The system size, what it cost per kilowatt, your bill and your expected saving: how many years until the system has paid for itself, and what it saves over 10 and 25 years. Reviewed 6 October 2026.
Simple payback
2 years 8 months
5 kW · PKR 700,000 installed
Cost against savings, as if paid in cash; financing is not included. In year one the saving covers 64% of the bill.
Simple payback: cost divided by savings. Financing appears only on the instalment line.
How the payback is worked out
The installed cost is the size times the price per kW you picked. The saving you enter is year one; each later year it is multiplied by one plus the tariff rise and by one minus 1% for ageing panels. The payback is the month in which the running total of savings first reaches the cost.
The prefilled saving is what the size calculator predicts for that system in Lahore: generation at 124 units a month per kW, 60% used as it is made and valued at the household's marginal tariff with this month's adjustments and taxes, 40% exported at the National Average Energy Purchase Price of Rs 8.13. Karachi and Quetta make more per kW; Peshawar and Faisalabad slightly less. The size calculator shows the figure for your city and your self-use share, and its link brings it here.
The bill before solar is used for one thing: the share of it the first year's saving covers. Fixed charges and the TV fee stay on the bill whatever you install, so the share is below 100% even when the array makes every unit you use.
Why payback is longer than it was in 2025
Until 9 February 2026 every exported unit cancelled an imported one, so a system could be sized to the whole bill and paid back on the whole bill. NEPRA's Prosumer Regulations 2026 price the two separately: imports at your tariff, exports at Rs 8.13. The saving now depends on how much solar you use as it is made, which is why the self-use share, not the price per watt, decides the payback. An existing net-metering agreement keeps its old terms until it expires.
What this calculator cannot know
Your real saving. It depends on shading, orientation and when you use power. The prefill is a Lahore average at 60% self-use.
Future tariffs. The chips are scenarios. A base tariff change in January 2027 or a new surcharge moves every year's figure.
Maintenance. Cleaning, a string inverter around year 10 to 12, and any battery replacement on a hybrid system are left out.
What you would have done with the money. Simple payback ignores the return the cash could earn elsewhere; a bank deposit or gold would be the comparison.
How long does a 5 kW solar system take to pay back in Pakistan?
About 2 years 8 months on the defaults: PKR 700,000 installed at PKR 140,000 per kW, saving PKR 21,700 a month in year one, with tariffs rising 5% a year and output falling 1% a year. With no tariff inflation it is 2 years 9 months. Installers quoting "three to five years" are in the same range; the difference is how much of the solar you use yourself.
Why does the saving matter more than the system price?
Because payback is cost divided by saving, and the saving swings far more than the cost. Under net billing a unit you use as it is made saves your full tariff, over Rs 50 for a 600-unit home with this month's adjustments and taxes, while a unit you export earns Rs 8.13. A home that uses 80% of its solar in daylight pays back almost twice as fast as one that uses 40%. The saving box is prefilled from the size calculator's logic for Lahore at 60% self-use; put your own figure in.
What does tariff inflation do to the payback?
It shortens it, because every unit you avoid buying is worth more each year. Residential tariffs in Pakistan have risen most years, so 5 to 10% is a reasonable range; 0% is the cautious case. The export credit is held flat because NEPRA sets it separately, and the fixed charges on your bill are left out because solar does not remove them.
Does this include the cost of financing?
No. The payback is simple: installed cost against the savings it produces, as if you paid cash on day one. The Oraan line at the end shows the same cost on a 10-month or 5-month plan, which includes Oraan's fixed service charge; compare that instalment with the monthly saving. For bank solar finance, with its own charges, use the solar financing calculator.
What is the total saved over 25 years?
On the default 5 kW system it is PKR 11,565,315, against PKR 700,000 spent, after 1% a year of panel ageing and 5% a year of tariff rises. That assumes no inverter replacement, which usually comes once in that span at a few percent of the system cost, and no change to the net-billing rate, which NEPRA can revise by notification.
