Slab rate
Definition. A slab rate is the per-unit price attached to a band of monthly consumption, so that units falling in the 1–100 band are priced differently from units falling in the 201–300 band.
Also called: Slab · Tiered rate · Step tariff · سلیب ریٹ
Where you see it: The rate table printed on the reverse or lower half of the bill, and implicitly in the energy charge calculation on the front.
Reading the table on your own bill
The printed table has a row per band with the rate that applies to it. Find the row that contains your units for the month; that is your top slab, and it sets the marginal price of the next unit you use.
Do not rely on a rate table found online. Notifications change, and categories differ — the table on your own bill is the one the system actually applied.
Marginal pricing versus re-pricing
Two different mechanics exist in the Pakistani residential schedule and they are constantly confused. Under marginal pricing, only the units above a boundary are charged at the higher rate. Under re-pricing, crossing the boundary applies the higher structure to the whole month.
Protected residential consumers are treated on the gentler basis. For unprotected consumers, crossing certain boundaries has historically re-priced the month, which is why one extra unit can cost far more than one unit's worth of money.
Where the slab is decided
The slab is chosen by the total units in the billing cycle, not by daily pattern. Thirty units a day for ten days and three units a day for twenty days land in the same place if the total matches.
That has a practical consequence: shifting consumption within a month does not change the slab. Only reducing the total does.
Frequently asked questions
How can I tell whether I am about to cross a slab?
Read the meter on the same date each week and track the running total against your reading date. If you are at 180 units with a week to go and the next boundary is 200, that week is where the decision gets made.
Do commercial connections have slabs?
The commercial schedule is structured differently, with fixed charges and a flatter energy rate rather than the steep residential ladder. Slab arithmetic is mostly a residential concern.
Related terms
- Protected consumer — How to confirm from your own bill whether you are currently protected, what breaks the status, and the six-month clock that has to run before it comes back.
- Units consumed — The one number on your bill that you can actually verify yourself, how it is derived from two readings, and the arithmetic that turns it into rupees.
- Tariff code — Decoding A-1, A-1a, A-2, B-1, C-1 and D-1 on a Pakistani electricity bill, and what happens when your connection sits in the wrong category.
- Fuel price adjustment — The mechanics behind the FPA line: who files it, the two-month lag, why it sometimes goes negative, and why your local office cannot change it.
Go further
Back to the full 44-term glossary, or open your own bill with the reference number lookup.