NEPRA Approves Minor Hike in October Electricity Bills

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has approved a slight rise of Rs0.0796 per unit in electricity bills for October, impacting consumers of all distribution companies, including K-Electric. The hike falls under the monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for August 2025.

Power utilities had sought a larger increase of Rs0.19 per unit, but NEPRA approved a smaller adjustment to recover differences in generation costs. The revision will apply to all consumer categories except lifeline users, prepaid customers, and electric vehicle charging stations.

A technical member of NEPRA pointed out that inefficiencies in the power sector during August contributed to higher costs. The open-cycle operation of the Guddu 747MW plant alone added Rs956 million, while Part Load Adjustment Charges (PLAC) climbed to Rs3.9 billion.

System limitations and underutilization of the HVDC transmission system further strained the sector’s performance. In a dissenting note, the technical member criticized the decision to pass inefficiency-related costs from the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) onto already overburdened consumers.

As a result, NEPRA electricity bills will reflect a slight increase in the upcoming billing cycle, excluding the exempted categories.