LESCO net metering process step by step

What you are actually applying for

Net metering swaps your ordinary LESCO meter for a bi-directional one that counts units flowing in and units flowing out separately. Your solar feeds the house first. Whatever is left over goes out to the LESCO line, gets recorded, and is settled against your bill under the current buyback rate.

That is the whole idea. The rest of this article is the bureaucracy that sits between you and that meter, and there is more of it than most sales people admit before taking your advance. If you are still deciding whether the paperwork is worth it, read solar without net metering in Lahore first, because for a lot of battery-heavy homes it honestly is not.

The three things that decide your whole file

Before a single form is filled, three facts about your connection decide whether this will be a four week job or a four month one.

• Sanctioned load. Your system size in kW cannot exceed the load written on your LESCO connection record. A 10 kW system on a 5 kW sanctioned load gets rejected on the first desk it lands on. This is the number one reason files die.
• Meter ownership. The name on the bill must be the name on the agreement. Inherited houses in older Lahore neighbourhoods often still carry a grandfather's name.
• Phase. Single phase connections are capped at roughly 5 kW in practice. Anything larger needs a three phase connection first, which is its own application and its own queue.

Sort these out before ordering panels. We check all three during the site survey, which costs PKR 3,000 and is deducted from your final installation bill.

Step one, pull your load sanction on paper

Take your last bill to the LESCO sub-divisional office your area falls under. Ask the commercial clerk for a copy of your connection record showing sanctioned load in kW. Do not rely on what the bill prints. The bill sometimes shows a tariff category and not the actual sanctioned figure.

If the sanction is short, file a load enhancement application at the same counter. In Lahore this adds three to five weeks and a security deposit based on the additional kW. Homes in DHA Lahore and Bahria Town Lahore usually have generous sanctions already because the developers set them high. Older colonies off Ferozepur Road, Walton, and the streets behind Mughalpura frequently sit at 2 or 3 kW.

Step two, get the system installed and tested

LESCO does not accept applications for systems that do not exist yet. The panels go on the roof, the inverter goes on the wall, the AC and DC protection is wired, and the earthing pit is dug before anything is filed. Our net metering service runs the install and the file in parallel so nothing waits.

Your contractor then produces two documents that the LESCO inspection team will compare against reality:

• A single line diagram showing panel strings, inverter, AC breaker, changeover, and the metering point
• An electrical test report covering insulation resistance, earth resistance, and inverter anti-islanding
• Equipment datasheets for the panels and the inverter, both of which must appear on the AEDB approved list
• A signed installer undertaking on letterhead

Step three, file the application

The application goes in at the LESCO customer services directorate. You submit the completed net metering form, the document set, and the processing fee. Keep the diary number from the receipt. Every follow up call in the next six weeks starts with that number.

The full checklist is broken down in documents required for LESCO net metering, including the three photocopies people always forget.

Step four, the technical scrutiny

An engineer at the operations wing reviews your single line diagram against the sanctioned load and the AEDB equipment list. Around one file in four comes back at this stage with an objection. Common ones are a mismatch between the inverter nameplate kW and the applied capacity, a missing surge protection device on the AC side, and a single line diagram that shows no isolation point for LESCO staff.

Objections are fixable. They are also the reason a file that should take four weeks takes seven. Answer them the same week they are raised.

Step five, the site inspection

Two LESCO staff visit, usually with less than a day of notice. Someone with a key to the roof and the meter box has to be home. They check:

• That the installed inverter capacity matches the application
• That the panel count and wattage match the declared DC capacity
• Earthing resistance, measured at the pit, usually with their own tester
• That there is a lockable AC isolator the utility can open
• That the inverter trips within the required time when the grid is cut, which they test by opening your main breaker

The anti-islanding test is the one that catches cheap inverters. A no-name unit from a Hall Road shelf that does not disconnect fast enough will fail on the spot and the whole visit repeats after you replace it. Stick to brands with a track record here, such as those covered in our Growatt and Solis guides.

Step six, agreement signing

Once the inspection passes, LESCO issues the net metering agreement. It is signed by the consumer whose name is on the connection and countersigned by the LESCO authorised officer. You will need original CNIC and the original bill at this counter. Two copies come back to you. Keep one in the file with the diary number.

Around this point NEPRA issues the generation licence for domestic systems under the standard prosumer route. For homes under 25 kW this is a formality processed through the same submission.

Step seven, meter installation and sealing

The metering wing installs the bi-directional meter at your existing meter position. The old meter is removed and its final reading is recorded on a form you should photograph before it leaves. The new meter is sealed with a numbered LESCO seal.

Do not break that seal, and do not let anyone else break it. A broken seal on a net metered connection triggers a detection notice, and clearing one takes longer than the original application did. Pricing and the fee structure for the meter itself are covered in net metering meter cost in Lahore, and how the unit reads import against export is explained in the bi-directional meter guide.

Realistic timeline, week by week

Stage	Typical duration	Who acts
Load sanction check and copy	2 to 4 days	Consumer or installer
Load enhancement, if needed	3 to 5 weeks	LESCO commercial wing
Installation and testing	3 to 6 days	Installer
Application filing	1 day	Consumer
Technical scrutiny	7 to 15 days	LESCO engineer
Site inspection	5 to 12 days after scrutiny	LESCO team
Agreement and licence	7 to 10 days	LESCO and NEPRA
Meter installation and sealing	5 to 14 days	LESCO metering wing
Total, clean file	4 to 8 weeks

The honest downside nobody puts in a brochure

Under the 2026 prosumer rules your exported units are bought at a rate far below what you pay for imported units. Exporting is no longer a savings engine, it is a small credit. The system pays back through the units you never buy in the first place, which means a home that consumes its own generation during the day does far better than a home that is empty until 7 pm.

Second honest point. Net metering does nothing for you during load shedding. When the LESCO line is down, a grid-tied inverter shuts off for safety, panels or no panels. If your street still sees outages, you need storage as well, which is why most of our Lahore builds now go in as hybrid with battery. See solar battery for load shedding in Lahore for how that changes the sizing.

If the file gets stuck, the reasons are usually predictable. We listed all of them in why LESCO rejects net metering applications. And if you want to see what your bill actually looks like on the other side of this, LESCO bill after solar walks through three real bills.

Where to start

Run your consumption through the solar calculator to get a system size, confirm your sanctioned load matches it, then book a survey. Homes in Johar Town, Wapda Town, Model Town, and Gulberg are all inside our regular route, so survey slots there are usually available within two days.