Updated: August 2026
Appliance-wise electricity consumption in Pakistan ranges from about 2 units a month for an LED bulb to 360 for a 1.5-ton non-inverter AC. A refrigerator uses roughly 80-120 units, a ceiling fan about 40, and an electric geyser near 150. At 2026 unprotected rates near Rs 40 per unit before tax, each figure turns straight into rupees on your bill.
This guide gives you the wattage, typical daily hours, units per day, units per month and the monthly rupee cost for every common appliance in a Pakistani home, all priced at the current tariff. Once you can read your appliances as unit numbers, a high bill stops being a mystery and becomes a list you can actually manage.
Key takeaways
- The formula is simple: units per month = (watts ÷ 1,000) × hours used per day × 30. One “unit” (bijli ka unit) is one kilowatt-hour.
- The AC is the giant: a 1.5-ton non-inverter AC at 8 hours a night uses about 360 units a month, roughly four times a refrigerator and about 180 times a single LED bulb.
- Heating and cooling dominate: anything that heats water or cools air (AC, geyser, deep freezer, water dispenser) sits at the top of the bill; lights, a TV and fans together are a smaller share than the AC and fridge.
- Cycling appliances trick people: a fridge, freezer and geyser switch their compressor or element on and off, so they draw far fewer real units than their rated wattage suggests.
- Rates make the units expensive: at 2026 unprotected slabs, most homes running an AC pay around Rs 40 per unit before tax and close to Rs 50 all-in, so trimming units is worth real money.
What is appliance-wise electricity consumption, and how is it calculated?
Appliance-wise electricity consumption is the amount of electricity a single appliance uses, measured in units (kilowatt-hours) per day or per month, so you can see how much each device adds to your bill. It is calculated with one formula:
Units per month = (appliance wattage ÷ 1,000) × hours used per day × 30
One unit equals one kilowatt-hour (kWh), which is 1,000 watts running for one hour. So a 1,000-watt iron used for one hour uses exactly one unit. A 75-watt ceiling fan run for 18 hours uses 75 ÷ 1,000 × 18 = 1.35 units in a day, or about 40 units in a month.
Two details change the real number. First, rated wattage is the maximum, not the average: a 1,500-watt geyser or a 250-watt fridge does not draw that continuously, because its thermostat or compressor cycles on and off. Second, hours of actual use matter more than most people guess. An AC “on all night” and an AC that cycles for six of those eight hours are different bills. Where an appliance cycles, the tables below use its realistic average draw, not the nameplate figure, so the units track what your meter will actually record.
Appliance-wise electricity consumption in Pakistan: the full units-per-month table
The table below lists every common Pakistani home appliance with its typical wattage, usual daily run time, and the units it uses per day and per month. The cost column is priced at Rs 40.22 per unit — the energy-charge rate for the unprotected 501-600 unit slab under SRO 279(I)/2026, the tariff NEPRA has kept in force through August 2026. Layering 18% GST, roughly 1.5% electricity duty and the Rs 3.23 per-unit financing surcharge (net of this quarter’s Rs 1.9857 relief) lifts the all-in cost to about Rs 50 per unit, so multiply the rupee column by roughly 1.25 for the true bill impact.
