Electricity Tariff May Rise by Rs1.74 per Unit in June

Electricity consumers across Pakistan may face another increase in their June bills after the Central Power Purchasing Agency sought recovery of higher fuel costs from the public. The matter came before the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority in Islamabad, where officials reviewed a proposed fuel cost adjustment of nearly Rs1.74 per unit.

The request is tied to electricity generated and supplied during April, when actual fuel expenses rose above the reference price used for tariff calculations. The CPPA told the regulator that the reference fuel cost had been fixed at Rs8.25 per unit, while the actual cost rose to almost Rs9.98 per unit, creating a recovery gap of more than Rs16 billion.

A key factor behind the increase was disruption in imported fuel supplies linked to the US-Iran conflict, which affected liquefied natural gas availability and pushed the system toward more expensive generation choices. Officials also cited transmission limitations that made it difficult to move cheaper electricity from Sindh to areas in the north where demand pressures were higher.

CPPA Chief Executive Rehan Akhtar informed the hearing that the government tried to reduce the impact by managing load and limiting the use of furnace oil and diesel-based power generation. He also said special arrangements for LNG imports helped contain the proposed adjustment, preventing a sharper increase in consumer bills.

The hearing also brought attention to operational issues in the power sector, including reduced availability of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant Unit-2. Officials said forced outages at the plant added pressure to the fuel adjustment, while past claims linked to the facility also became part of the tariff calculation.

The proposed increase comes at a difficult time for households and businesses already dealing with inflation, high utility bills and repeated changes in energy pricing. A per-unit increase may look modest on paper, but for families using hundreds of units a month, the cumulative impact can deepen pressure on monthly budgets.

Industrial consumers also raised concerns during the proceedings, saying existing tariff packages had not delivered benefits evenly across the business community. Power consumption data showed a broad decline in demand across several categories, while industrial use rose, partly because gas disconnections for captive plants pushed more industries toward the grid.

Nepra also took up complaints about excessive loadshedding in Karachi during hot weather and asked K-Electric to submit a detailed report. The regulator noted that complaints were emerging from both high-loss and low-loss areas, raising questions about schedule enforcement and service quality.

The regulator is expected to issue a final decision after examining the CPPA request and related submissions. If approved, the fuel cost adjustment will appear in upcoming bills, adding another energy-sector burden at a time when the government is under pressure to balance fiscal discipline, public relief and power-sector recoveries.