Nepra raises electricity costs by Rs2.58 per unit

• Fuel adjustment adds Rs2. 06 per unit to Sept bills • 52 paisa per unit quarterly charge to continue through Nov; Rs45. 6bn additional burden imposed on users • Some relief for lifeline consumers, EV charging stations, prepaid users ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Friday notified about Rs46bn additional burden to electricity consumers by allowing Rs2. 06 per unit higher fuel costs in July and about 52 paise per unit additional quarterly adjustment for other charges for next three months. Consumers will bear the additional burden of about Rs3 per unit higher tariffs in September and then 52 paisa per unit for subsequent two months of October and November. The impact of Fuel Cost Adjustment (FCA) alone in July works out at about Rs33bn and has mainly emanated from expensive LNG purchases from the spot market. Another Rs12. 7bn Quarterly Tariff Adjustments (QTA) would be charged to consumers in three months. In a late night notification, the Nepra said it “has decided that positive FCA for July 2026 i. e. Rs2. 0581/kWh. .. shall be applicable to all the consumer categories of KE [K-Electric] and XWDISCOs except lifeline consumers, Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) and prepaid electricity consumers, of all categories who opted for pre-paid tariff”. The regulator, which has off late started issuing its decisions and notifications late in the night said the higher FCA would also be applicable to incremental consumption package consumers. Discos and KE are required to reflect the fuel charges adjustment in respect of July 2026 in the billing month of September 2026. Concurrently, Nepra allowed a 52-paisa per unit higher quarterly tariff adjustment to be recovered over a period of three months. “The positive quarterly adjustment of Rs0. 5194/kWh shall also be billed to all the consumers (of Discos as well as KE) except lifeline, incremental consumption package billed units and prepaid consumers, to be passed in a period of 03 months i. e. September, October and November 2026”, the Nepra order said. This will be applicable at the uniform rate to all. The decision to approve 52 paise will result in an overall positive adjustment of Rs12. 67bn on account of variation in capacity charges, variable O&M, use of system charges, market operator fee, FCA impact on T&D losses and recovery of PPP on incremental units for year’s 2nd quarter. The FCA is reviewed every month as per the tariff regime applicable across the country and is usually applicable to the consumer’s bills for one month only. Under the tariff mechanism, changes in fuel cost are passed on to consumers only on monthly basis through automatic mechanism while quarterly tariff adjustments on account of variation in power purchase price, capacity cha­rges, variable operation and maintenance costs, use of system charges and including impact of transmission and distribution losses are built in the base tariff by the federal government. Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2026

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