Nearly 1 in 4 Pakistani households now use solar for lighting

( ~25% use solar either as their main source or alongside the grid )

This is not a niche trend anymore. It’s a quiet solar revolution — and it looks very different across regions.

Where solar is highest
🔹 Rural Sindh & Rural Balochistan
Over half of households use solar (either solar-only or grid + solar).
In these areas, solar often replaces the grid, rather than supplementing it.
🔹 Rural KP
Strong hybrid adoption (grid + solar), reflecting unreliable supply rather than absence of connections.
Where solar is lowest
🔹 Urban Punjab & Islamabad
Grid electricity dominates (≈97%).
Solar use is minimal and largely backup, not primary.
What this tells us
⚡ Pakistan’s energy transition is bottom-up, not policy-led.
☀️ Solar grows fastest where the grid is weakest.
🏙️ Cities add solar for resilience; villages adopt it for survival.
This isn’t just an energy story — it’s about state reach, affordability, and household adaptation.
Solar is no longer “alternative energy” in Pakistan. In many rural areas, it is already the main utility.

Source : Pakistan Bureau of Statistics PSLM/ HIES 2025