Solar prosumageis receiving much attention globally as a resource that can facilitate the development of a more sustainable and climate-friendly power generation. With major technological breakthroughs, today it has not only made possible engagement of end-users directly in generation but also has broken through the cost barrier—currently emerging as the most economically efficient resource of power procurement in the country. Why should Pakistan promote net-metering growth?It is very important to understand here that for Pakistan, net-metering does not offer an ‘irresistible alternative’ for advancing renewable energy but a ‘necessary prescription for the ailing power sector’—a much overlooked discourse.After decades of inefficiencies which includes reliance on the expensive and imported fuels, corruption, substantial distribution losses and overall the interlinked dilemma of cyclical financial arrears—not to overlook the recently ballooning capacity payment charges—decentralizedelectrification has opened avenue to reconfigure the traditional paradigm. Alongside, thespatial injustices and frustration with the centralized energy sector—rooted in unreliable supply and inadequate access—has already instilled large scale momentum toward alternative backup systems. An estimated 65% of end-users in Pakistan arealready relying on some kind of back-up system due to unreliable supply.In conjunction, the context/country-specific conditions in terms of ideal solar irradiance in most part of the region, physical landscape and free rooftop spaces, huge number of end-users—further align with the desirability of solarenergy adoption among general populace. For Pakistan, net-metering does not offer only an ‘irresistible alternative’ for advancing renewable energy but a ‘necessary prescription’ for addressing longstanding challenges in the power sector’—a much overlooked discourse Decentralized energy has therefore instilled renewed hope for a more sustainable trajectory in Pakistan. A solar prosumerism revolution (if it happens) would help not in meeting the ambitious renewable energy target as set under the recently introduce Alternative Renewable energy Policy(AREP 2019), but would simultaneously help inaddressing the longstandingchallenges in the power sector. It could prove a package for the ailing power sector — including devolution of the capacity payment charges to end-users, gradual phase out of subsidies, less distribution losses (due to consumption near generation point), and reliance on indigenous clean resources with almost negligible variable cost of generation. Pakistan indeed falls among the few developing countries which allowed for on-site generation. This being stated, the overall capacity installed under net-metering so farremains insignificant—reaching merely 148 MW in the past 5 years—contrasting quite poorly withIndia where rooftop solar has crossed 5 GW. Also, a strong geographic uneven distribution both in terms of issued licenses and installed capacity exist across the DISCOs wherein more than 70% of the growth is concentrated in three major utilities namely IESCO, LESCO and KE. In parallel certain utilities such as SEPCO, HESCO, QESCO, TESCO have not yet properly embraced the regulations wherein the latter has not issued a single license for net-metering. So despite the technology reaching economic and technical competitiveness; strong demand forces in the background; and overall the genuinely high potential, important barriers continue to obstruct its deployment. In the context, a recent study by Institute of Policy Studieson solar prosumage has connected some dots by conceptualizing the inertia. According to the study, the cumbersome application process, absence of online portal, strong inertia at DISCOs end, difficult access to finance, low trust in technology, awareness gap and overall lack of state-level enthusiasm in advancing net-metering has been collectively hindering the distributed generation drive. The real challenge remains to catalyze the prosumage drive by addressing the barriers— and not to sit and wait for it to happen on its own. All that is needed is an enabling environment and strong state-level enthusiasm to promote and advance the decentralized solar PV uptake. As a first step, the existingadministrative, contractual, and financing challenges needs to be addressed on priority basis. In parallel, explicit targets shall be set for rooftop solar and overall distributed generation. For reaching the set targets, a combination of approaches encompassing (but not restricted) tofacilitatingthe DISCOS, business model innovation, supportive policies, awareness programs should be introduced.If distributed generation is to become widely adopted,then the government should pull together and undertake a more proactive approach toward its diffusion.The sooner an intervention framework is designed and implemented, the more likely itis going tocatalyze the prosumage drive. The author is a researcher based at Institute of Policy Studies. She is also a PhD scholar at TU Berlin and contributor at Energy Democracy.