Check your MEPCO bill online

The fastest path is the form at the top of this page: enter the 14-digit reference number printed at the top-right of any recent MEPCO bill, and we fetch the bill in real time from bill.pitc.com.pk on our server. The HTML response from PITC is rendered inside a sandboxed iframe so you see exactly the same bill the post office delivers. The reference number is the only identifier needed — there is no login, no captcha, and no fee.

Method 1 — checkbillsonline.com (this page). Type the reference, click Check Bill, and the latest cycle's bill loads in 2-5 seconds. You can save the page as a PDF using your browser's print dialog (Ctrl/Cmd+P → Save as PDF). The PDF is identical in layout to the printed bill and is accepted by all Pakistani banks, NADRA, and visa-application centres as a proof of address.

Method 2 — bill.pitc.com.pk/mepcobill directly. The same PITC portal that we proxy. The advantage: PITC's portal includes ASP.NET viewstate stamps that mark the bill as a verified original, useful when you need a digitally-signed copy for legal purposes. The disadvantage: PITC's portal is occasionally slow during bill-cycle peaks (the 5th-10th and 25th-28th of each month) and the form layout has not been updated since 2018.

Method 3 — MEPCO mobile app. MEPCO publishes an official Android app under the publisher name "MEPCO Multan Electric Power Company" on Google Play. The app is the only channel where you can opt in to bill notifications by SMS (free) and PDF email (free). After a one-time OTP login with the mobile number registered to the connection, the app shows the current bill, the last six bills as a graph, and outage notices for your feeder. There is no official iOS app yet; iPhone users should bookmark this page or the PITC portal.

Method 4 — SMS to 8118. Send the text "MEPCO <reference-number>" (no spaces in the reference) to 8118. You receive a return SMS within 30 seconds with the bill amount, due date, and arrears. The cost is standard SMS (Rs 1-2 depending on operator). This is the only channel that works on a feature phone without an internet connection.

Method 5 — JazzCash, Easypaisa, NayaPay, and SadaPay apps. All four wallets accept MEPCO bill fetches under their respective "Pay Bills" → "Electricity" → "MEPCO" tile. Enter the reference, the bill loads in 3-5 seconds, and you can pay in the same screen. Wallet fees range from zero (UPI-style instant fund use) to Rs 25 (card-funded). The wallets are the fastest path from bill view to payment.

Method 6 — bank apps. Every major Pakistani bank — HBL, UBL, MCB, Allied, Faysal, Bank Alfalah, Meezan, Bank Al Habib, Bank Islami, Standard Chartered, Soneri, Askari, Summit, Silk, JS — has MEPCO bill fetching inside its mobile app. The flow is identical: Pay Bills → Electricity → MEPCO → enter reference. Bank channels carry no service charge and the payment settles instantly via 1Link.

Method 7 — physical counters. MEPCO accepts cash and pay-order payments at any of its 320+ subdivision and customer-service centres across southern Punjab, as well as at NBP, ABL, HBL, UBL, MCB branches authorised for utility-bill collection. Counter staff will print a duplicate bill for any reference on the spot — useful if your printed bill is damaged or lost. Carry your CNIC for the counter clerk to attach to the receipt.

Three further notes about the reference number itself. The MEPCO reference is 14 digits and is the same number that appears in every channel — there is no separate "customer ID" or "account number" for online lookups. The reference encodes your subdivision, feeder, and consumer index, but you do not need to decode it; PITC's database does that automatically. If your reference is on a damaged section of the bill and you cannot read all 14 digits, the easiest recovery is to visit your nearest MEPCO subdivision with your CNIC; they will print a fresh duplicate within five minutes.

A typical MEPCO bill carries about 16 line items, more than most international utilities because Pakistan's bill stacks regulatory levies, federal taxes, and adjustment surcharges on top of the per-unit energy charge. Reading them in order matters because some items are calculated on top of others — a 10% increase in the energy charge moves the GST, the financial cost surcharge, and several taxes upward by similar percentages even though those line rates have not changed.

Reference Number — the 14-digit identifier you use for every online lookup. It is unique to your meter, not to you the person; if you sell the property and the connection transfers, the reference travels with the property.

Consumer Name and Connection Date — the registered owner of the meter (often a previous occupant) and the date the connection was first energised. If the name is wrong, see the "name change" section on the new-connection spoke.

Tariff Code — the most important field on the bill. Codes starting with A-1 are residential; A-1a is the protected (lifeline) slab, A-1b is the unprotected slab. A-2 is commercial, B is industrial, D is agricultural. Cross-check this against your actual use: if a residential property is on A-2 because the previous occupant ran a shop, you are overpaying every month.

