Updated: August 2026
To get a new electricity connection in Pakistan, apply online at enc.com.pk — the Electricity New Connection (ENC) System run by PITC — if your area falls under LESCO, GEPCO, PESCO, HESCO, SEPCO, QESCO, TESCO or HAZECO. IESCO applicants use the same system at iesco.enc.com.pk, FESCO applicants at fesco.enc.com.pk, MEPCO takes applications through its Smart App or customer facilitation centres, and Karachi residents apply directly with K-Electric. Submitting the application is free. Your real cost arrives later as a demand notice, and NEPRA’s Consumer Service Manual caps the DISCO’s total processing time for loads up to 15 kW at 30 days, not counting the days you take to pay.
That is the short version. The rest of this guide walks through each stage in detail: the documents you need scanned and ready before you open the form, what the demand notice actually charges you for, the exact day counts NEPRA allows for every load category, and what to do when those days pass and your meter still hasn’t shown up. There is also a DISCO-by-DISCO table, because the process has quirks depending on where you live.
Many people still call this a “WAPDA new connection.” The name has stuck from the old days, but WAPDA no longer handles consumer connections; your regional distribution company (DISCO) does, and the ENC portal is the front door for most of them.
What the ENC portal is and who it covers
The Electricity New Connection (ENC) System is a central web portal, built and operated by PITC (the power sector’s IT company), where the general public can apply for a connection without visiting a sub-division office. On the portal you can submit a new application, track its progress, print your application form, print your demand notice, pay the demand notice online, upload the paid receipt, and even apply for a change of name, tariff or load on an existing connection.
Coverage in August 2026 looks like this:
| DISCO | Where to apply |
|---|---|
| LESCO, GEPCO, PESCO, HESCO, SEPCO, QESCO, TESCO, HAZECO | enc.com.pk (main portal) |
| IESCO | iesco.enc.com.pk (own copy of the same system) |
| FESCO | fesco.enc.com.pk (own copy of the same system) |
| MEPCO | MEPCO Smart App, PowerSmart App & EOps, or a customer facilitation centre (not the ENC website) |
| K-Electric (Karachi) | K-Electric’s own portal at ke.com.pk — covered in its own section below |
The portal itself posts these routing notices on its homepage, so if you land on enc.com.pk as a MEPCO, IESCO or FESCO consumer, it will tell you where to go. HAZECO is the newest name on the list: the Hazara Electric Supply Company, carved out of PESCO’s territory for Hazara division, takes applications through the main portal.
Before you apply: pick the right load and phase
The application form asks for your connection type (domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural) and the load you want in kilowatts. Two decisions matter here.
Single-phase or three-phase. An ordinary house with lights, fans, a fridge and one or two air conditioners runs comfortably on a single-phase connection. Homes with heavy simultaneous load, lifts, water pumps beyond domestic size, or any kind of machinery need three-phase. If in doubt, add up the wattage of what you expect to run at the same time; your wiring contractor can do this in minutes. Keep in mind that domestic connections with a sanctioned load of 5 kW or more are generally billed on time-of-use meters, which means separate peak and off-peak rates, and they fall outside the protected-consumer category explained in our protected vs unprotected guide.
Which processing category you fall into. NEPRA’s Consumer Service Manual (revised 2025) sorts every application into five categories, and the category decides who sanctions your connection and how many days the DISCO gets:
| Category | Load | Voltage | Sanctioning officer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Up to 15 kW | 230/400 V | SDO/AM(O) for residential (A1), commercial (A2) and general services (A3); XEN/DM(O) for other connection types |
| 2 | Above 15 kW up to 70 kW | 230/400 V | XEN/DM(O) |
| 3 | Above 70 kW up to 500 kW | 230/400 V | SE/Manager(O) |
| 4 | Above 500 kW up to 5,000 kW | 11 kV or 33 kV | CEO |
| 5 | All loads at 66 kV and above | 66 kV+ | CEO |
Almost every home and small shop is Category 1. That is the fastest lane, and it is the one this guide mostly assumes.
