Electricity bill calculator
Enter your monthly units to see roughly what a domestic bill would come to, how it breaks down, and, more useful than the total, which consumption band you are in and how close you are to the next one.
Enter your monthly units (kWh)
Use the “units consumed” or “units” line from a recent bill, or estimate total kWh for the month.
Estimated bill (PKR)
Rs 9,923.8
Band reached: 201–300 units. Every unit in the month is charged at this band's rate, not just the units above the threshold.
- Energy (single band)Rs 6,875
- Financing / FC-style per-unit charge (illustrative)Rs 875
- FPA-style (8% of energy)Rs 550
- Fixed (meter + TV fee, illustrative)Rs 110
- GST (18% — illustrative)Rs 1,513.8
On this page
The short version
- The total is illustrative. The band it puts you in, and the distance to the next boundary, are the parts worth acting on.
- Protected consumers are charged progressively. Everyone else pays one band's rate on every unit in the month.
- That is why a bill can nearly double on a few extra units. The boundary re-prices the whole month, not just the excess.
- Rates here are placeholders. Replace them mentally with the ones on your own bill, which are current and yours.
- For an actual amount, look up the actual bill. This tool is for planning a month that has not been billed yet.
What this estimate is
A model of how a domestic bill is assembled: units priced against consumption bands, a per-unit adjustment, fixed charges, then tax applied to the result. It is useful for three questions and not much else.
- What will this month cost? — while the month is still running and you can still influence it
- Which band am I in, and how close is the next? The single most actionable fact available before a bill is issued
- Where does the money go? The proportion that is energy versus adjustments, fixed charges and tax
Why it will not match your bill
Worth stating early and without hedging. Any calculator that claims to reproduce a Pakistani electricity bill exactly is overstating what it can know.
| Factor | Why it cannot be modelled |
|---|---|
| Current notified rates | Re-notified several times a year through base tariff, quarterly and monthly decisions. Any figure hard-coded here is a placeholder. |
| This month's fuel adjustment | Determined after the month closes, and applied at a uniform per-unit figure nobody can know in advance. |
| Your reading period | A 34-day period bills more than a 27-day one from identical daily use. The bill knows the dates; this does not. |
| Your exact tariff category | Single-phase, three-phase and Time-of-Use connections are billed on different schedules. |
| Your protected status | Computed from six months of your own meter history, which the model has no access to. |
| Arrears and instalments | Carried from earlier bills and specific to your account. |
| Provincial electricity duty | Set by the province the connection is in. |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Getting a useful number out of it
The estimate is only as good as the two inputs. Both can be taken directly off a recent bill in under a minute.
Take your units from a recent bill
The “units consumed” line. If you are estimating a month in progress, use the section below on working out your units mid-month instead of guessing.
Set protected or unprotected correctly
This matters more than any other input, because it changes not only the rate but the whole method of charging. Your bill carries the marker; if any month in the last six exceeded 200 units, you are unprotected.
Adjust the fuel adjustment percentage
Take the FPA line from your last bill, divide it by that bill's energy charge, and use the result. It will not be right for the coming month, nobody knows that yet, but it will be far closer than the default.
Read the band line, not just the total
The total carries all the uncertainty above. The band, and the distance to the next boundary, are structural and are the part you can actually use.
The band, and why it matters most
Domestic consumption is priced in bands that step up at 100, 200, 300 and 700 units. Which band a month lands in matters far more than most people expect, because of how the band is applied.
Protected consumersslab benefit
Charged progressively. The first block of units is priced at the lowest band's rate, the next block at the next, and so on. The way people generally assume all electricity billing works.
Everyone elseno slab benefit
Charged at the rate of the band the month's total reaches, on every unit. A 305-unit month is not 300 units at one rate plus five at another; it is 305 units at the higher rate.
This is the mechanism behind almost every “my bill doubled and I barely used more electricity” complaint, and it is why the calculator shows the band prominently rather than burying it in the breakdown.
The cost of crossing a boundary
For a consumer without slab benefit, the unit that tips a month into the next band is the most expensive unit of electricity they will ever buy, because it does not cost one unit's rate, it re-prices the month.
What a single unit can cost at a boundary
Enter a boundary figure into the calculator above and it will tell you what that next unit would add. On top of the arithmetic, crossing 200 units also removes protected status for the following six billing cycles, so the 201st unit of a protected household's month is costlier still.
- Month ends at 300 units300 × band rate
- Month ends at 301 units301 × higher band rate
- Electricity actually consumed1 extra unit
What the estimate assumes
Stated openly so you can judge how much to trust the number, and correct it where you know better.
- A domestic connection, on the standard residential schedule, with no Time-of-Use component
- Consumption bands stepping at 100, 200, 300 and 700 units, with slab benefit applied to protected consumers only
- A combined per-unit surcharge, a fixed charge covering meter rent and the licence fee, and tax applied to the subtotal after the adjustments
- Illustrative rupee rates that are placeholders for structure and are not current notified figures
Working out your units mid-month
An estimate for a month already billed is of limited use. An estimate for the month you are currently in is worth something, and it needs a meter reading rather than a guess.
Find your billing cycle dates
Printed on your last bill as the reading dates. Your month probably does not start on the 1st, and assuming it does is a common source of a badly wrong estimate.
Note the closing reading from that bill
This is your starting point for the current period. Digital and electromechanical meters both display it; on a digital meter it may cycle through several screens.
Read the meter today
Photograph it with the date. Subtract the previous closing reading to get units used so far this cycle.
