Find the Row Your Gas Use Falls In
SNGPL does not charge every home the same rate. Your month's HM³ picks one slab. That slab sets the price per MMBTU and the fixed charge. The expensive surprise is crossing 0.9 hm³ in winter and leaving the protected rate.
hm³ means hundred cubic metres. It is not "thousand cubic metres." 0.9 hm³ is 90 cubic metres. A geyser left on through a cold week can cross that line by itself.
1. Read HM³ on the bill
This is the volume for the month. If you only have the meter, cubic metres divided by 100 is HM³. Open the duplicate bill if the paper copy has not arrived.
2. Protected or not
Under 0.9 hm³ in the winter months (November to February) is the protected group. Over that line, the home is non-protected and the higher rows apply.
3. One row, then the extras
The rate in that row is per MMBTU, after SNGPL converts volume with pressure and calorific value. Fixed charges, meter rent, and GST sit on top.
Match this table to your bill
OGRA revises rates. If the figure on your statement differs, the bill wins.
Protected and Non-Protected Slabs
Protected status is for low winter use: under 0.9 hm³ a month in the peak months. It is there so a small household is not priced like a house running heaters in every room. One winter month over 0.9 hm³ can move the account to non-protected, and the higher rate then applies until SNGPL reviews the category.
Non-protected does not mean 0.9 thousand cubic metres. It means more than 0.9 hm³. Commercial connections, such as restaurants and bakeries, are not on this domestic table at all. They pay a commercial rate and a higher fixed charge.
| Category / slab | Monthly use (hm³) | Gas rate per MMBTU | Fixed charges |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protected, slab 1 | Up to 0.25 | Rs. 200 | Rs. 400 |
| Protected, slab 2 | 0.25 – 0.50 | Rs. 300 | Rs. 400 |
| Protected, slab 3 | 0.50 – 0.90 | Rs. 400 | Rs. 400 |
| Non-protected, slab 1 | Up to 0.50 | Rs. 500 | Rs. 1,000 |
| Non-protected, slab 2 | 0.50 – 1.00 | Rs. 750 | Rs. 1,000 |
| Non-protected, slab 3 | 1.00 – 2.00 | Rs. 1,150 | Rs. 1,000 |
| Non-protected, high slab | Above 3.00 | Rs. 3,500+ | Rs. 2,000 |
These are the bands this guide lists. OGRA can change them. There is no separate row here for 2.00 to 3.00 hm³. If your use sits in that gap, use the rate printed on the bill. A connection in Sindh or Balochistan is SSGC, with its own SSGC slab table.
Why the Total Is More Than Gas × Rate
The MMBTU line is only the fuel. The rest of the bill is added after it. If a previous reading was estimated, the correction lands here too.
| Line on the bill | What it is |
|---|---|
| MMBTU charge | Volume converted with the pressure factor and the gross calorific value (GCV), then priced at your slab. Gas quality varies slightly by source and season, which is why two homes with the same meter difference can differ by a little. |
| Fixed charges | Rs. 400 on the protected rows in the table above, Rs. 1,000 on the non-protected rows, Rs. 2,000 on the high slab. Charged even in a month you barely cooked. |
| Meter rent | A small monthly amount, often around Rs. 40 to Rs. 50, for the meter itself: checks, calibration, and replacement. |
| GST | Sales tax on the gas cost, collected on the bill. The percentage is the one printed that month, not a number to memorize from an old screenshot. |
| Adjustment or rebate | A correction from a locked meter, an estimated month, or an earlier overcharge. A "Meter Lock" bill is an estimate because the reader could not get in. Submit the real index in the SNGPL app before the next cutoff. |
| GIDC and other cess | Extra levies that show on some commercial and high domestic bills, meant for pipelines, LNG, and network costs. If a line is new and large, compare it with last month's bill before you pay. |
How a Small Increase Becomes a Large Bill
Suppose a protected home uses 0.80 hm³. It is on protected slab 3: Rs. 400 per MMBTU and Rs. 400 fixed. A colder fortnight pushes it to 1.10 hm³. That is no longer protected, and it is past 1.00 hm³, so the row is non-protected slab 3: Rs. 1,150 per MMBTU and Rs. 1,000 fixed. The extra gas is not the whole story. The rate on the gas, and the fixed charge, both step up.
If that bill is already issued and you cannot clear it before the due date, ask about a split before the surcharge lands. The steps are in SNGPL winter installments. Paying after the due date is the payment guide, including what to do when the app still says unpaid.
Stay Under 0.9 hm³ When You Can
- Turn the geyser off. Heat water for the morning and the evening, then stop. An all-day geyser is the usual reason a protected home crosses 0.9 hm³.
- Cover the pot. A pressure cooker and a lid cut the minutes the burner stays on.
- Seal the room you are heating. One closed room costs less than a heater fighting an open door.
- Treat a smell of gas as waste and as danger. A leaking valve raises HM³ and it can ignite. Close the meter valve, leave, and call 1199. Contacts are in the helpline guide.
- Do not wait for the paper bill.Email alerts arrive when the new bill is out, while you can still change how the geyser runs.
If the index on the meter today is already lower than the "present reading" on the bill, the read was high. Photograph the meter and file it from the complaint steps, or take it to the circle office.
Frequently Asked Questions
Official sources to check:SNGPL official website