| Appliance | Typical wattage | Hours/day | Units/day | Units/month | Cost/month (@Rs 40.22) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceiling fan (standard) | 75 W | 18 | 1.35 | ~40 | Rs 1,610 |
| Ceiling fan (BLDC/DC inverter) | 32 W | 18 | 0.58 | ~17 | Rs 685 |
| Pedestal / bracket fan | 60 W | 12 | 0.72 | ~22 | Rs 885 |
| LED bulb (each) | 12 W | 5 | 0.06 | ~2 | Rs 80 |
| Energy saver / CFL (each) | 23 W | 5 | 0.12 | ~3.5 | Rs 140 |
| Tube light / rod (each) | 45 W | 5 | 0.23 | ~7 | Rs 280 |
| Refrigerator (standard, cycles) | 150-250 W | 24 | ~3 | ~90 | Rs 3,620 |
| Refrigerator (inverter, cycles) | 100-150 W | 24 | ~1.5 | ~45 | Rs 1,810 |
| Deep freezer (chest, cycles) | 150-250 W | 24 | ~2.5 | ~75 | Rs 3,020 |
| Water dispenser (hot + cold, cycles) | 550 W | — | ~1.2 | ~36 | Rs 1,450 |
| 1-ton AC (non-inverter) | 1,100 W | 8 | 8.8 | ~264 | Rs 10,620 |
| 1-ton AC (inverter) | 700 W avg | 8 | 5.6 | ~168 | Rs 6,760 |
| 1.5-ton AC (non-inverter) | 1,500 W | 8 | 12 | ~360 | Rs 14,480 |
| 1.5-ton AC (inverter) | 1,000 W avg | 8 | 8 | ~240 | Rs 9,650 |
| 2-ton AC (non-inverter) | 2,000 W | 8 | 16 | ~480 | Rs 19,310 |
| 2-ton AC (inverter) | 1,400 W avg | 8 | 11.2 | ~336 | Rs 13,510 |
| Water motor / pump (1 HP) | 900 W | 1.5 | 1.35 | ~40 | Rs 1,610 |
| Electric iron | 1,000 W avg | 0.5 | 0.5 | ~15 | Rs 605 |
| Electric geyser (storage, cycles) | 2,000 W | 2.5 | 5 | ~150 | Rs 6,030 |
| Microwave oven | 1,200 W | 0.5 | 0.6 | ~18 | Rs 725 |
| Washing machine | 500 W | 1 | 0.5 | ~15 | Rs 605 |
| LED TV (40-43″) | 70 W | 6 | 0.42 | ~13 | Rs 525 |
| Laptop | 60 W | 8 | 0.48 | ~14 | Rs 565 |
| Desktop computer (+ monitor) | 200 W | 6 | 1.2 | ~36 | Rs 1,450 |
Treat these as a well-grounded budget, not a promise for your exact meter. Wattages vary by brand, age and size, and your hours are your own. The point of the table is the order of magnitude: it tells you instantly that one AC outweighs your entire lighting load many times over, so that is where your attention belongs. To turn your own units into a rupee figure for your DISCO, run them through the electricity bill calculator.
How many units does an AC use per month in Pakistan?
An air conditioner in Pakistan uses far more electricity than any other home appliance, between about 168 and 480 units a month depending on tonnage and type. A 1-ton inverter at 8 hours a night uses roughly 168 units; a 2-ton non-inverter at the same hours uses about 480. The 1.5-ton non-inverter, the most common size in Pakistani homes, sits in the middle at about 360 units.
| AC size | Non-inverter (units/month) | Inverter (units/month) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 ton | ~264 | ~168 |
| 1.5 ton | ~360 | ~240 |
| 2 ton | ~480 | ~336 |
All figures assume 8 hours a day at a 26°C set point. Run the unit 10 or 12 hours in a heatwave and every row climbs by a quarter or a half. The inverter columns are lower because a DC inverter compressor ramps down to idle once the room is cool instead of switching fully off and back on, which is the whole case behind the inverter vs non-inverter AC bill. For the full per-hour breakdown and a worked Lahore example, see our guide to 1.5-ton AC power consumption and monthly bill. Because a single AC can add 200 to 480 units, it is almost always the reason a summer bill jumps a slab or two, which is the first thing to check in why your electricity bill is high.
How many units does a refrigerator use per month in Pakistan?
A refrigerator in Pakistan uses about 80 to 120 units per month for a standard frost-free model, and roughly 35 to 60 units for a modern inverter fridge. The wide gap comes from the compressor: a fridge is rated at 150-250 watts, but it does not run continuously. The compressor cycles on and off to hold temperature, so its real average draw is closer to 100-140 watts, which works out to about 3 units a day for a standard unit and 1.5 for an inverter.
A deep freezer (chest type) uses a similar 60 to 90 units per month, around 75 on average, because it too cycles a 150-250 watt compressor but keeps a lower, colder set point. A water dispenser with hot and cold tanks is quietly expensive: the hot tank reheats all day and adds roughly 36 units a month, more than a fridge’s cost would suggest for such a small machine.
Three things push a fridge or freezer toward the top of its range: a hot kitchen (every degree of room heat makes the compressor work longer, which is why summer fridge bills rise), a door opened often, and worn or iced-up seals. A NEECA star-rated inverter fridge in a ventilated spot lands near the bottom of the range instead. Unlike an AC you can switch off, the fridge runs 24/7, so its efficiency compounds over the whole year.
How much electricity do fans, lights and a water motor use?
Fans and lights use very little electricity individually, but they add up because a home has many of them and they run for long hours. A standard 75-watt ceiling fan uses about 40 units a month at 18 hours a day; a modern BLDC (DC inverter) fan doing the same job uses only about 17 units, less than half. A 60-watt pedestal fan at 12 hours a day is around 22 units.
