MEPCO New Connection: Applying, Paying, and the Deadline MEPCO Has to Meet

A new connection means no meter has ever been energised at the premises. If a meter already sits on the wall and you have bought or inherited the property, you need a change of name instead — applied for on the same portal, with different documents, at a fraction of the cost. The Power Division confirms change of name is filed at enc.com.pk along with the requisite documents. People lose weeks by filing the wrong one.

Fix your load before you fill in anything

Sanctioned load is the capacity you ask MEPCO to reserve for you, in kilowatts. It decides your security deposit, your demand notice total, and — since domestic tariffs moved to a two-part structure — a fixed monthly charge tied to that figure, payable whether you use the electricity or not.

Over-declaring is the most expensive mistake on the form, because you carry it every month for years. Put your real requirement through the MEPCO bill calculator and look at what each extra kilowatt adds before you write a number down.

Phase follows load, not plot size. Lights, fans, a fridge and a couple of air conditioners sit comfortably inside single-phase. Three-phase belongs to heavy motors, tubewells, workshops and larger commercial premises.

Load also sets who signs off. Up to 15 kW, that is your SDO. Heavier loads climb to Deputy Manager and Manager Operation — which is the real reason larger applications take longer.

What you need in hand

The Consumer Service Manual requires attested CNIC copies of the applicant and a witness, and in tenancy cases the landlord’s attested CNIC as well. The undertaking is sworn on a Rs 50 stamp paper under Schedule 1 of the Stamp Act 1899, stating that no connection existed at the premises. That is a legal declaration, not a formality — an old unpaid connection at the same address will surface during scrutiny.

One exemption worth knowing, because it is often demanded anyway: housing schemes, societies, high-rise buildings, commercial plazas and industries must show that their layout plan or NOC is under process with the civic agency, but there is no such requirement for individual houses.

Scans go up as JPG or PDF, each file under 300 KB.

Where to file it

DISCOs run the online Electricity New Connection application at enc.com.pk, and any prospective consumer can apply and obtain a connection through it. The MEPCO Smart App carries a New Connection service under its Services menu, with owner and tenant paths, and issues the same tracking ID. Either route produces an application; neither finishes it.

You still print the submitted form, attach hard copies, and hand the file to your Sub-Divisional Office. Note the tracking ID before you close the page. Every later step — status, demand notice, follow-up — runs off that number.

What happens next, in order

Document scrutiny at the subdivision comes first, then a site survey. The survey answers one question that decides your cost: does the low-tension line already reach your premises? If it does not, poles, conductor and possibly a transformer enter the estimate as capital cost.

The load-sanctioning officer approves, the demand notice is raised, you pay, and the paid receipt goes back to the subdivision. A service connection order follows, the store issues the meter, and a line crew installs it.

Reading your demand notice

The notice bundles two different kinds of money, and the distinction matters.

The security deposit is refundable. It is held against your connection, not spent. Rates notified under SRO 04(1)/2011 are charged per kilowatt of sanctioned load: Rs 1,220 per kW for urban residential and Rs 610 rural; Rs 1,810 and Rs 920 for commercial A2; Rs 1,580 to Rs 3,560 across industrial B1 to B4; Rs 3,240 per kW for public lighting; and Rs 15,000 lump sum for agricultural tubewells. Deposits are non-transferable except on relocation of premises, change of name with consent, or succession, and are updated when tariff category, load or ownership changes.

Connection charges and capital cost are not refundable, and capital cost is site-specific — which is why any fixed rupee figure quoted for a “domestic connection” is guesswork. Your notice is the only authority on your amount.

One clause few applicants are told about: if MEPCO later converts your supply into a Common Distribution System, the transformer and LT line cost you paid is reimbursable under Clause 4-A of the Consumer Eligibility Criteria 2003, though HT line cost is not. Keep the estimate and receipts.

Thirty days are allowed for payment, and payment may be made online or at designated bank branches, with the connection following on acknowledgement of payment. Let it lapse and the notice has to be reissued.

Deposit rates are also in play. MEPCO and seven other DISCOs petitioned NEPRA to revise security deposit rates, with figures reaching Rs 56,111, and a public hearing was held on 11 February 2025. The proposals tie deposits to two-and-a-half to three months of revenue including taxes, with urban homes up to 10 marlas assessed on three months’ average consumption and larger properties at 1% of market value. Read the deposit line on your own notice rather than any published table.

The deadline MEPCO is bound to

This is regulated, not discretionary. A distribution company must serve at least 95% of new connections within these calendar-day limits, counted from registration of the application until supply is provided, excluding delay genuinely outside its control:

Note the second row. It is widely published as 44 days. The standard is 53.

If it stops moving

Take the tracking ID to the subdivision and ask for the objection in writing. A written objection is fixable; silence is not. If the file sits past the limit above, that is a missed service standard and it belongs with NEPRA, quoted as a standard rather than a grievance.

No part of this process runs through an individual’s bank or wallet account. Money moves only against a demand notice, into a designated branch.