Project to the end of the cycle
Divide by the days elapsed for a daily average, then multiply by the total days in the cycle. Put that figure into the calculator to see which band the month is heading for while there is still time to change it.
Where the units actually go
Reducing consumption sensibly requires knowing which loads matter. The arithmetic is simple: a device's power in watts, times hours used, divided by 1,000, gives units per day.
Converting watts into units
That single appliance is enough to move a household from a low band into a high one on its own, so cooling load, rather than lighting or charging, is what determines a summer bill.
- 1,500 W air conditioner × 8 hours12 units/day
- × 30 days360 units/month
What tends to dominate
Anything producing heat or motion continuously: air conditioning, water pumps, water heaters, irons and refrigeration. Anything electronic and small (phone chargers, routers, LED lighting) is almost never the explanation for a large bill, however many of them there are. Effort spent on the second category rarely repays itself.
Reducing a bill that is correct
If the bill is right and the consumption is real, only a few things move the number meaningfully. They are worth separating from the folklore.
| Action | Effect | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Staying under a band boundary | Large | Without slab benefit the whole month re-prices, so a few units either side of a threshold are worth far more than they cost. |
| Protecting protected status | Large, and lasting | One month above 200 units raises the following six. |
| Reducing air-conditioning hours or raising the set temperature | Large in summer | Cooling is usually the single biggest load on a domestic connection. |
| Servicing or replacing a failing compressor | Large where it applies | A failing refrigerator or air-conditioner compressor draws far more than a working one. |
| Reviewing sanctioned load | Moderate, and permanent | A capacity-based fixed charge for capacity you cannot use is paid every month. |
| Switching lighting to LED | Small | Real but minor next to cooling; worth doing, not worth expecting a transformed bill from. |
| Unplugging idle small electronics | Very small | Standby draw is genuine and tiny. It is not why a bill doubled. |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Questions people actually ask
Why does the estimate not match my actual bill?
Because several of the inputs are unknowable to a calculator. The notified rates change several times a year, this month's fuel adjustment is not determined until the month has closed, and your reading period, exact tariff category, protected status, arrears and provincial duty are all specific to your connection. Treat the total as an order of magnitude and the band it puts you in as the useful output.
Why are the rates in this calculator not the current ones?
Deliberately. Rates are re-notified several times a year, and a hard-coded table stops being correct without ever looking incorrect, which produces confident wrong expectations. The structure the calculator models. Where the bands fall, who gets slab benefit, the order charges are applied in — stays true between notifications, and your own bill carries the current rupee figures for your connection.
What is the difference between protected and unprotected in the calculator?
It changes the method, not just the rate. A protected consumer is charged progressively, each block of units at its own band's rate. A consumer who is not protected is charged at the rate of the band the month's total reaches, applied to every unit in the month. Selecting the wrong one will produce a badly wrong estimate, so check the marker on your bill.
How do I know whether I am protected?
Your bill carries the marker, and it is calculated rather than applied for: a domestic consumer qualifies by staying at or below 200 units in every one of the last six billing months. A single month above that removes it for the following six cycles, so a household can be unprotected in winter because of one hot month in summer.
Why does one more unit add so much to the estimate?
Because without slab benefit the boundary re-prices the entire month rather than just the additional unit. Ending a month at 301 units instead of 300 does not add one unit at the higher rate. It charges all 301 at it. The calculator flags this when your figure sits on a boundary, since it is the one thing you can still act on before the month closes.
What percentage should I enter for the fuel adjustment?
Take the FPA line from your most recent bill and divide it by that bill's energy charge. That gives a percentage grounded in your own recent history, which is closer than the default. It will still not be right for the coming month, because that figure has not been determined yet, but it is the best available approximation.
Can I use this to check whether my bill is wrong?
Only very roughly. A bill within a reasonable distance of the estimate is not evidence of anything either way. A bill several times the estimate is worth investigating, but investigate it by working down the bill itself rather than by trusting the model, starting with whether the units billed match the difference between the two printed meter readings.
Does the calculator work for a commercial or industrial connection?
No. It models the standard domestic residential schedule only. Commercial, general services, industrial, agricultural and Time-of-Use connections are billed on different schedules with different fixed charges, and some carry a maximum-demand component that has no equivalent here.
How do I convert an appliance's wattage into units?
Multiply the wattage by the hours it runs, then divide by 1,000, for units per day. A 1,500 W air conditioner running eight hours uses 12 units a day, or around 360 in a month, enough on its own to move a household between bands. This is why cooling load rather than lighting determines a summer bill.
Does unplugging chargers and idle electronics reduce my bill?
Measurably, but very little. Standby draw is real and small, and it is almost never the explanation for a bill that has risen sharply. Effort is better spent on the loads that produce heat or motion, cooling, water heating, pumps, irons and refrigeration, and on staying the right side of a band boundary.
Where these figures come from
- Band thresholds, the protected-consumer definition and the order in which charges are applied follow NEPRA's notified consumer tariff schedules for the ex-WAPDA distribution companies.
- Rupee rates in this tool are illustrative placeholders chosen to show structure. They are not current notified rates and should not be used as such.
- Appliance figures are worked from nameplate wattage and are arithmetic, not measurements of any particular device.
- CheckBills.pk is an independent service and is not NEPRA, PITC or a distribution company. This estimate has no official status.
Check any Pakistan DISCO electricity bill
Use your 14-digit reference number on the home checker, or jump straight to the DISCO that bills your address.