Lighting is the cheapest load in the house once you are on LEDs. A single 12-watt LED bulb uses about 2 units a month; a 23-watt energy saver about 3.5; an old 45-watt tube light about 7. Even a house with ten LED bulbs burning five hours a night is only around 20 units a month, roughly Rs 800. The saving here is not any one bulb’s running cost but swapping the last incandescent or heavy tube lights for LEDs.
A water motor or pump is the surprise on this list. A 1-HP motor draws about 900 watts and, run 1.5 hours a day to fill an overhead tank, uses around 40 units a month, the same as a whole floor of fans. A 0.5-HP motor is roughly half that. A motor left running against a closed valve can double its hours without you noticing, so it is worth timing. The full room-by-room playbook for these smaller loads is in our guide to reducing your electricity bill in Pakistan.
How many units does a geyser, iron, or microwave use?
Appliances with a heating element are power-hungry per hour but usually run briefly, so their monthly units depend almost entirely on how long you use them. An electric geyser is the exception and the heavyweight of the group: a storage geyser with a 2,000-watt element that heats and reheats for an effective 2.5 hours a day uses about 150 units a month. In peak winter, with longer, hotter water use, that can climb past 200 units, which makes the geyser the cold-season equal of the summer AC.
An electric iron rated at 1,500 watts averages closer to 1,000 watts once its thermostat starts cycling, so about half an hour of ironing a day is roughly 15 units a month. A microwave at 1,200 watts used half an hour a day is around 18 units. A washing machine at about 500 watts for an hour’s worth of cycles a day is near 15 units, though an automatic machine that heats its own water uses more.
| Heating appliance | Typical wattage | Units/month | Cost/month (@Rs 40.22) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric geyser (storage) | 2,000 W | ~150 | Rs 6,030 |
| Electric iron | 1,000 W avg | ~15 | Rs 605 |
| Microwave oven | 1,200 W | ~18 | Rs 725 |
| Washing machine | 500 W | ~15 | Rs 605 |
| Water dispenser (hot tank) | 550 W | ~36 | Rs 1,450 |
The pattern is clear: a device that makes heat or cold (the geyser, the dispenser) costs real money because it runs long; a device you use in short bursts (the iron, the microwave) barely registers, no matter how high its wattage looks on the label. This is why switching a geyser to gas or solar, or capping its element to 1,200 watts, saves far more than fussing over the microwave.
Which appliances dominate a summer electricity bill in Pakistan?
In a Pakistani summer, three appliance groups dominate the bill: air conditioning first by a wide margin, then the refrigerator and deep freezer, then the water motor. On a home billing 600 units in July, a single 1.5-ton AC can be 300 to 360 of those units on its own, roughly 50-60% of the total. The fridge and freezer together add another 130 to 170 units, and they work harder in the heat. The water motor, run more often for washing and cooling in summer, chips in 40 or more.
Everything else combined, the lights, TV, laptop and phone chargers, is usually a smaller slice than the AC or the fridge, even though much of it stays switched on all day. Fans are the swing factor here: cheap per unit, but a houseful of them running through a long summer can still add 100 units or more. The geyser swaps roles by season: it is near-idle in summer but becomes the winter heavyweight, taking the AC’s place at the top of a cold-month bill at 150 to 200 units.
This is the practical takeaway of the whole table. Chasing small loads feels productive but changes little. The bill is won or lost on the AC, the fridge and freezer, the geyser and the water motor, so those five are where a rupee of effort returns the most. And because these are the units that push you into the higher unprotected slabs, cutting them also protects your rate, as explained in protected vs unprotected consumers.
How to estimate and cut your appliance electricity consumption
You do not need special equipment to work out any appliance’s monthly cost. Follow these five steps, then act on the biggest numbers.
- Find the wattage. Check the appliance’s rating plate, label or manual for its watts. If it lists amps, multiply amps by 220 (Pakistan’s voltage) to get watts. For cycling appliances (fridge, freezer, geyser), use the realistic averages in the table above rather than the nameplate figure.
- Estimate real hours per day. Be honest about actual run time, not the time it is switched on. An inverter AC “on” for 8 hours is cooling hard for maybe 5 of them; a geyser is heating for a fraction of the day.
- Apply the formula. Units per month = (watts ÷ 1,000) × hours per day × 30. This gives you the appliance’s monthly units.
