ISLAMABAD: The government has sought recovery of around Rs34 billion, or Rs1.34 per unit, from consumers of Discos and K-Electric for the second quarter (April-June) of 2026, citing lower electricity consumption and a resultant increase in capacity charges, while industrial consumers have urged National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to defer the proposed increase.
Initially, Discos had sought an adjustment of Rs23.031 billion for the second quarter under QTA mechanism, but the amount was subsequently revised upward to Rs33.778 billion.
According to details presented before NEPRA, Rs46.280 billion relates to capacity charges, Rs4.936 billion to variable operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, while Rs13.517 billion is a negative adjustment on account of Use of System Charges (UoSC) and Market Operator Fee (MOF).
The adjustment also includes Rs3.040 billion on account of the impact of transmission and distribution losses on monthly Fuel Charges Adjustments (FCA), while Rs21.175 billion is a negative adjustment under the incremental consumption package. An amount of Rs14.211 billion has also been claimed on account of unrecovered costs of Small Power Producers (SPPs) and Captive Power Producers (CPPs).
On Wednesday during a public hearing r industrial sector representatives expressed serious concern over the proposed substantial increase in electricity prices under the quarterly tariff adjustment (QTA), saying the industry was unable to bear the additional burden.
Rehan Javed, Aamir Sheikh and Tanveer Barry conveyed their concerns to the Authority in the presence of representatives of the Ministry and Discos.
During the hearing, Peshawar Electric Power Company (Pesco) officials said electricity consumption had declined by around five per cent, mainly due to lower demand from domestic and commercial consumers.
The officials attributed the decline in domestic consumption partly to increasing solarisation, saying the shift towards solar power had reduced electricity demand from the residential sector.
NEPRA Member Maqsood Anwar Khan questioned Pesco officials whether the company was also resorting to load-shedding in areas with good-paying consumers.
“Yes, load-shedding is taking place,” the Pesco officials replied.
The NEPRA member observed that load-shedding was one of the reasons behind the decline in electricity sales.
The issue of increasing solarisation also came under discussion. Maqsood Anwar Khan said that had solar power not been available in the country, the situation regarding load-shedding would have been much worse.
“Because of solarisation, load-shedding is taking place during night-time rather than during the day,” he observed, adding that solarisation was helping the country during the ongoing war by reducing pressure on the power system.
The NEPRA member also rejected the argument that solarisation had caused a decline in electricity sales, saying it was incorrect to claim that solar power had adversely affected electricity sales.
READ ALSO: April-June 26: Discos seek positive adjustment to recover Rs23bn from consumers
He maintained that solarisation had not caused any significant impact on electricity sales.
Tanveer Barry, representing the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said capacity charges had increased from Rs36 billion in the first quarter to more than Rs50 billion, creating an additional burden of over Rs86 billion on consumers.
He said consumers would ultimately have to bear an additional burden of around Rs3.50 per unit.
Barry pointed out that eight Discos had reported positive capacity charges while three had reported negative capacity charges, and urged NEPRA to examine the figures carefully before taking any decision.
He questioned the rationale of charging consumers’ heavy capacity payments while Discos and K-Electric continued to resort to load-shedding.
He further argued that capacity payments were being made to old and inefficient power plants and that the increase in capacity payments was largely attributable to low or non-utilisation of power plants, which, he said, was in violation of the Economic Merit Order (EMO) and was resulting in an increase in the cost of electricity.
The industrial representatives urged NEPRA to scrutinise the proposed QTA in detail and defer the increase, warning that the additional cost would further undermine the competitiveness of the industrial sector.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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