forward.

The buy-back rate per kWh appears as a separate line item, currently PKR 27 per unit for systems commissioned under net billing in 2026. The total export credit (export units multiplied by buy-back rate) appears as a credit against the variable energy charge.

The bottom-line "amount payable" is what the household actually pays. In summer for a typical 5 kW system, this number is usually 75 to 90 percent lower than the pre-solar bill. In winter it often goes to zero or shows a small balance.

The annual blended-savings number that matters

Month-by-month, the savings vary. The number worth tracking is the 12-month total. For a typical 5 kW system in Lahore in 2026 with net billing, on a pre-solar bill averaging PKR 22,000 per month, the annual saving lands between PKR 195,000 and PKR 235,000.

For a 10 kW system on a pre-solar bill averaging PKR 60,000 per month, annual saving lands between PKR 560,000 and PKR 680,000.

The break-even point for the 5 kW system at PKR 700,000 turnkey is about 3.2 years. For the 10 kW system at PKR 1,350,000 turnkey it is about 2.3 years. Net billing stretched these payback periods by roughly a year compared to the 2024 full-net-metering rules but solar still pays itself back well inside the typical homeowner stay.