- Price it. Multiply the units by your slab’s per-unit rate (about Rs 40 before tax, near Rs 50 all-in for most AC-running homes) or drop them into the national bill calculator or your LESCO bill calculator.
- Attack the top three. Set the AC to 26°C with a fan, service the fridge seals and give it breathing room, and cap or reschedule the geyser. These three moves save more than every small change combined.
For a low bill that holds, spend your effort where the units are. A 26°C AC set point, an inverter fan in place of a 75-watt one, LED lighting throughout, and a geyser on a timer together cut a typical summer bill by hundreds of units. Because the AC and geyser both run when the sun is up or in the early evening, they are also the loads that make rooftop panels pay, covered in is solar worth it in Pakistan 2026.
How the tariff turns units into rupees
The units in this guide are only half the bill. What you pay per unit depends on which slab your total monthly consumption lands in, set by NEPRA and notified by the Power Division through the SRO, then billed by your DISCO (LESCO, MEPCO, IESCO, K-Electric and the rest). For an unprotected household the whole month is billed at the rate of the slab the total falls into: Rs 33.10 in the 201-300 band, Rs 40.22 in the 501-600 band, up to Rs 47.20 above 700 units. So adding an appliance does not just add its own units; it can re-price your entire bill into a higher slab. The complete rate ladder is in our guide to the electricity per unit price in Pakistan.
FAQs
How is an appliance’s electricity consumption calculated in Pakistan?
An appliance’s electricity consumption is calculated as units per month = (wattage ÷ 1,000) × hours used per day × 30, where one unit is one kilowatt-hour. For example, a 1,000-watt iron used half an hour a day uses 1,000 ÷ 1,000 × 0.5 × 30 = 15 units a month. For appliances that cycle, such as a fridge or geyser, use the realistic average wattage rather than the rated maximum, because the compressor or element switches on and off instead of running continuously.
How many units does a 1.5-ton AC use per month in Pakistan?
A 1.5-ton AC uses about 360 units a month if it is a non-inverter run 8 hours a day, and about 240 units a month if it is a DC inverter run the same hours at a 26°C set point. That makes it the single largest appliance load in most Pakistani homes, several times a refrigerator. Running it 10 or 12 hours in a heatwave pushes a non-inverter past 450 units, which is usually what triggers a summer slab jump.
How many units does a refrigerator use per month in Pakistan?
A standard refrigerator in Pakistan uses about 80 to 120 units a month, and a modern inverter fridge about 35 to 60. Although a fridge is rated at 150-250 watts, its compressor cycles on and off, so the real average draw is closer to 100-140 watts, or roughly 3 units a day for a standard model. A hot kitchen, frequent door opening and worn seals push it to the higher end.
How much electricity does a ceiling fan use per month?
A standard 75-watt ceiling fan uses about 40 units a month running 18 hours a day, which costs around Rs 1,600 at 2026 unprotected rates before tax. A modern BLDC or DC-inverter fan doing the same job uses only about 17 units, less than half, because it draws around 32 watts. Fans are cheap per unit, but a house full of them running all summer still adds up, so efficient fans are a worthwhile upgrade.
How many units does an electric geyser use?
An electric storage geyser with a 2,000-watt element uses about 150 units a month when it heats and reheats for an effective 2.5 hours a day, and can climb past 200 units in peak winter. This makes the geyser the cold-season equivalent of the summer AC, the biggest single load on a winter bill. Capping the element to around 1,200 watts, adding a timer, or switching to gas or solar heating cuts this sharply.
Which appliances use the most electricity in a Pakistani home?
The biggest electricity users in a Pakistani home are, in order: the air conditioner (about 240-480 units a month), the electric geyser in winter (150-200 units), the refrigerator and deep freezer together (130-200 units), and the water motor (around 40 units). Fans, LED lights, the TV and laptops combined are usually under 100 units. Anything that heats or cools dominates the bill, so those loads are where saving effort pays off most.
How do I convert appliance watts into units and rupees?
Divide the appliance’s watts by 1,000 to get kilowatts, multiply by the hours you use it per day, then by 30 for a month, which gives units per month. Multiply those units by your per-unit rate to get rupees: about Rs 40 before tax, or near Rs 50 all-in for most homes running an AC in 2026. A quick example: a 900-watt water motor run 1.5 hours a day is 0.9 × 1.5 × 30 = about 40 units, roughly Rs 1,600 before tax.