Sanctioned Load — the kilowatt capacity your meter and service line are designed for. Commonly 1-5 kW for residential. Exceeding sanctioned load draws a load-violation surcharge.

Units Consumed — the difference between this cycle's reading and last cycle's reading. The two readings appear in the boxes labelled "Previous Reading" and "Current Reading". If the units consumed look way off, photograph your meter immediately and compare the reading on it to the "Current Reading" printed on the bill; meter-reader errors are not uncommon and can be corrected with a phone call to 118.

Variable Charge (Energy Charge) — the biggest cost on most bills. This is the per-unit price multiplied by units consumed. NEPRA notifies the schedule for each tariff slab; residential bills use a slab system where the first 100 units, 101-200 units, 201-300 units, 301-700 units, and above-700 units each have a per-unit rate, climbing steeply. Protected (A-1a) consumers stay on the two lowest slabs.

Fixed Charges — a flat monthly amount tied to your sanctioned load. Residential under 5 kW typically pays around Rs 200-400 fixed each month regardless of consumption. Protected consumers are often exempt.

FPA (Fuel Price Adjustment) — a monthly pass-through that compensates for changes in the fuel mix cost between when NEPRA set the tariff and when the bill is issued. FPA can be positive (you pay extra) or negative (a refund). NEPRA notifies the FPA on the 15th of each month; the figure on your bill is the FPA for the month before the consumption month, not the current month. FPA can vary from Rs 1 to Rs 7 per unit and is the single most volatile line on Pakistani electricity bills.

QTR Adjustment — a quarterly adjustment NEPRA approves to reconcile the previous quarter's actual generation cost against the tariff. Like FPA but lumpier; some quarters QTR is positive, others negative.

GST 17% (or 18% in some districts) — the federal General Sales Tax. The base is the total electricity charge before income tax and other levies.

TV Fee Rs 35 — the PTV licence fee collected through electricity bills. Applies to all domestic connections. There is no opt-out.

Income Tax — withholding tax at 7.5% for unregistered consumers, 0% for filers. Filing your tax return removes this line entirely. Talk to a tax consultant if your annual electricity spend exceeds Rs 100,000 — the savings on income tax alone often pay for the consultant.

Electricity Duty 1.5% — a provincial-government tax. Punjab applies 1.5%; rates differ in KPK, Sindh, and Balochistan.

Financing Cost Surcharge (FC Surcharge) — a federally-mandated surcharge to repay circular debt accumulated by Pakistan's power sector. Currently around Rs 0.43 per unit. Applied uniformly across all consumers.

Sales Tax + Further Tax — these are the small lines at the bottom. They are tied to the bill amount and are rounded to the nearest rupee.

Total Payable — the bottom-line amount. The bill prints both the "current bill" and "after due date" amount. The second number includes a late-payment surcharge of 10% on the energy portion. Pay before the due date.

MEPCO's tariff is notified by NEPRA (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority) and is uniform across all 11 PITC DISCOs — Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Islamabad, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Hyderabad, Quetta, Sukkur, Tribal, and Hazara all charge identical per-unit rates for the same tariff code in the same slab. K-Electric in Karachi is the only DISCO with its own tariff, set separately by NEPRA. The full current table is on our MEPCO tariff page; the structure below explains what you are reading.

Residential — protected (A-1a). Available to consumers whose six-month rolling average is at or below 200 units/month. Two micro-slabs: 1-100 units and 101-200 units. The per-unit rate is meaningfully lower than the unprotected slabs and the fixed charge is waived. To register for the protected slab, see the Cross Subsidy Program guide.

Residential — unprotected (A-1b). The default for households whose average exceeds 200 units/month. Slabs at 1-100, 101-200, 201-300, 301-700, and above-700 units. The rates climb steeply across slabs and are non-telescopic at the top — once you cross into the above-700 slab, every single unit (not just the 701st onward) is priced at the highest rate. This non-telescopic switch is the single most-misunderstood rule in Pakistani electricity tariffs.

Time-of-Use (ToU). Optional for residential consumers with a smart meter. Two periods: peak (typically 6 PM-10 PM in winter, 7 PM-11 PM in summer) and off-peak (the rest of the day). Peak units are priced higher; off-peak units are priced lower. ToU is mandatory for HT/EHT industrial connections. For most residential customers, opting into ToU saves money only if you can shift major loads (AC, washing machine, water pump) to off-peak hours.

