Consumers to bear Rs23bn extra burden

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday notified about Rs23 billion in additional burden on electricity consumers by allowing Rs1.63 per unit higher fuel costs in March and about 35 paise per unit other charges for the next three months.

As such, consumers will bear an additional burden of about Rs1.98 per unit in higher tariffs in March. The impact of the fuel cost adjustment (FCA) alone for March works out at around Rs14bn, while Rs8.7bn under the quarterly tariff adjustment (QTA) will be recovered over three months.

In a late-night notification, Nepra said it “has decided that positive fuel cost adjustment for January 2026, i.e. Rs1.6274/kWh… shall be applicable to all the consumer categories of KE (K-Electric) and XWDISCOs (power distribution companies previously part of Wapda) 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 lately started issuing its decisions and notifications late at night, said the higher FCA would also apply to incremental consumption package consumers. Distribution companies (Discos) and K-Electric are required to reflect the fuel charges adjustment for January 2026 in the billing month of March 2026.

The regulator said the supply of additional power from the national grid to K-Electric was having a positive impact for consumers. It said that if KE had not been provided electricity from the national grid, the cost for electricity consumers would have increased by Rs1.50 per unit on account of FCA and Rs2.38 per unit on account of quarterly capacity purchase price, resulting in a total increase in tariff of Rs3.88 per unit.

Nepra also noted that the additional drawal of more than 1,100 GWh under the incremental package had necessitated the dispatch of marginal generation plants, which consequently contributed to higher FCA adjustments. However, the regulator said the increase in overall sales was expected to improve capacity cost recovery, which may translate into favourable quarterly tariff adjustments at the end of the relevant quarter.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2026

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