Your MEPCO bill has more numbers on it than it needs to, and most of them scare people. This guide walks through every section on a Multan Electric Power Company bill in plain English so you know exactly what you are paying for — and where over-billing or slab-jumping might be hiding.
The header block
The top of every MEPCO bill carries five pieces of identity information. Read these first because they decide everything else on the page.
- Reference number — the 14-digit code at the top-left. It never changes as long as the connection stays in your name. Use it on this site, on JazzCash / Easypaisa, in every bank app, and when calling helpline 118. Save it in your phone as "Bijli Ref".
- Consumer ID — a 10-digit internal number. Either the reference number or the consumer ID fetches your bill on this site.
- Name and address — the connection is legally tied to the CNIC of the person listed here. If the name is wrong (previous owner, deceased relative), a name-change application at your MEPCO SDO fixes it and takes 30–45 days.
- Tariff — the pricing category. A-1a is residential (protected/unprotected), A-2 is commercial, B is industrial, D is agricultural tube-well, E is public lighting. A domestic connection accidentally billed under A-2 pays 20–30% more per unit, so verify this line every month.
- Sanctioned load — the maximum load (in kW) your meter is approved for. A typical domestic connection is sanctioned at 5 kW or 7 kW. Running heavy loads above this triggers a Maximum Demand Indicator (MDI) surcharge on future bills.
The reading block
The middle of the bill shows the previous meter reading, the current reading, and the difference — that difference is your units consumed for the month, measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh).
Domestic slabs jump at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700 units. Every unit above a slab costs more than the units below it. Two examples of why this matters:
- 199 units on the protected tariff might cost ~Rs. 2,400. Push to 201 units and the whole bill can re-price at the unprotected tariff — Rs. 4,400+ for the same electricity.
- 299 units on unprotected costs ~Rs. 8,700. 301 units costs ~Rs. 10,800 because units 201–300 re-price at the higher slab rate.
Track your daily reading (walk to the meter, note the number) and you'll never be surprised by a slab jump.
The charges block
Every domestic MEPCO bill has the same charge lines, in the same order.
- Cost of Electricity — units × per-unit slab rate. Biggest single number on the bill.
- Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA) — NEPRA-approved recovery of the difference between budgeted and actual fuel cost, applied two months later. See the dedicated FPA blog post for the full story.
- Quarterly Tariff Adjustment (QTA) — capacity payments and other fixed-cost adjustments approved by NEPRA every three months. Usually small (Rs. 0.50–2.00/unit) but adds up.
- Deferred amount — instalments of a large past adjustment spread across several bills, so the shock is distributed.
- Arrears — anything unpaid from the last bill, plus late-payment surcharge.
- Electricity Duty — provincial tax, ~1.5% of the cost of electricity.
- General Sales Tax (GST) — 18% on almost every taxable line above.
- PTV fee — Rs. 35 mandatory TV licence fee on every domestic bill. Non-negotiable.
- Income Tax — deducted at source for bills over certain thresholds (varies with filer/non-filer status).
The payable block
Two amounts at the bottom, and this is where mistakes cost real money.
- Payable within due date — the lower amount. Pay by this date.
- Payable after due date — includes a late-payment surcharge, usually 10% of the current month's cost of electricity. Miss the due date twice in a row and you're on the disconnection queue.
Extras and detection charges
Two lines that don't appear every month but can wreck a budget when they do.
- Detection bill — MEPCO's meter-audit team occasionally adds a "detection" amount for suspected under-billing on a faulty meter. Dispute it in writing at your local Customer Service Centre; ask for the calculation basis.
- Meter rent / service charge — small monthly fixed fees.
What to do if a line looks wrong
1. Fetch and print the bill from the search box at the top of this site. 2. Compare units, tariff and slab against your own meter reading and last month's bill. 3. Call 118 with the reference number. Note the complaint number. 4. If not resolved in 7 days, visit the nearest MEPCO Customer Service Centre with the printed bill. 5. Still unresolved after 15 days? File at nepra.org.pk (NEPRA Complaint Management System) — the regulator can order a correction.
Checking this month
Type your 14-digit reference number into the search box on the [MEPCO page](/mepco) and your latest bill loads live from PITC — the same data source MEPCO's own portal uses, but faster and cleaner, ready to print or save as PDF.