Commercial (A-2). Non-telescopic by design — every unit consumed is priced at the slab the total monthly consumption lands in, not graduated. A shop crossing from 99 to 100 units pays significantly more per unit on all 100 units. Two sub-categories by sanctioned load: A-2(a) under 5 kW, A-2(b) above 5 kW with separate ToU rates.

Industrial (B). Multiple sub-categories: B-1 (low tension under 25 kW), B-2 (low tension over 25 kW), B-3 (medium tension), B-4 (high tension). Each has its own ToU schedule and demand-charge structure. B tariff customers pay a per-kVA demand charge in addition to the per-unit rate, which makes load-factor optimization more important than energy reduction for many factories.

Agricultural (D). Available for tubewells and agricultural pumps. Heavily subsidised compared to A-1b. The catch is sanctioned-load reclassification: if a D-tariff tubewell is found running a domestic load, the meter is reclassified to A-1 retroactively for the last six months at the unprotected slab, plus a penalty.

Beyond the slab table, three adjustments move the bill month-to-month: FPA (notified by NEPRA on the 15th of each month for the month two months prior), QTR adjustment (notified quarterly), and KE-specific surcharges (do not apply to MEPCO). The combined adjustments can add or subtract Rs 1-7 per unit relative to the base slab. Always read your bill's FPA and QTR lines before assuming your actual per-unit rate.

MEPCO bills are payable through 30+ channels. The cheapest is always JazzCash or Easypaisa from a wallet balance — zero fees, instant settlement, and a digital receipt. The next-best is any bank's mobile app over 1Link, also zero fees and instant. Card payments through wallets typically carry a Rs 15-25 convenience fee. Cash counters at MEPCO offices and authorised bank branches are fee-free but require travel.

JazzCash and Easypaisa are the dominant rails in southern Punjab — together they handle over 60% of MEPCO bill payments by volume. Open the app, go to Pay Bills, choose Electricity, choose MEPCO from the operator list, type the 14-digit reference, and confirm. The bill amount loads automatically; you cannot edit it. After payment a digital receipt with the transaction ID is sent to your registered mobile number. Save this — it is your proof of payment if the DISCO ever claims arrears.

Bank apps work the same way through 1Link. HBL Mobile, UBL Digital, MCB Live, MeezanMobile, BankAlfalah Mobile, AlliedBank Mobile, FaysalMobile, BankIslamiMobile, AskariBank Mobile, BankAlHabibMobile, JS Bank Mobile, Soneri Mobile, Bank Al Habib, Habib Metropolitan, Summit Bank, Standard Chartered — all support MEPCO bill payment. The advantage of paying through a bank app over a wallet is that the payment goes from your bank account directly without first loading the wallet, which is faster for one-off bill payments.

Auto-debit is available through any bank's standing instruction. Visit your branch with a copy of any recent bill and ask for an auto-debit standing instruction. The bank will debit your account 3-5 days before the bill due date each month and remit to MEPCO. There is no fee. The catch: standing instructions debit whatever amount MEPCO bills, including any spike — if your bill jumps from Rs 3,000 to Rs 30,000 because of a meter-reader error, the auto-debit still goes through. Most consumers prefer manual payment for this reason.

Cash at MEPCO subdivision counters and authorised bank branches works for any reference. NBP, HBL, UBL, MCB, ABL, Bank of Punjab branches are the most common authorised collectors. The receipt prints immediately and is reflected in the MEPCO master within four working hours. For visa-application or rental documentation deadlines that require a stamped cash receipt, this is the only path.

Cheque payment by drop-box exists at MEPCO subdivision offices for businesses that prefer it. The cheque must be account-payee and crossed; cash cheques are returned. Cheques clear in 2-3 working days; reflect in the master 24 hours after clearance.

After-due-date payments include a 10% late-payment surcharge calculated on the energy-charge portion only. If you pay between the due date and the disconnection date (typically 7-15 days after), the surcharge applies but supply is not interrupted. After disconnection, a reconnection fee of Rs 200-1,000 (depending on tariff category) is added, payable before supply is restored.

MEPCO's territory covers 87,000 square kilometres of southern Punjab — from densely-populated urban Multan and Bahawalpur to remote villages in Rajanpur, Cholistan, and the Indus belt. Load shedding (planned rolling outages) is significantly heavier here than in the IESCO or LESCO territories. The pattern varies by feeder loss class: feeders with under 10% AT&C losses see 2-4 hours/day during peak summer; feeders with 10-20% losses see 4-8 hours; feeders with over 20% losses can see 10-14 hours/day in May-August.

