IESCO asks NEPRA for Rs 43.54 a unit in 2027, up 54% from Rs 28.20, before its sale

The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) has asked the power regulator to raise its average consumer-end tariff to Rs 43.54 per unit for calendar year 2027, from Rs 28.20 now. That is an increase of about Rs 15.34 a unit, or 54%. IESCO's chief executive, Engineer Chaudhry Khalid Mahmood, presented the petition at a NEPRA public hearing on Thursday, Business Recorder reported.

IESCO supplies Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal, and about 17% of its electricity goes to Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

What IESCO is asking for

• Average tariff for 2027: Rs 43.54 per unit, against Rs 28.20 today.
• Prior Year Adjustment (PYA): Rs 157.864 billion of past costs it wants recovered, including the cost of supplying relatively cheap electricity to AJ&K.
• Why now: IESCO is in the first phase of the government's privatisation programme, and the Privatisation Commission has told it to clean up its balance sheet before it is offered to buyers. Ten parties submitted expressions of interest for IESCO last month (our story).

What NEPRA said

NEPRA's Member (Tariff and Finance), Amina Ahmed, questioned clearing all the adjustments in one go and argued they should be spread over time. An intervener at the hearing, Amir Sheikh, said any cost of supplying AJ&K should be met by a government subsidy rather than by IESCO's other consumers.

Members also asked about IESCO's new smart (AMI) meters, which it is installing in parts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. NEPRA's Member (Technical) said they should go first where theft is highest; the CEO replied that city consumers were chosen because they use more sophisticated theft methods.

The same hearing took up petitions from HESCO and SEPCO. SEPCO's bill recovery was only 36% in 2025-26, against about 95% for the Punjab distribution companies, and a NEPRA member said SEPCO in its current state would struggle to find a buyer.

What it could mean for your bill

A petition is not a decision. NEPRA will rule on IESCO's numbers after scrutiny, and the federal government sets the tariff that finally appears on bills, so the Rs 43.54 figure does not automatically become what you pay. As an illustration only, at the average rates in the petition the energy cost of 200 units would rise from Rs 5,640 to Rs 8,708 a month before taxes and other charges.

To see what your own bill comes to under the current slabs, use our electricity bill calculator. You can download your latest bill with our IESCO bill check guide. Separately, the Power Division expects November bills to rise about Rs 2.56 a unit because of the September fuel adjustment (details).