Electricity Bills in Pakistan

How Pakistan's distribution companies came to exist

In 1998 the Government of Pakistan unbundled WAPDA's power wing into separate generation, transmission and distribution companies under the 1994 Power Policy. The intent was to replace a single centralised monopoly with a structure that carried commercial discipline and local accountability.

That reform produced eleven regional distribution companies. Each inherited the network and consumer base of what had been a WAPDA circle, and each has operated since as an independent, NEPRA-licensed company. Two more were added later: TESCO, created after the former FATA districts merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018, and HAZECO, carved out of PESCO's territory to give the Hazara division its own management. Karachi sits outside this structure entirely, served by K-Electric, which has run continuously since 1913 and was privatised in 2005.

How electricity actually reaches your meter

With the sole exception of K-Electric, no distribution company generates its own electricity. They distribute only, buying power centrally through CPPA-G, which pools generation from across the country. This is why domestic slab rates are identical from one company to the next — tariffs are set by NEPRA, not by your local company.

1. 1

   Generation

   Hydro, thermal and independent power producers across the country generate electricity.

2. 2

   Central purchase (CPPA-G)

   The Central Power Purchasing Agency buys that generation and sells it on to the distribution companies.

3. 3

   Transmission (NTDC)

   The high-voltage transmission network carries it to grid stations nationwide.

4. 4

   Distribution (your DISCO)

   Grid stations step the voltage down, 11kV feeders carry it out to neighbourhoods, and local transformers bring it to the 400V/230V used in homes and businesses.

5. 5

   Billing (PITC)

   All eleven WAPDA-descended companies bill through one shared government system run by PITC — which is why a single reference number works across all of them. K-Electric runs its own separate portal.

What T&D losses are, and why they show up on your bill

Transmission and distribution losses are the electricity that enters a company's network but is never billed. Part is technical — ageing conductors and overloaded transformers waste power as heat — and part is non-technical, meaning theft and unbilled consumption.

NEPRA sets each company an allowed loss level and builds it into the tariff. Anything beyond that becomes the company's own shortfall, and ultimately feeds national circular debt. The practical consequence for consumers is that high-loss feeders see more load management, because supply hours are tied to how much of a feeder's power is actually paid for — and complaints about detection billing and estimated readings cluster in the same places.

Filing a complaint through CCMS

All eleven PITC-billed distribution companies share one complaint system: the Central Complaint Management System, or CCMS. It is the same shared infrastructure that handles their billing, which is why a single portal covers LESCO, GEPCO, FESCO, IESCO, PESCO, HAZECO, MEPCO, HESCO, SEPCO, QESCO and TESCO. K-Electric sits outside it and runs its own.

1. 1

   Find your account

   CCMS lets you search on any of three identifiers: your reference number, the contact number registered against the connection, or your CNIC. If the reference number is not to hand, the CNIC route usually works.

2. 2

   Supply your details

   Name, mobile in 923xxxxxxxxx format, CNIC, phone, email and address. A nearby landmark is also asked for, because field staff use it to locate the connection.

3. 3

   Classify the complaint

   You pick a nature and then a type. Getting this right matters: it decides which department the complaint is routed to, and a misclassified complaint sits in the wrong queue.

4. 4

   Keep the complaint number

   This is the single most important step. Escalation to the Citizen Portal, NEPRA or the Wafaqi Mohtasib all depend on being able to show a prior complaint reference.

How to escalate a complaint

The escalation ladder is the same regardless of which company supplies you, and each rung has its own clock. Always take a complaint number at the first step — later stages will ask for it.

1. 1

   Your distribution company (7 days)

   Call helpline 118 or visit your sub-division office. Get a complaint number.

2. 2

   Pakistan Citizen Portal — PMDU (15 days)

   If unresolved, escalate here. The complaint gets a tracking number and a fifteen-day resolution clock with government monitoring.

3. 3

   NEPRA Consumer Affairs Department

   The regulator's formal channel for billing disputes, tariff violations and systemic non-compliance. You will need your consumer reference number and the full history of the case.

4. 4

   Wafaqi Mohtasib (60 days)

   The federal ombudsman, required by law to decide within sixty days. You must show you already approached the company without relief. Hearings summon both you and a senior company representative.

Two things worth understanding before you dispute a bill

Most billing arguments in Pakistan come down to two mechanisms, and both are more counter-intuitive than they look. The first is the slab structure: crossing 200 units in a month does not price the excess higher, it re-prices the whole month, which is why a modest rise in consumption can produce an immoderate rise in the bill. The second is rooftop solar, where the rules changed outright in February 2026 — net metering was repealed and replaced with net billing, so exported units are no longer worth what imported ones cost.