MEPCO publishes a daily load-shedding schedule on its website (mepco.com.pk → Load Shedding Schedule) and on its official Facebook page. The schedule is by feeder name — find your feeder from your bill (it appears under "Feeder" near the tariff code) and look up its slot. Note that the official schedule is the planned schedule; actual outages can run longer due to grid faults, transformer trips, and emergency curtailments by the National Power Control Centre (NPCC).

Unplanned outages cluster in May-July (pre-monsoon thermal stress on conductors), July-August (monsoon rain and lightning), and December-January (fog-related insulator faults). The MEPCO outage helpline 118 is operational 24x7. The most efficient way to report an outage is via the MEPCO Facebook page comment thread — the social-media team relays serious complaints to the local SDO within minutes. The 118 line is often saturated during peak monsoon hours.

Solar UPS and inverter systems have become near-universal in MEPCO households earning Rs 50,000+/month, driven by exactly these load-shedding patterns. A typical 1.5 kW solar UPS handles 2-3 fans, 4-6 LEDs, a TV, and a WiFi router for the duration of a 4-hour outage; a 3 kW system adds a refrigerator and pumps. If you are considering solar, the more useful question is whether to add net-metering — see the next-connection spoke for the application flow.

Two practical caveats. First, MEPCO does not compensate for outages affecting individual consumers below the threshold of compensation defined in NEPRA's Performance Standards Regulations. Second, prepaid meters operate as pay-as-you-go: if your meter is prepaid and the unit balance reaches zero during an outage, your supply remains off until you recharge — even if the local feeder is restored.

MEPCO complaint handling follows NEPRA's Standards of Performance Regulations 2021. The framework has four steps, with statutory turnaround days for each. Most billing disputes resolve at step 1; serious cases (overbilling, wrong tariff classification, prolonged outage compensation) usually need step 3 or 4.

Step 1 — local subdivision SDO. The Subdivisional Officer is the closest MEPCO authority to your meter. Visit during office hours (typically 8 AM-3 PM, Monday-Friday) with your reference number and a brief written complaint. The SDO has the authority to correct meter-reader errors, adjust bills against meter testing, and issue a fresh bill within 7 working days. Always get an inward number stamped on your copy of the complaint — without it, the complaint does not exist in the MEPCO system.

Step 2 — MEPCO General Manager Customer Services. If the SDO does not resolve within 15 days, escalate to the GM Customer Services at MEPCO Head Office, Khanewal Road, Multan. The GM must respond in writing within 30 working days. The escalation can be filed by post, by email to gm.cs@mepco.com.pk (or the current address on mepco.com.pk), or in person at the head office.

Step 3 — Electric Inspector / NEPRA Regional Office. If MEPCO does not resolve at step 2, file with the Electric Inspector (Punjab) for Multan circle — office address on punjab.gov.pk → Energy Department. The Electric Inspector is a quasi-judicial officer empowered to issue binding orders against MEPCO. Hearings are open, free of cost, and you can represent yourself. The Electric Inspector must dispose of the case within 90 days.

Step 4 — NEPRA Head Office / Consumer Affairs Department. The final administrative escalation. NEPRA's Consumer Affairs Department in Islamabad accepts appeals against Electric Inspector orders and direct complaints in matters of policy (tariff disputes, regulatory misconduct). Appeals are filed within 60 days of the Electric Inspector's order. Beyond NEPRA, the only forum is the high court — and almost no consumer complaints reach that stage.

The Government of Pakistan's Cross Subsidy Program (CSS) lets verified low-usage domestic consumers register on css.pitc.com.pk to be classified as protected (A-1a) and receive the lower per-unit rate every month. The rules apply uniformly across MEPCO, LESCO, IESCO, FESCO, GEPCO, PESCO, HESCO, SEPCO, QESCO, TESCO, and HAZECO — K-Electric in Karachi has a separate program.

Eligibility requires three intersecting conditions: a domestic (A-1) tariff classification, a six-month rolling average at or below 200 units/month, and only one live domestic connection per CNIC nationally. The registration takes under two minutes and is free; it requires the 14-digit reference, a CNIC, and a PTA biometric-verified mobile number for OTP.

Once registered, the protected tariff reflects on your next bill cycle if you qualify. The subsidy is dynamic — every cycle PITC re-evaluates your rolling six-month average. If your usage exits the protected band, the subsidy pauses; once your average drops back, it resumes automatically.

Read our full Cross Subsidy Program guide for the step-by-step registration, eligibility rules, expected savings, and a transparent walk-through of what the css.pitc.com.pk portal actually does behind the scenes.