Documents checklist: get these ready first
The Consumer Service Manual spells out what must accompany the application form. Scan everything before you start, because the portal takes uploads with the form. Third-party guides consistently report a size limit of around 300 KB per file in JPG or PDF format, so compress your scans.
| Document | Who needs it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Attested CNIC copy of the applicant | Everyone | Both sides, clearly legible |
| Attested CNIC copy of a witness | Everyone | Any adult with a valid CNIC |
| Ownership proof of the premises | Everyone | Registry, fard from the patwari or land record centre, allotment letter, or whatever your DISCO accepts as proof for that area |
| Affidavit on Rs 50 non-judicial stamp paper | Everyone | Declares no previous connection existed at the premises, and that the applicant is not a defaulter of any DISCO; specimen downloadable from the ENC portal |
| No Objection Certificate from the landlord | Tenants | Plus the landlord’s ownership proof, CNIC copy, and the landlord’s own Rs 50 stamp-paper affidavit accepting responsibility for any default |
| Approved site plan / map / NOC from the civic authority | Some applicants | Required for certain premises; the manual relaxes it for rural houses and shops, premises inside approved housing societies, and old abadis on inherited land |
| Wiring test report | Everyone, before metering | Issued by the Electric Inspector or his authorized wiring contractor once your house wiring is complete |
| Company documents | Companies only | Certificate of incorporation, board resolution authorising a signatory, list of directors with CNIC copies |
| A neighbour’s bill reference number | Everyone applying online | The 14-digit reference from the nearest connection; the form uses it to identify your feeder and sub-division |
The neighbour’s bill deserves a word. The online form asks for the reference number of the closest existing connection so the system can place you on the right transformer and feeder. Ask next door for any recent bill and note the reference number printed on it. If the neighbour cannot find a paper bill, our guide on checking a bill without the reference number shows how to recover it from a meter number or address.
One reassurance for buyers of older property: the manual states plainly that holding an electricity connection does not by itself constitute proof of ownership, and equally that you must declare any previous connection at the premises. If the old owner left unpaid bills, expect those to surface during scrutiny.
How to apply for a new electricity connection on the ENC portal
- Open the right portal. enc.com.pk for LESCO, GEPCO, PESCO, HESCO, SEPCO, QESCO, TESCO and HAZECO; iesco.enc.com.pk for IESCO; fesco.enc.com.pk for FESCO.
- Click “Apply.” No account or password is needed to start a consumer application; the office-side logins you see (SDO, XEN, SE) are for DISCO staff.
- Select your DISCO, sub-division and connection category. Domestic for a house, commercial for a shop, plus the tariff and load you settled on above.
- Enter the neighbour’s bill reference number. This pins your application to the correct feeder and transformer.
- Fill in your personal and premises details. Name, father’s name, CNIC, mobile number, full installation address and postal address.
- Upload your scanned documents. CNIC copies, ownership proof, affidavit and the rest of the checklist, each within the file-size limit.
- Submit and save your tracking ID. The system issues an application/tracking number. Write it down and screenshot it; every later step, from tracking to printing the demand notice, hangs off this number.
- Print the application form. Use the portal’s “Print Form” option. Keep a signed copy with your original documents, because the field staff who survey your premises may ask for the paper file.
- Wait for verification and the site survey. The sub-division registers the application, checks your wiring test report and surveys the site. For Category 1 the manual allows 4 days for this stage.
- Receive your demand notice. Once the cost estimate is prepared and vetted, the demand notice is issued; Category 1 allows 6 further days for this stage. You can print it from the portal with your tracking number.
If the DISCO concludes it cannot give you a connection under the rules, it cannot simply sit on the file. The manual requires it to return your application with written reasons within the same time frame allowed for issuing the demand notice.
For a Lahore-specific walkthrough with screenshots of each ENC screen, see our LESCO, IESCO, MEPCO or K-Electric new connection guide.
The demand notice: what it is and what you actually pay
The demand notice is the DISCO’s formal bill for getting you connected. It covers two things, usually issued simultaneously: the capital cost / connection charges (the material and labour to physically connect you) and a refundable security deposit at the DISCO’s approved rates.
There is no flat national fee for a new connection, so treat any website quoting one exact rupee figure for every applicant with suspicion. The Consumer Service Manual sets the formula instead:
| Component | How it is charged |
|---|---|
| Cost of material | Actual cost, including 12% store handling charges (call this X) |
| Installation charges | 8% of X |
| Electrification design vetting | 1.5% of X, only for housing societies, plazas and high-rise buildings |
| Security deposit | At prevailing approved rates for your category, refundable when the connection ends |
In practice this means a house a few metres from an existing pole pays modestly, while a connection needing new poles, cable runs or a transformer costs real money. The manual protects you in two useful ways here. First, no demand notice may be issued without full details: you are entitled to an itemised estimate, and for cost-deposit cases a complete bill of quantities. Second, residential applicants up to 20 kW (and commercial up to 15 kW) cannot be charged material-price escalation later; the figure on your demand notice is the figure.
Paying it works like this:
- You get 30 days to pay, counted from issuance.
