Tariff Guide
Slab Benefit and Slab Jump: How Pakistan's Tariff Slabs Actually Work
Most explanations of Pakistan's electricity slabs collapse two different mechanisms into one and get the story half wrong. Some slab crossings only tax the units above the threshold, exactly like a progressive income tax bracket. One specific crossing does the opposite and recalculates your entire bill. This page separates the two with real numbers.
- Worked, calculator-verified examples for both the benefit and the jump
- The exact point in the tariff where the progressive logic stops applying
- A side-by-side comparison so you can tell which one is happening to your bill
Pakistan's domestic electricity tariff has two layers, and they behave completely differently. The first layer is the slabs inside each rate table, protected or non-protected, where usage above a threshold is billed at a higher rate only for the units above that threshold, the same principle as gas or income tax. The second layer is the boundary between the protected and non-protected tables themselves, at 200 units, which is not a slab at all in that sense; it's a category switch, and crossing it re-bills every unit in the month, not just the units past 200. Conflating the two is where most confusion, and most of the shock people describe, comes from.
Tariff Guide
The Slab Benefit: Progressive Billing Within a Category
Within the protected table and within the non-protected table, Pakistan's tariff works exactly like most people assume a slab system should: only the units inside each band are billed at that band's rate.
Worked example, inside the protected table
A household using 90 units, all within the first 100-unit protected slab, pays an estimated Rs 1,397 including fixed charge, TV fee, and GST. A household using 150 units, 67% more, pays the first 100 units at the same rate and only the remaining 50 at the higher 101-200 rate, for an estimated Rs 2,407, a 72% increase that tracks the extra usage. No cliff, no jump, just more units at the rate that applies to them.
Worked example, inside the non-protected table
The same logic holds above 200 units. A non-protected household using 250 units pays an estimated Rs 8,526. One using 350 units, crossing the internal 300-unit slab along the way, pays an estimated Rs 12,720, a 49% increase for 40% more usage. The 300-unit line inside the non-protected table behaves like an ordinary slab, not a category switch.
These figures use the same NEPRA slab rates and formula as the electricity bill calculator on this site, so you can check any usage level yourself.
The Slab Jump: What Happens at 200 Units
The one crossing that does not follow the pattern above is the line between protected and non-protected. There, the entire month's energy charge is recalculated on a different table, not just the units past 200.
Worked example, across the 200-unit line
A household using 190 units stays in the protected table and pays an estimated Rs 3,021. The same household using 210 units, just 20 units more, is billed entirely on the non-protected table instead, for an estimated Rs 6,963, more than double, for 20 extra units. Compare that to the 60-unit jump from 90 to 150 units above, which raised the bill by a proportional 72%, not 130%.
The reason is structural, not a rounding effect: protected and non-protected are two separate rate tables with two separate fixed charges, and which one applies is decided once, by your total for the month, before any slab math runs inside it. There is no partial credit for the first 200 units once you're over the line, unlike the internal slabs, which do carry that credit forward.
Tariff Guide
Slab Benefit vs Slab Jump, Side by Side
| Slab benefit | Slab jump | |
|---|---|---|
| What triggers it | Crossing an internal slab threshold (100, 300, 400, 500, 600 units) | Crossing from 200 to 201 units, the protected/non-protected line |
| What gets re-billed | Only the units above the threshold, at the new rate | Every unit in the month, on an entirely different table |
| Typical bill impact | Proportional to the extra usage | Can roughly double the bill for a small increase in units |
| Fixed charge | Unchanged within the same category | Also jumps, from Rs 200-300 to Rs 400 |
The Misconception Worth Correcting
A common belief is that any extra unit in Pakistan pushes your whole bill to a higher rate, full stop. That's only true at the single 200-unit boundary. Going from 95 to 105 units, or from 480 to 520, follows the ordinary progressive logic and only costs you the difference for the extra units. It's specifically the protected-to-non-protected line that behaves the way people fear, which is exactly why it deserves its own name and its own page rather than being lumped in with every other slab on the tariff.
Tariff Guide
Slab Benefit and Slab Jump FAQs
What is the slab benefit in an electricity bill?
It's the standard progressive billing rule: when your usage crosses an internal slab threshold, only the units above that threshold are billed at the higher rate, the units below it stay at the lower rate they already earned. It applies to every slab boundary except the 200-unit protected/non-protected line.
What is a slab jump in Pakistan's electricity tariff?
The specific effect of crossing from 200 units into non-protected territory, which recalculates the entire month's energy charge on the non-protected table instead of giving a slab benefit for the first 200 units.
Why did my bill more than double for a small usage increase?
Almost certainly because your units crossed from 200 or below to 201 or above, moving your whole bill from the protected table to the non-protected one. Check your units against 200 first before assuming a meter or billing error.
Does every extra unit push me to a higher rate?
No. Within the protected table and within the non-protected table, extra units are billed progressively, exactly like income tax brackets, so a few extra units cost only a little more. Only the 200-unit category boundary behaves differently.
Is the slab jump the same as the Fuel Price Adjustment?
No, they're unrelated. The slab jump is about which base rate table your energy charge is billed on. FPA is a separate monthly surcharge added on top of whichever table applies, for a different reason entirely.
How much extra does crossing 200 units actually cost?
In a worked example on this page, 190 units comes to an estimated Rs 3,021 and 210 units to an estimated Rs 6,963, more than double for 20 extra units. The exact gap depends on your usage level and current rates; use the electricity bill calculator for your own numbers.
Does the slab jump reset every month?
The bill itself is recalculated fresh each month based on that month's units, but crossing 200 units can also affect your protected status for months afterward. See the protected vs unprotected consumer page for that separate six-month effect.
Is this how gas slabs work too?
Gas slabs in Pakistan are fully progressive within each consumer category, similar to the slab benefit described here, without an equivalent hard category cliff at a single volume threshold the way electricity has at 200 units.
Is this an official NEPRA explanation?
No. This page explains the mechanics using NEPRA's published domestic tariff structure and the same formula as this site's electricity bill calculator. Your official bill is the authoritative figure for what you owe.
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Related Tariff Guides
See who counts as protected, or calculate your own bill with these exact rates.