The single highest-impact change for a southern Punjab household is the air conditioner. MEPCO's tariff slabs make every additional 100 units measurably more expensive per unit. Replacing a 3-star non-inverter AC with a 5-star inverter model typically cuts AC consumption by 30-40%. For a 1.5 ton AC running 8 hours/day from May to September, that's roughly 180 fewer units per month, which often drops the bill into a lower slab and amplifies the saving disproportionately.

Refrigerators are the second-highest baseline load. A 1995-era refrigerator can draw 1,500 kWh/year; a 2024 5-star model of the same capacity draws 250-300 kWh/year. The replacement payback is typically 4-5 years on energy savings alone, faster if the old fridge is at end-of-life anyway.

Geysers and water pumps are the third largest household load and the easiest to optimise. The 25-litre storage geyser in most southern Punjab bathrooms consumes about 3 kWh per heating cycle. Installing a timer that runs the geyser for the 30 minutes before your typical shower time — instead of leaving it on all morning — saves more units than any LED retrofit. The same logic applies to overhead-tank pumps: a smart float switch (any local electrician can install for Rs 2,500) saves 30-50 units/month relative to manually-controlled pumps.

LED retrofits are the easiest energy intervention to over-rate. Replacing twelve 60-watt incandescent bulbs (used 4 hours/day) with 9-watt LEDs saves about 73 kWh/month, which is real money but is rarely the bill-defining change. Do it because it pays back in under a year, not because it transforms your bill.

Solar net-metering deserves a separate analysis. A 3 kW rooftop solar system in Multan/Bahawalpur generates approximately 450-550 kWh/month (the south-Punjab insolation is among the highest in Pakistan), which for a household consuming 600 units would offset 75-90% of grid draw. Capital cost (2026) is about Rs 4-5 lakh after the federal subsidy for systems under 5 kW. Payback is in 4-6 years; the catch is that the application process through MEPCO and NEPRA takes 60-90 days and requires AEDB-registered installer paperwork. The new-connection spoke has the full application flow.

Under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), MEPCO has been installing 4G-enabled smart meters across high-loss feeders since 2023. The target is full smart-meter coverage by 2028. As of mid-2026, approximately 600,000 meters were live in the MEPCO network, concentrated in Multan urban, Bahawalpur urban, and a few high-loss rural feeders selected for early replacement.

A smart meter changes three things from the consumer's perspective. First, the bill is generated automatically on the last day of the calendar month rather than on the day the meter-reader visits — meter-reader bribery and tampering disputes drop sharply. Second, the meter sends 15-minute interval data to MEPCO over LTE, which means you can theoretically opt into Time-of-Use tariff for savings. Third, MEPCO can remotely disconnect supply for non-payment and remotely reconnect after payment — the days of disconnection requiring an SDO technician visit are ending.

Smart meters do not change your tariff slab — the per-unit rates are the same as for conventional meters. They do open up optional ToU tariff for residential consumers, which is what makes the meter financially useful for households that can shift large loads (water pumps, washing machines) to off-peak hours.

If you have a complaint about your smart meter — sudden spikes in consumption, the meter not reporting, the display blanking out — log a ticket on the MEPCO app or call 118. NEPRA's Standards of Performance require MEPCO to send a technician within 48 hours for a metering complaint at a residential premise.

When you buy a house in MEPCO territory or inherit a connection, the meter does not automatically transfer to your name. The previous owner's name stays on the bill until you formally apply for a Change of Name (CON). The application is filed at your local MEPCO subdivision; documents include sale deed or transfer letter, both buyer's and seller's CNICs, the previous month's paid bill, and a Rs 200 application fee.

The CON process officially takes 15 working days per NEPRA's Standards of Performance. In practice it is faster if the property paperwork is clean and slower if there are arrears or pending complaints on the connection. Tip: pay any arrears before applying for CON — otherwise the application is parked until arrears clear.

Transfer of security deposit is automatic with CON. The previous owner's deposit (typically Rs 500-2,500 for residential connections, paid at the time of original connection) transfers to your account and continues to accrue interest at the rate notified by NEPRA each year. The deposit is refundable when the connection is permanently disconnected. If you do not want to take over the previous deposit, you can pay a fresh deposit and the previous owner can claim a refund from MEPCO — useful when the previous deposit is very old and has grown with interest.

Tenants: you do not need a CON if you are renting. The connection stays in the landlord's name; you simply pay the bill. Some landlords add an address-of-bill change so the bill PDF is emailed to the tenant, but the legal liability for non-payment stays with the named consumer. This is the standard arrangement for short-term rentals.