- A further 30-day grace period can be allowed on request, but you must apply at least three days before the original due date.
- Payment goes to the designated bank branches printed on the notice, or online where the DISCO supports it. The ENC portal’s “Pay DN” and “Upload DN” options exist for exactly this; after paying, upload the receipt so the system marks you paid.
- Installments are allowed on request for the capital cost and security deposit, with no markup. If material prices rise during your installment period, though, that escalation is on you.
Once the demand notice is paid, the DISCO assigns your application its final priority number in the connection queue, and the clock starts on the physical work.
NEPRA’s timeline: how many days the DISCO gets
Annexure III of the Consumer Service Manual fixes the day count for each stage. These are the standards every DISCO signed up to:
| Load category | Application to demand notice | Work order, execution and metering | Total days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category 1 — up to 15 kW | 10 days (4 registration + survey, 6 estimate + demand notice) | 20 days (11 work execution + 9 metering) | 30 |
| Category 2 — above 15 kW to 70 kW | 10 days | 34 days | 44 |
| Category 3 — above 70 kW to 500 kW | 12 days | 46 days | 58 |
| Category 4 — above 500 kW to 5,000 kW | 30 days | 76 days | 106 |
Read the table honestly: the days you spend arranging documents, fixing wiring or paying the demand notice are yours, and they pause the DISCO’s clock. The manual is explicit that the DISCO must provide the connection within the stipulated period after receipt of full payment. So for a typical house, the fair expectation is a demand notice within about ten days of a complete application, and a live meter within about twenty days of paying it.
Category 5 (66 kV and above) runs on a much longer, project-scale schedule involving NTDC, and if you are building at that scale you will have consultants handling it.
Tracking your application
Use the Track option on the same portal where you applied and enter your tracking/application ID. The system shows which stage your file is sitting at: registration, survey, estimate, demand notice issued, paid, work order, or metering. The portal also lets you reprint the application form and the demand notice at any time with the same ID, and demand notices are additionally sent by registered post, courier or online delivery under the manual’s rules.
Two practical tips. Check the status before calling anyone, because the stage name tells you which officer owns your file (SDO for survey and sanction on small connections, XEN above that). And keep your mobile number active; the number you gave on the form is where any SMS updates and queries land.
Deadline passed and still no meter? The complaint path
Delays happen, and the manual anticipates them: complaints about new connections, including delay in issuance of demand notices, are a named complaint category that DISCOs must handle through their consumer service centres and one-window operations.
Escalate in this order:
- The sub-division. Visit or call the SDO office named in your acknowledgement, quote your tracking ID, and ask which stage the file is stuck at. Many delays turn out to be a missing document or an unverified wiring test report you can fix the same day.
- The DISCO’s complaint system. Lodge a written complaint at the consumer service centre or through the DISCO’s helpline and note the complaint number. Every DISCO’s numbers are collected in our electricity complaint helplines guide.
- NEPRA. If the DISCO does not resolve it, file with the regulator through the online complaint system at nepra.org.pk or the NEPRA Asaan Approach mobile app, both of which give you a tracking number for the complaint itself. State your application date, tracking ID, demand notice payment date and the Consumer Service Manual time frame for your category. NEPRA’s Consumer Affairs Division takes service-standard violations seriously precisely because the day counts are written into the manual.
Keep everything: the printed application, the paid demand notice receipt, complaint numbers, even call dates. A one-page timeline of your case is the most persuasive document you can attach.
Per-DISCO notes: the same portal, eleven flavours
| DISCO | New-connection nuance |
|---|---|
| LESCO | Applies through the main ENC portal; our step-by-step LESCO walkthrough covers every screen |
| IESCO | Own ENC instance at iesco.enc.com.pk; applications on the main portal will not reach it |
| GEPCO | Main ENC portal; Gujranwala division’s urban feeders make neighbour-reference matching straightforward |
| FESCO | Own ENC instance at fesco.enc.com.pk, same forms and tracking |
| MEPCO | Off the ENC website entirely: use the MEPCO Smart App, PowerSmart App & EOps, or a customer facilitation centre |
| PESCO | Main ENC portal; note that Hazara division areas now fall under HAZECO, which also applies via the main portal |
| HESCO | Main ENC portal for Hyderabad region; ownership proof standards for older abadis follow the manual’s relaxations |
| SEPCO | Main ENC portal for upper Sindh |
| QESCO | Main ENC portal; agricultural tubewell connections are a large share of applications and follow the same demand-notice process |
| TESCO | Main ENC portal for the merged tribal districts |
| K-Electric | Completely separate process on ke.com.pk — see below |
K-Electric: Karachi’s separate route
K-Electric never joined the ENC system. Its new-connection process lives on the company’s own site, and in 2026 it works like this, per K-Electric’s new connections page:
- Apply online through the form at ke.com.pk/new-connection-form/, or download the paper application form free and submit it with documents.
