The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has approved a positive fuel cost adjustment (FCA) of Rs1.1086 per kilowatt-hour for electricity consumed in August 2026, which will be reflected in consumers’ October 2026 bills.
According to a notification, the adjustment will apply to consumers of K-Electric and ex-Wapda distribution companies (XWDISCOs), except lifeline consumers, electric vehicle charging stations and prepaid electricity consumers who opted for the prepaid tariff.
The adjustment will also apply to consumers covered under the incremental consumption package.
Nepra directed K-Electric and the distribution companies to incorporate the August 2026 FCA into bills issued in October 2026.
The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) had reported that the average actual fuel cost for August stood at Rs8.8265 per kWh, compared with the reference fuel cost of Rs7.0998 per kWh approved under the applicable consumer-end tariff. It had therefore sought an additional FCA of Rs1.73 per unit.
After making adjustments, however, Nepra calculated the actual fuel component at Rs8.2084 per kWh and approved an additional FCA of Rs1.11 per unit, lower than the amount requested by the CPPA.
The increase in fuel costs during August was attributed to higher reliance on expensive spot-market RLNG imports after contracted supplies from Qatar remained under force majeure. Increased coal imports and lower-than-expected generation from hydropower and nuclear plants also contributed to the higher costs.
Hydropower had been projected to account for around 41pc of total electricity generation, but its share remained slightly below 38pc. Nuclear generation was estimated at 16.4pc but fell to around 10pc following an outage at Karachi’s nuclear power plants.
As a result, imported coal-based generation increased to 15.6pc, compared with the originally projected 7.4pc.
Hydropower carries no fuel cost, while the average fuel cost of nuclear generation rose to Rs3.15 per unit from the estimated Rs2.5 per unit because of lower utilisation.
Imported coal-based generation cost around Rs17 per unit, while generation using local coal cost approximately Rs5.5 per unit.
RLNG-based generation was significantly more expensive at Rs45.93 per unit, exceeding the Rs45.25 per unit cost of furnace-oil-based generation. The latter figure also included a petroleum levy of Rs73,000 per tonne.
The FCA is reviewed every month under the country’s electricity tariff mechanism and is generally passed on to consumers for a single billing month.
Under the existing system, monthly changes in fuel costs are automatically passed through to consumers. Quarterly tariff adjustments covering variations in power purchase prices, capacity charges, variable operation and maintenance costs, and use-of-system charges, including transmission and distribution losses, are incorporated into the base tariff by the federal government.
