Tariff Guide
TV Fee, GST, ET, and TRS on Your Electricity Bill
After the energy charge and FPA, four more lines usually stand between the subtotal and what you actually owe: the TV fee, GST, Electricity Duty, and TR Surcharge. None of them are optional, and none of them are related to how much power you used. Here's what each one funds and roughly how much it adds.
- Four separate charges, each explained on its own with what it funds
- Exact rates for the ones that are flat or fixed, like the TV fee and GST
- Where each line sits on a typical printed bill
1. TV Fee
The PTV Fee
A flat Rs 35 a month, collected by your DISCO on behalf of Pakistan Television Corporation, under a decades-old law that ties a TV licence fee to the electricity connection rather than to owning a television. It doesn't scale with usage and is charged even on a bill with very low or zero units; it's a fixed line, not a percentage.
Rs 35/month, flat, regardless of units
2. GST
General Sales Tax
GST is charged at 18% on domestic electricity, applied to the energy charge, the fixed charge, and the TV fee added together, the same combined base the site's electricity bill calculator uses. It is a federal tax collected through the bill on behalf of the government, not revenue the DISCO keeps.
18%, on energy + fixed charge + TV fee combined
3. Electricity Duty (ET)
Electricity Duty, Sometimes Shown as "ET"
A provincial levy on the energy charge, collected through the bill on the province's behalf rather than the federal government's. It's usually shown as "E.Duty" or abbreviated further to "ET" on a printed bill, and the exact rate can differ slightly by province, since electricity duty is a provincial subject rather than a nationally uniform one.
A small percentage of the energy charge, set provincially
4. TRS
TR Surcharge (Tariff Rationalization Surcharge)
NEPRA determines a different underlying tariff for each DISCO based on its actual cost of supply, since some companies serve harder, more expensive territory than others. The federal government then notifies one uniform, lower consumer-end tariff for every DISCO regardless. TRS is the mechanism that recovers the gap between what NEPRA determined and what the government actually notified, spread across all consumers rather than charged unevenly by DISCO.
Recovers the gap between NEPRA's tariff and the uniform notified tariff
Tariff Guide
Other Charges You Might Also See
Two more surcharges appear on some bills, less universally than the four above, worth naming so you recognise them if you see them.
FC Surcharge
The Financing Cost Surcharge, in place since 2015, funds debt-servicing on borrowing built up by the power sector, collected as a small per-unit charge.
Neelum-Jhelum Surcharge
A surcharge originally introduced to help finance the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project. Its status and rate have changed over the years as the project's own financing has evolved, so check your own bill rather than assuming a fixed figure.
Where Each Line Sits on the Bill
Printed bills vary slightly by DISCO, but the usual order runs: energy charge, fixed or meter rent charge, FPA, Electricity Duty, TRS and any other surcharges, then GST calculated on the combined subtotal, arriving at the payable total. If a line on your bill doesn't match one of the names on this page exactly, it is very likely one of these charges under a slightly different label your DISCO uses.
Tariff Guide
TV Fee, GST, ET, and TRS FAQs
What is the TV fee on an electricity bill?
A flat Rs 35 a month collected on behalf of Pakistan Television Corporation, charged to every domestic connection regardless of units used, under a long-standing law linking the fee to the electricity connection.
How much GST is charged on electricity in Pakistan?
18%, applied to the combined total of the energy charge, the fixed charge, and the TV fee. It's a federal tax collected through the bill, calculated the same way the site's electricity bill calculator does.
What does ET mean on an electricity bill?
ET is short for Electricity Duty, a provincial levy on the energy charge, sometimes printed as "E.Duty" instead. It funds provincial government revenue and its exact rate can vary slightly by province.
What is TRS on an electricity bill?
TR Surcharge, short for Tariff Rationalization Surcharge, recovers the difference between the tariff NEPRA determines a DISCO actually needs and the lower, uniform tariff the federal government notifies to consumers instead.
Why is my tariff uniform but I still see a TRS charge?
Because the uniform tariff you're billed and the tariff NEPRA calculated for your specific DISCO's real costs are two different numbers. TRS is exactly the gap between them, recovered separately so the headline tariff can stay the same across every DISCO.
Is Electricity Duty the same in every province?
Not necessarily. Electricity Duty is levied provincially, so the exact rate can differ slightly between provinces even though the underlying energy charge and federal taxes are uniform nationwide.
What is FC Surcharge?
Financing Cost Surcharge, a charge in place since 2015 that funds debt-servicing on power-sector borrowing, billed as a small additional per-unit amount alongside the other surcharges on this page.
Do these charges apply to every DISCO the same way?
GST and the TV fee are applied uniformly nationwide. Electricity Duty can vary slightly by province, and TRS reflects each DISCO's own cost gap, so its size isn't identical everywhere even though the mechanism is the same.
Are these charges included in the electricity bill calculator?
The TV fee and GST are, since they're fixed and predictable. Electricity Duty and TRS are not built into the calculator because their exact rates vary by province and by DISCO cost structure in ways a single national estimate can't capture accurately.
Tariff Guide
Related Tariff Guides
See the base energy charge these are added to, or the monthly FPA surcharge billed alongside them.