MEPCO QTA Q3 2026: NEPRA Hearing and Your December Bill

Your November 2026 MEPCO bill is the last one carrying the current quarterly tariff adjustment of Rs0.5194 per unit. On 5 November 2026, NEPRA put up a fresh notice of hearing for the next one, covering July to September 2026. Whatever NEPRA decides on that request is the figure most likely to sit on your bill from December.

Here is what the notice covers, what you are paying right now, and what to watch over the next few weeks.

Quick facts

What NEPRA posted on 5 November

The notice is titled, in NEPRA’s words, a hearing regarding Quarterly Adjustments of XWDISCOs on account of Capacity Charges, Transmission Charges & MOF, Variable Operation & Maintenance Charges, Impact of Incremental Units and Impact of T&D Losses on FCA for the 3rd Quarter of CY 2026.

In plain terms, every distribution company, MEPCO among them, has worked out how far its real power purchase costs for July to September moved away from the costs already built into its tariff. NEPRA will now hear those claims in public. The hearing will be held at NEPRA Tower, Islamabad. NEPRA has allowed online participation through Zoom in its recent hearings as well, and the notice on its website gives the joining details.

Since the federal government’s uniform tariff policy, the rate NEPRA settles on is applied across the country, including to K-Electric consumers. So the MEPCO consumer in Multan, Bahawalpur or D.G. Khan pays the same per-unit QTA as a consumer in Lahore or Karachi.

QTA and FCA are not the same charge

Many consumers mix the two up because they appear next to each other on the bill.

• FCA (fuel charges adjustment) covers one month of fuel cost. It changes every month and usually lands on the bill two months after the fuel month.
• QTA (quarterly tariff adjustment) covers everything else in the power purchase price for a three-month period. That means capacity payments to power plants, transmission (use of system) charges and the market operator fee, variable operation and maintenance cost, the effect of distribution losses on fuel cost, and the effect of incremental (extra) units sold under the government’s package.

Capacity payments are usually the biggest piece. Power plants are paid for being available, whether or not their electricity is used. When people use less grid electricity, for example because more homes have shifted to solar, the same fixed payments get divided over fewer units, and the QTA tends to go up.

The Rs0.5194 you are paying right now

The charge on your September, October and November bills came from the April to June 2026 quarter. This is how it was decided:

• The distribution companies first sought Rs23.031 billion, then revised the claim upward to Rs33.778 billion.
• MEPCO’s own share of that request was Rs5.090 billion.
• NEPRA held the public hearing on 12 August 2026.
• NEPRA decided on 4 September 2026 and allowed Rs12,669 million, well below what was sought.
• It was notified as S.R.O. 1501(I)/2026 on 7 September 2026, at a uniform Rs0.5194 per kWh for September to November 2026.
• A request to spread the recovery over four months (to December) was turned down. NEPRA kept it to three months.

In the same decision, NEPRA told the distribution companies to file their quarterly requests immediately after a quarter closes, so these adjustments are not delayed. That is one reason the July–September notice has come out in early November.

Every QTA on bills in 2026 so far

The swing between the first two quarters shows why nobody can promise the direction of the next one. In the first quarter, consumers got close to Rs2 a unit back. In the second, they paid about 52 paisa extra.

Will December be higher or lower?

NEPRA has not said, and no final figure exists until it issues a decision. There are a few signals worth knowing, without reading too much into them:

• At the hearing on the July 2026 fuel charge, NEPRA was told that the QTA impact for July alone was initially negative, by about Rs0.38 per unit. Officials added that the full effect would only be known once data for all three months came in.
• CPPA-G’s September figures, presented at the fuel charge hearing, showed consumption up 7.3% in most categories. Only agriculture fell, by 6.7%. More units sold usually spreads capacity cost thinner, which tends to help the QTA. This is our reading of the data, not a NEPRA estimate.
• NEPRA has said it will apply the loss targets approved for FY 2026-27 when working out the third and fourth quarters. Where a company’s losses are above target, the extra cost is not supposed to be passed on.

So the honest answer today is that December’s QTA could come in as a small charge or as relief. Watch the hearing coverage, where the per-unit estimate is usually discussed openly.

How much Rs0.5194 adds to a bill

If you want to see what the current charge is costing you, multiply your billed units by 0.5194. The new QTA will work the same way once NEPRA sets the rate.

These figures are before sales tax and other duties, which are worked out on top of the bill amount, so the final effect on your bill is a little higher.

Who does not pay the QTA

Under NEPRA’s latest decision, the quarterly adjustment does not apply to:

• Lifeline consumers
• Prepaid consumers
• Units billed under the incremental consumption package (the special rate for extra industrial and agricultural use)

Everyone else, including protected domestic consumers above the lifeline slab, commercial, industrial and agricultural users, pays it on their billed units.

When the new rate could reach your bill

NEPRA follows roughly the same sequence each quarter: notice, public hearing, decision, Gazette notification, then billing. Looking at 2026 so far:

• Q1: notice on 6 May, hearing on 19 May, billed from June.
• Q2: hearing on 12 August, decision on 4 September, billed from September.
• Q3: notice on 5 November, public hearing at NEPRA Tower, Islamabad, decision pending.

If NEPRA keeps to this pace, the July–September adjustment would most likely be billed in December 2026, January and February 2027. NEPRA has also said in its last decision that if bills for a month are already printed before the notification, the adjustment can be recovered in the following month. So a late decision can push the first instalment to January.

There is a second change due around the same time. NEPRA is working on the 2027 power purchase price and MEPCO’s 2027 tariff indexation, which feed into the base tariff from January 2027. The QTA is a separate line and will continue alongside whatever new base tariff is set.

How to check the QTA on your own bill

Open your latest bill and look at the adjustment lines in the charges section, where the fuel adjustment and the quarterly adjustment are shown separately from the energy charges. If you do not have the paper copy, you can open it online through our mepco bill check page using the 14-digit reference number.

Compare your November bill with December’s when it arrives. If the quarterly adjustment line changes, that is the Q3 decision showing up.

Frequently asked questions

1. Is the QTA increase confirmed for December? No. NEPRA has only issued a notice of hearing. The rate, and whether it is a charge or a refund, will be known only after NEPRA’s decision is notified.
2. Why does MEPCO’s claim matter if the rate is uniform? NEPRA works out a company-wise figure first and then sets one uniform national rate. MEPCO is the country’s largest distribution company by consumers, so its claim carries real weight in the national total.
3. Will K-Electric consumers pay the same QTA? Yes. Under federal policy guidelines, the quarterly adjustment decided for the ex-WAPDA companies also applies to K-Electric consumers.
4. Can ordinary consumers take part in the hearing? Yes. NEPRA’s hearings are public, and anyone can send written comments or take part as a commentator. The notice on nepra.org.pk explains how to register and send comments before the hearing.
5. Does the QTA apply to the units I export from solar? The QTA is charged on units billed to you. How net billing works for solar users is a separate set of rules under NEPRA’s Prosumer Regulations.