ISLAMABAD: As the government decides to formulate a policy, the process regarding replacement of green meters with Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) meters within three months has been put on hold.
With this, tens of thousands of solar power users with on-grid systems and green meters took a sigh of relief as they were earlier shocked to see their current month’s electricity bills stating therein that they must replace their green meters with AMR costing Rs. 52000 within three months to ensure the continuation of net metering.
“Several people have also approached the PM Portal, and their applications have been forwarded to Iesco. Therefore, it has been decided to formulate a policy on the matter,” an official of Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO’s) Monitoring and Complaint Cell Imran told Dawn Newspaper
He said that although some SDOs had issued demand notices, the process had been put on hold as many consumers claimed their meters were still under warranty and questioned why they should bear the cost.
According to the publication, another official in Islamabad’s Sector I-10 Office of IESCO namely Amir said that a large number of solar consumers were visiting the office after seeing the instructions on their bills.
“However, we don’t have a clear policy yet. What I can tell you is that demand notices will be issued, and consumers will have to pay Rs52,000 for the new meter,” he said, adding that we don’t know if the meter charges can be deducted from the bills. “Consumers should wait for the final policy,” he said.
According to Raja Asim the decision to replace green meters with AMR meters was taken for implementation across the country, not by Iesco alone. He assured that a policy would be framed keeping in view the consumers’ concerns and that all necessary steps would be taken to provide relief.
