Why is my electricity bill so high?
A Pakistani electricity bill that suddenly doubles almost always has one of six specific causes. Walk through them in order — the first that matches is usually the answer, and each has a concrete fix or dispute path.
The six causes, in order of frequency
Pakistan's residential tariff jumps in eight steps. Crossing a boundary (200, 300, 400 units) re-prices every unit at the new rate — a 199-unit bill can be 40% cheaper than a 201-unit one.
Protected vs unprotected explained →A per-unit charge — sometimes negative — reflecting the gap between planned and actual fuel cost. Billed two months late, it can add PKR 2-4 per unit in a bad month. Recent spikes have been the single biggest driver of bill shock.
See last 12 months of FPA →Fixed IPP payments Pakistan owes whether or not the plant runs. Now roughly 65-70% of wholesale generation cost. Baked into the base tariff — impossible to avoid, essential to understand.
How capacity charges work →If your connection is Time-of-Use (mostly industrial, commercial, and 3-phase residential above 5 kW), running heavy load between roughly 6 pm–10 pm costs 40-60% more per unit. Shifting even two hours out of peak trims the bill visibly.
Peak windows by DISCO →One month over 200 units drops you to the unprotected schedule for the next six months, adding roughly PKR 1,000-1,800/month at the same consumption. Six-month rolling test; no notice given.
Check your status →Digital meters occasionally over-record after a firmware update; analogue meters can run fast after a strong voltage spike. Compare your own reading on the bill date with the recorded reading — a >5% divergence is worth disputing.
How to read your bill →Worked example: how a small shift explodes the bill
A household in Lahore uses 195 units in April, 205 in May. The April bill charges every unit at the ≤200-unit protected/lower-unprotected rates — total roughly PKR 3,400 plus surcharges. The May bill re-prices all 205 units at the 201-300 slab (PKR 27.14/unit) — total roughly PKR 5,600. A 5% increase in consumption produced a 65% increase in the bill.
Add FPA of PKR 2.35/unit (April 2026's rate, billed in June), plus GST at 18% on the higher energy charge, and the June bill looks like a doubling with no explanation the household can see. This is why understanding the slab structure matters more than obsessing over any single appliance.
What to do this month
- Read your own meter on the bill date and compare with the billed units. Divergence >5% = meter dispute.
- Check the tariff line on the bill — the label should say Protected / A-1 / A-1(a) etc. Wrong label = written complaint.
- Look at the FPA line separately — a big FPA is a national policy issue, not your household.
- Target the top three loads — AC, geyser, iron. Shifting geyser to solar hours and running the iron before 6 pm cuts a typical bill by PKR 800-1,500.
- Model your solar payback with the new net-billing math before you commit — use our solar calculator.