MEPCO Fuel & Quarterly Adjustments: This Month’s Rates

Your units barely moved, but the bill went up. Almost always, the reason is an adjustment: a per-unit charge NEPRA adds on top of the base tariff, for fuel burned two months ago or for costs settled each quarter. This page tracks those charges as they land, month by month, with the decision behind each one.

On September 2026 bills

At 300 units, that’s about Rs 617 for fuel and Rs 156 for the quarterly charge, before GST. Neither is a permanent rate rise.

Not charged to everyone. Lifeline consumers, EV charging stations and anyone on the prepaid tariff are exempt from the fuel adjustment. The quarterly charge skips lifeline users, prepaid consumers and units billed under the Incremental Consumption Package.

Why July’s fuel is on a September bill

This trips up nearly everyone. The fuel adjustment always runs about two months behind, and the reason is the process, not a delay by MEPCO.

Every month NEPRA sets a reference fuel cost, the price it assumes when fixing your tariff. Actual generation costs then come in higher or lower, usually because of RLNG prices and which plants ran. CPPA-G, which buys power for the distribution companies, files the gap with NEPRA. NEPRA holds a public hearing, examines the claim, then notifies a figure.

For July’s costs, that cycle finished in early September, so the charge appears on September bills.

One detail almost no one mentions: the adjustment is worked out on the units you were billed in the consumption month, not the month it shows up. So don’t assume your September units times the rate. Check the FPA line printed on your own bill; the bill calculator uses the same figures if you want to test it against your usage.

NEPRA rarely grants what’s asked

Worth knowing when you see a headline number: the regulator routinely cuts the request.

For June’s fuel costs, CPPA-G asked for Rs 1.20 per unit, based on an actual fuel cost of Rs 8.9138 against a reference of Rs 7.7138. NEPRA examined the filing, put the real fuel component at Rs 8.4641, and approved Rs 0.7503 instead. It also questioned Rs 4.9 billion in partial loading charges, money paid to plants kept ready but not running at full output.

So the figure on your bill is the reviewed one, not the one the companies wanted.

The record so far

Quarterly adjustments:

That swing explains a lot. Through the summer, a Rs 1.99 per-unit credit was quietly lowering bills. It ended in August, and September replaced it with a charge. Even with no change in usage, that’s a swing of about Rs 2.51 per unit between an August and a September bill, on top of the higher fuel figure. If your bill jumped and you couldn’t see why, this is usually it.

Reading it on your own bill

Open your bill and find the charges block. The fuel adjustment appears on its own line, separate from your energy charge. Multiply the rate above by the relevant units and the figure should be close.

Three things to check before assuming an error:

• GST applies on top of both adjustments, so the real impact is higher than the per-unit rate suggests.
• If your bill was issued before NEPRA’s notification, the charge may land on next month’s bill instead.
• Lifeline and prepaid consumers should see no fuel adjustment at all. If yours shows one, that’s worth raising with MEPCO.

What’s coming?

The quarterly charge of Rs 0.5194 stays on October and November bills, then a fresh quarterly figure is set for the December cycle. A new fuel adjustment is notified roughly every month, so October bills will carry August’s fuel costs at a rate NEPRA sets in late September.

Separately, the base tariff itself is due for its annual reset by 15 January 2027, and a review petition against the 2026 per-kilowatt fixed charges is still pending at NEPRA. Those change the underlying rates rather than adding a temporary line.

This page is updated each billing cycle as NEPRA notifies new figures.

Frequently asked questions