- KE splits applicants into Asaan Meter (below 80 kW) for ordinary homes and shops, and separate tracks for housing/multi-storey projects and industrial connections above 80 kW.
- On submission you get a unique application ID, and you track progress at new-connections.ke.com.pk.
- KE publishes a load assessment calculator and a cost calculator so you can estimate the connection cost before applying.
- Payments are accepted through bank branches in Karachi and Hub, digital banking apps, retailers and KE’s customer experience centres.
- Support runs through the 118 helpline (24/7) and KE WhatsApp at 0348-0000118.
The document set mirrors the DISCO checklist: CNIC, ownership or tenancy proof, and a wiring test report. K-Electric operates under its own NEPRA-approved consumer service manual, so connection time standards and the demand-notice mechanics are regulated there too, with NEPRA as the same escalation forum if deadlines slip.
After the meter goes live
Your first bill usually arrives in the next monthly billing cycle after installation, carrying the 14-digit reference number that becomes your key to everything: online bill checking, complaint filing, tax records. Save it. If the paper bill goes missing, you can recover your bill without the reference number using the meter or account details.
Two things worth knowing as a brand-new consumer. Your slab treatment depends on consumption history, so read how the protected and unprotected categories work before your first summer. And the bill will carry more than energy charges; our guide to taxes and surcharges on electricity bills decodes every line, while the per-unit price guide covers current rates.
Once your connection is running, bookmark your DISCO’s bill-check page on our all DISCOs hub: one click to view, download or print any month’s bill, free.
FAQs
How much does a new electricity connection cost in Pakistan in 2026?
There is no single national fee. Your demand notice adds up the actual cost of material for your service connection (plus 12 percent store handling), installation charges of 8 percent of that material cost, and a refundable security deposit at your DISCO’s approved rates. A short service drop to a nearby pole costs far less than a connection needing new poles or a transformer. NEPRA requires the demand notice to be itemised, so you can see every line before you pay.
How long does a new electricity connection take?
NEPRA’s Consumer Service Manual allows 30 days in total for loads up to 15 kW: about 10 days from application to demand notice, then roughly 20 days from your payment to a working meter. Larger loads get 44 days (above 15 kW to 70 kW), 58 days (above 70 kW to 500 kW) and 106 days (above 500 kW to 5 MW). Delays beyond these standards are grounds for a complaint.
Can a tenant apply for a new electricity connection?
Yes. Along with the standard papers, a tenant needs the owner’s ownership proof, a No Objection Certificate from the landlord, an attested copy of the landlord’s CNIC, and the landlord’s affidavit on Rs 50 stamp paper accepting responsibility for any default by the tenant.
What is a demand notice and how do I pay it?
It is the DISCO’s official payment demand covering your connection cost and security deposit, issued after your application and site survey are approved. You get 30 days to pay, and a further 30-day grace period can be allowed if you request it at least three days before the due date. Pay at the designated bank branches printed on the notice, or online where your DISCO supports it; the ENC portal has Print DN and Pay DN options for this.
Is applying on the ENC portal free?
Submitting the application costs nothing on the portal, and no account or password is needed to start. Your actual costs come later through the demand notice. Be wary of agents charging file fees for something you can do yourself in fifteen minutes.
Why can’t I apply for MEPCO, IESCO or FESCO on enc.com.pk?
IESCO and FESCO run their own copies of the same system at iesco.enc.com.pk and fesco.enc.com.pk, and enc.com.pk directs their consumers there. MEPCO has moved off the ENC website; it takes applications through the MEPCO Smart App, the PowerSmart App and EOps, or its customer facilitation centres.
What can I do if the deadline passes and I still have no meter?
Start with the sub-divisional officer named on your acknowledgement, then lodge a written complaint at the DISCO’s consumer service centre and keep the complaint number. If nothing moves, escalate to NEPRA through its online complaint system at nepra.org.pk or the NEPRA Asaan Approach mobile app, quoting your tracking ID (see our guide on tracking your ENC application status) and the Consumer Service Manual time frame for your category.
Do I need a wiring test report before the meter is installed?
Yes. The Consumer Service Manual lists a wiring test report issued by the Electric Inspector or his authorized wiring contractor among the required documents. In practice, most applicants get it from a licensed wiring contractor once the house wiring is complete, and the sub-division verifies it during the survey stage.