Pakistan’s electricity challenge is increasingly a problem of tariff design rather than generation alone. Rapid rooftop-solar adoption has reduced daytime purchases from the grid, while many consumers return to the system after sunset. Meanwhile, high tariffs encourage households and businesses to install batteries or captive alternatives, further reducing grid sales and spreading fixed costs over fewer units.
This cycle was highlighted in my earlier article, “Solar Policy Paradox,” which warned that penalising solar users without correcting wider sector inefficiencies would accelerate grid defection and increase pressure on the consumers who remain connected.
The proposed Sweet Hours Framework offers a direct response. It would establish a single, nationwide five-hour electricity window from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., when solar generation is generally strongest. Electricity consumed during this period would be supplied at a specially calculated Sweet Hours tariff designed to create productive demand and retain consumers on the grid.
The Sweet Hours Tariff
The Sweet Hours tariff should not be a small discount from the prevailing consumer tariff. It should reflect the actual economic value of electricity available during solar-rich hours.
For the purpose of the framework, the actual or incremental generation-cost component should be deemed equal to the rate paid for electricity exported by rooftop-solar prosumers. This may be fixed at approximately Rs 27–30 per unit, or at the officially notified prosumer export-purchase rate as revised from time to time.
The principle is straightforward. If the power system values a daytime solar unit at approximately Rs 27–30 when purchasing it from a prosumer, the same energy value should be used when selling electricity during the same solar-rich period. The consumer would additionally pay only the reasonable and efficient cost of transmitting and distributing that unit.
No capacity charges, taxes, duties, levies, surcharges, cross-subsidies or unrelated legacy power-sector costs should be imposed on electricity consumed during Sweet Hours.
This would not be a subsidy. Consumers would pay the recognised value of the energy together with the cost of its delivery. The power system would earn additional revenue from electricity that might otherwise remain unsold, while existing generation and network assets would be used more efficiently.
Replacing Peak and Off-Peak Tariffs
The present system was designed mainly to discourage consumption during evening peak hours. It is no longer fully aligned with an electricity market being transformed by rooftop solar, batteries, electric vehicles and flexible industrial demand.
Under the proposed framework, the Sweet Hours tariff would apply from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. During the remaining nineteen hours, consumers would pay a regular uniform tariff without a separate punitive peak-hours rate. As the maximum demand of electricity shall shift within these five peak production hours, and increasing storage capacity shall have first use after sunset, the objective of “peak hours” for containing electricity demand shall have been achieved automatically. The objective is to encourage the voluntary movement of flexible demand into the daytime window, not to penalise consumers whose essential electricity use occurs after sunset. Hence the “peak” and “off peak” tariffs shall become infructuous.
Economic Purpose
Sweet Hours could support industrial production, agricultural pumping, cold storage, commercial cooling, electric boilers, water treatment, battery charging, electric-vehicle charging and the scheduled operation of household appliances.
Industries could operate additional processes or shifts during the five-hour window. Farmers could substitute electric pumping for diesel-powered equipment. Commercial buildings could pre-cool their premises, while batteries and electric vehicles could be charged before evening demand increases.
The framework would create productive daytime electricity demand, improve utilisation of existing generation and network capacity, reduce dependence on imported fuels, support industry and agriculture, and slow the migration of consumers away from the grid.
The market for already imported solar penal and accessories shall get reassurance and foreign exchange already spent on import of huge amount of solar systems shall be enter into economic activity.
It would also extend the benefits of solarisation to tenants, small businesses and households that cannot afford or install their own rooftop-solar systems.
The Australian Precedent
Australia introduced the regulated Solar Sharer Offer from 1 July 2026. Eligible households in New South Wales, South East Queensland and South Australia can receive three hours of free electricity during the middle of the day, whether or not they own rooftop solar.
The offer requires a smart meter and permits up to 24 kWh of free daily use during the notified window. Its stated purposes include sharing the benefits of abundant renewable energy and encouraging consumers to move demand away from expensive evening periods.
Australia therefore validates the central Sweet Hours principle: free electricity should encourage consumption when solar energy is abundant.
Pakistan should adopt this principle but not necessarily Australia’s complete tariff structure. Instead of free electricity followed by elevated time-of-use rates, Pakistan should charge the solar-export benchmark plus efficient transmission and distribution cost during Sweet Hours and maintain a fair uniform tariff during the remaining hours.
Policy Foundation and Implementation
The proposal also develops the argument advanced in my article “Eclipsing the Sun Yet Increasing Economic Heat,” which called for intelligent tariff design and the productive use of daytime electricity rather than policies intended to suppress solarisation.
NEPRA should initially introduce Sweet Hours through pilots on selected industrial, commercial and agricultural feeders equipped with smart meters.
The pilots should measure additional electricity sales, industrial and agricultural output, displacement of imported fuels, reduction in evening demand, network utilisation and financial contribution to the power system.
Following independent evaluation, the tariff could be extended nationwide. The solar-export benchmark and transmission and distribution charge should be transparently notified and periodically reviewed.
Conclusion
Sweet Hours is a single and practical tariff reform: electricity supplied from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the solar-export purchase benchmark (approximately Rs 27–30 per unit) plus efficient transmission and distribution cost, with no capacity charges, taxes, levies or surcharges.
It would replace the outdated peak and off-peak tariff structure, create productive daytime demand and give consumers a genuine economic reason to remain connected to the grid.
Pakistan already possesses abundant sunlight and substantial electricity infrastructure. Sweet Hours would provide the tariff intelligence needed to convert these resources into production, employment, energy security and economic growth. ( Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily the WNAM )
