October electricity bills: NEPRA approves Rs 1.11 a unit August FCA, lifeline exempt

Updated Thursday 8 October 2026, 7:00am PKT. NEPRA has approved a fuel charges adjustment (FCA) of Rs 1.1086 per unit for August 2026, and it goes on your October electricity bill. The regulator's decision, dated 7 October and notified as S.R.O. 1754(I)/2026, cuts the Rs 1.7267 the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA-G) asked for by about 62 paise a unit. It applies to every distribution company and to K-Electric customers in Karachi, with three exemptions: lifeline consumers, electric vehicle charging stations and prepaid meter consumers.

What Rs 1.11 a unit adds to your October bill

The FCA is charged flat on the units billed for August, not by slab. Before sales tax:

Sales tax is added on top of the bill, so a 500-unit house should expect about Rs 650 more in total. Against what CPPA wanted, the same 500-unit house saves about Rs 309 before tax. Put your own units into our electricity bill calculator to see the full bill.

The August FCA takes the place of the July FCA of Rs 2.06 a unit that was on September bills (our report), so the fuel line on your bill is about 95 paise a unit lower than last month, even though it is still a surcharge.

Who does not pay it

NEPRA's order (paragraph 21) says the adjustment applies to all consumer categories of the ex-WAPDA companies (LESCO, IESCO, FESCO, GEPCO, MEPCO, PESCO, HESCO, SEPCO, QESCO, TESCO, HAZECO) and K-Electric, except:

• Lifeline consumers
• Electric vehicle charging stations
• Prepaid electricity consumers of every category who opted for the prepaid tariff

It does apply to units billed under the government's incremental consumption package for industry.

Why NEPRA cut the claim

CPPA put August's actual fuel cost at Rs 8.8265 a unit against the Rs 7.0998 built into tariffs. NEPRA recalculated it at Rs 8.2084. The biggest change: it re-priced ten power plants at the fuel cost components it had already approved, chiefly the government-owned RLNG plants (NPPMCL's two plants, QATPL and Punjab Thermal). That took Rs 17.3 billion off the claim, Rs 15.7 billion of it at RLNG plants, in place of CPPA's own Rs 10.6 billion RLNG credit.

The underlying pressure was the generation mix CPPA presented: hydropower gave 37.8% of supply against 40.6% assumed, nuclear 10.2% against 16.4% (CHASNUPP-2 ran at about 80 MW because of technical faults, and KANUPP-3 only returned on 5 September), while imported coal rose to 15.6% against 7.4%. Total generation was 3.28% above the reference.

NEPRA also ordered CPPA to reconcile what it has been charging for electricity imported from Iran (58.9 million units in August at Rs 26.91 a unit).

When it shows up

NEPRA directs the companies to charge it in the October 2026 billing month. If your October bill was issued before the notification, the charge moves to the next month's bill instead, so check the FCA line on both.

What to do

The adjustment is fixed by what your meter read in August, so there is nothing to apply for. Check the units on your bill against your own reading; a wrong reading is the most common reason for an inflated bill, and our electricity units calculator helps you estimate what your appliances should use. Staying under a slab edge (200 or 300 units) still saves far more than the FCA costs.

Earlier, 30 September: NEPRA reserved its decision after the 29 September hearing on CPPA's Rs 1.73 per unit request. 25 September: CPPA filed the request.