By SKM
January 12, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s export-oriented industry has warned that the federal government’s proposed power tariff revision could deliver a Rs 7.61 per unit shock to manufacturers, pushing electricity prices to unaffordable limits and wiping out the country’s already fragile competitiveness against regional rivals.
Industry says manufacturers are seeking electricity at around 9 cents per unit, compared to the current 13 cents, arguing that soaring energy costs have become the biggest barrier to exports, investment, and job creation.
In a formal submission to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) said the government’s proposed uniform tariffs for large-scale industrial consumers would raise weighted average electricity prices for B3 and B4 consumers to Rs 29.4–29.6 per kWh, far above the Rs 23–26 per kWh that NEPRA itself has determined as cost-reflective.
According to APTMA, NEPRA’s tariff calculations show that cost-based electricity pricing translates into an average energy charge of Rs 23.03 per kWh (8.2 cents) for B3 consumers and Rs 26.03 per kWh (9.3 cents) for B4 consumers, excluding fixed charges. These levels, the association said, broadly match power prices faced by manufacturers in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and China.
Under the government’s proposal, off-peak tariffs for B3 consumers would jump to Rs 28.24 per kWh, while B4 off-peak tariffs would rise to Rs 27.95 per kWh. Peak tariffs for both categories would surge to Rs 36.68 per kWh, pushing average electricity costs well above regionally competitive thresholds.
APTMA estimates that the difference between cost-reflective and proposed tariffs amounts to a cross-subsidy burden of Rs 7.61 per kWh for B3 off-peak consumption, Rs 3.71 per kWh for B4 off-peak consumption, and Rs 1.68 per kWh on peak usage for both categories. The association said this burden is being imposed on formal, export-oriented industry to subsidise other consumer segments.
The textile body warned that the tariff increase comes at a critical time when Pakistan’s exports are stagnant, industrial capacity utilisation is declining, and manufacturers are struggling with high financing and raw material costs. Electricity is a core input for energy-intensive sectors such as upstream textiles, which employ millions of workers and generate the bulk of Pakistan’s export earnings.
APTMA also flagged deepening structural distortions in the power tariff regime, including the unchecked expansion of lifeline and protected residential consumers and the growing number of higher-consumption households receiving subsidised electricity after installing behind-the-meter solar systems. These trends, it said, are shrinking the paying consumer base and shifting system inefficiencies onto industry.
In comparison, manufacturers in competing economies typically pay between 5 and 9 cents per kWh, while Pakistani industry is being asked to absorb electricity prices exceeding 10.5 cents, directly impacting export pricing and order flows.
The association warned that persistently high power tariffs are already forcing plant closures, shift reductions, and a freeze on new investment in the textile sector. If current pricing trends continue, further job losses and a deeper export slowdown are inevitable.
APTMA has urged NEPRA to reject the proposed tariffs for B3 and B4 consumers and to strictly enforce its statutory mandate to set tariffs in the consumer’s interest and on a cost-reflective basis. It maintained that subsidies for lifeline and protected consumers should be financed transparently through the federal budget rather than embedded in industrial electricity prices.
According to the association, reducing industrial power tariffs to around 9 cents per unit would restore competitiveness, revive exports, raise electricity demand, and help lower system-wide costs through improved capacity utilisation.
NEPRA is expected to consider the federal government’s tariff motion later this month. Ends
