Pakistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, known as Nepra, announced that bulk power consumers will pay between 6.23 and 19.62 rupees per unit to use the national grid when buying electricity from private suppliers. The charges apply to customers of all distribution companies, including K-Electric, who take part in the new competitive electricity trading market.
The fees, called use-of-system charges, cover the cost of transmitting and distributing electricity, a fixed grid charge, and a cross-subsidy. They will be added on top of the price of electricity itself, which will be agreed between the private supplier and the consumer.
Under the Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market, consumers who join the upcoming 400-megawatt auction will pay the lower rates. A B-3 industrial consumer will pay 6.23 rupees per unit, and a B-4 industrial consumer will pay 9.09 rupees per unit. C-3 and C-2 single-point distribution consumers will pay between 14.95 and 19.62 rupees per unit, while A-2 and A-3 general supply consumers will pay 19.14 rupees per unit. Agricultural consumers will pay 6.72 rupees per unit. There are currently a little more than 3,000 bulk power consumers in the country.
Consumers who do not take part in the competitive auction will pay much higher rates, ranging from 19.17 to 32.56 rupees per unit depending on their category. In this group, B-3 consumers will pay 19.17 rupees per unit and B-4 consumers will pay 25.45 rupees per unit. C-2 and C-3 consumers will be charged 31.30 and 32.56 rupees per unit. A-2 and A-3 consumers will pay 32.08 rupees per unit, and agricultural consumers will pay 19.66 rupees per unit. All consumers in both groups will also pay a fixed grid charge of 1 rupee per kilowatt per month based on their sanctioned load.
The commercial operation date for the new market had already been set for Jan. 22, 2026, with the first auction originally planned for June. The auction was delayed because the grid-use charges had not yet been decided. Friday’s notification is meant to clear the way for the formal launch of the competitive wholesale electricity market.
The Independent System Operation, a new entity under the power division known as Ismo, is expected to auction 400 megawatts of electricity in the first phase within the next couple of months. The government has set aside 800 megawatts in total to be auctioned in two phases.
Nepra sent its decision to the government for uniform application after considering the views of the power division, Ismo, K-Electric, and bulk power consumers on how the charges should be calculated and settled.
The government has directed that the impact of differences between distribution companies will not fall only on wheeling consumers, and Nepra has circulated a draft plan for settling those differences among the parties involved.
Nepra said the main principle is that open-access consumers should pay the same charges as similar consumers who buy from suppliers of last resort. Based on the losses of each distribution company, Nepra set a uniform loss factor of 8.04% at the 11-kilovolt level and 1.51% at the 132-kilovolt level. Any extra charge needed to cover differences between companies will apply to all consumers, including open-access consumers, so that rates stay uniform.
The federal government had earlier approved guidelines for the competitive auction of 800 megawatts and for moving toward integrated energy planning across the country.
Under the plan, 800 megawatts of generation capacity will be sold through competitive auctions for five years, and the amount could grow after the initial trial if the government agrees.
Ismo will now hold the first 400-megawatt auction under a process Nepra approved a few days ago, and it is expected to announce the auction calendar and detailed procedure soon.
There will be no upper or lower limit on bids, and the winning prices will stay fixed for one year. Under timelines set with the International Monetary Fund, approval of the auction guidelines had been targeted for December, and Nepra’s approval of uniform wheeling charges was due in January 2026.
