Electricity consumers across Pakistan will face an additional financial burden in March after the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority approved higher fuel and tariff adjustments, increasing power rates by nearly Rs1.98 per unit.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) issued a late-night notification on Wednesday allowing a fuel cost adjustment of Rs1.63 per unit for January 2026 and additional quarterly charges of about 35 paisas per unit for the next three months.
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The combined adjustments are expected to impose an extra burden of around Rs23 billion on electricity consumers. Of this amount, about Rs14 billion will be recovered through the fuel cost adjustment (FCA) in March bills, while approximately Rs8.7 billion will be collected through the quarterly tariff adjustment (QTA) spread over the next three months.
According to Nepra, the positive fuel cost adjustment of Rs1.6274 per unit will apply to nearly all electricity consumers served by K-Electric and power distribution companies formerly under Wapda, except for lifeline consumers, electric vehicle charging stations, and prepaid electricity users who opted for prepaid tariffs.
The regulator directed power distribution companies and K-Electric to incorporate the January 2026 fuel adjustment into electricity bills issued in March.
Nepra noted that additional electricity supplied to K-Electric from the national grid had helped reduce the potential burden on consumers. The regulator said that if the utility had not received power from the national grid, the FCA alone could have increased tariffs by Rs1.50 per unit, while quarterly capacity charges might have added another Rs2.38 per unit. This would have resulted in a total increase of Rs3.88 per unit.
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The authority also highlighted that higher electricity consumption under the government’s incremental package led to the dispatch of marginal generation plants, contributing to the increased fuel cost adjustment. However, Nepra added that improved power sales could help recover capacity costs more efficiently and may lead to favourable tariff adjustments in the coming quarter.