Sui Gas Slab Rates 2026: Why 1.51 hm3 Costs Rs 2,674 More Than 1.5

A gas bill for 1.5 hm3 this winter comes to about Rs 9,974 for a non-protected consumer. Burn 0.01 hm3 more, 1.51, and the same bill becomes Rs 12,648. That Rs 2,674 jump for one hundredth of a unit is the single most important thing to understand about Pakistani gas billing before the cold months arrive, and this page explains it with the full table.

Every figure is computed by the same engine that runs our gas bill calculator, on the OGRA-notified schedule that SNGPL and SSGC both apply (effective 1 July 2025 and still current at the time of writing; both companies bill on the identical slab structure).

The bill at every consumption level

Consumption is in hm3, the unit on your meter (one hm3 is a hundred cubic metres, about 3.5 MMBTU of heat). A typical summer bill sits near 0.3 to 0.5 hm3; a Punjab winter with a heater and geyser running can cross 2 or even 3.

*Protected status requires a November-to-February average at or below 0.9 hm3, so a protected bill above 0.9 does not arise: the winter that produces it also ends the status.

What the numbers include: the slab energy charge with the one-preceding-slab benefit applied, the fixed monthly charge (Rs 600 protected; Rs 1,500 up to 1.5 hm3 and Rs 3,000 above it for non-protected), Rs 40 meter rent and 18 percent GST.

The Rs 2,674 cliff at 1.5 hm3, explained

Two things happen at once when you cross 1.5 hm3, and they stack:

1. The rate floor moves up a slab. Domestic gas gives you the benefit of exactly ONE preceding slab: at 1.5 hm3 your first 1.0 hm3 bills at Rs 1,250 per MMBTU and the rest at Rs 1,450. At 1.51 the preceding slab becomes the 1.5 slab, so your first 1.5 hm3 now bills at Rs 1,450 and the excess at Rs 1,900.
2. The fixed charge doubles, from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000, per the schedule's own wording: Rs 3,000 "for exceeding consumption of 1.5 hm3".

The same double-hit repeats at every slab boundary, and the worst one is at the top: above 4 hm3 the preceding-slab benefit disappears entirely and the whole month bills at Rs 4,200 per MMBTU, which is why 4.0 hm3 costs Rs 60,168 but 4.5 hm3 costs Rs 81,644.

If your December meter reading is heading toward a boundary, the few cubic metres you save at the end of the cycle are worth thirty times their summer price.

Protected vs non-protected: the 2.8x gap

At an identical 0.9 hm3, a protected consumer pays Rs 1,932 and a non-protected one Rs 5,472. The definition decides everything:

Protected means your average consumption across the four winter months, November to February, stayed at or below 0.9 hm3. The status is re-earned every winter, and rates start at Rs 200 per MMBTU with a Rs 600 fixed charge.

One heavy winter ends it. Run a gas heater hard for one season, push the four-month average past 0.9, and the account bills as non-protected, where the same units cost four to six times more and the fixed charge is 2.5x to 5x. This is the most expensive single habit in Pakistani utility billing: the heater that costs Rs 3,000 of gas in a protected December can cost the protected status itself, and with it tens of thousands of rupees across following winters.

How to stay under the boundaries

Practical, in order of effect:

1. Geyser thermostat down and timer on. The storage geyser is the largest year-round gas load in most homes; on standby it burns day and night.
2. Heat one room, not the house. A single gas heater run 6 hours a day adds roughly 1 to 1.5 hm3 to the month on its own, enough to cross two slab boundaries.
3. Watch the meter mid-cycle. The reading date is printed on the bill; a photo of the meter halfway through the cycle tells you whether you are on course to cross 1.5 or 2.0.
4. Above 3 hm3 winter loads, LPG or electric heating is often cheaper at the marginal slab rates of Rs 3,300 to 4,200 per MMBTU; run the numbers before assuming pipeline gas wins.

Check your own reading in the gas bill calculator, which applies these exact slabs, and if electricity is your bigger bill, the same trap exists there with different numbers: see electricity bill for 50 to 800 units.

Where these figures come from

The slab rates, fixed charges, preceding-slab rule and commercial rate are from the domestic sale price schedule published on SSGC's own site, effective 1 July 2025 under OGRA's notification of 29 June 2025, which SNGPL applies identically; re-checked 2 September 2026 with no newer notification found. Bills also carry a small TV fee where applicable, and the hm3-to-MMBTU factor varies slightly by pipeline segment (3.5 used here; your bill prints the exact factor as GCV).