PTV licence fee
Definition. The PTV licence fee is a flat monthly amount collected on electricity bills on behalf of Pakistan Television Corporation, charged per connection regardless of consumption and regardless of whether the household owns a television.
Also called: TV fee · PTV fee · Television licence fee · ٹی وی فیس
Where you see it: A small fixed line in the charges block, usually printed as TV Fee.
Flat, not metered
Unlike almost every other line, this one does not scale with units. Domestic connections carry one rate and commercial connections a higher one, fixed by government notification.
Because it is flat, it is proportionally heaviest on the smallest bills — a noticeable share of a 60-unit lifeline bill and a rounding error on a 900-unit one.
The 'I have no television' argument
It does not succeed. The fee is levied per electricity connection under notification, not per television set, and there is no declaration route to opt out on the basis of not owning one.
What does exist are category exemptions — certain religious, welfare and lifeline categories have at times been excluded. Those are applied on the account record, not on request at the counter.
Multiple meters, multiple fees
The fee attaches to the connection. A house with two meters pays it twice; a plaza with thirty commercial meters pays it thirty times at the commercial rate.
This is worth checking on properties where redundant old meters were never formally removed — each dormant meter can still be carrying its own fixed charges.
Frequently asked questions
Has the PTV fee amount changed recently?
It has been revised by notification more than once. Rather than trusting a figure quoted online, read the TV Fee line on your own most recent bill — that is the rate currently applied to your category.
Can the fee be removed if the property is vacant?
Fixed charges including this one continue while the connection is live. A permanently vacant property is better served by a formal disconnection than by leaving a live meter accruing fixed lines.
Related terms
- Fixed charges — Why some Pakistani bills carry a charge before a single unit is used, which categories pay it per kilowatt, and how it interacts with sanctioned load.
- Meter rent — What the meter rent line covers, why it differs between single-phase and three-phase connections, and whether buying your own meter removes it.
- Lifeline consumer — The lowest rung of Pakistan's residential tariff: qualifying consumption, the exemptions that come with it, and what pushes a household off it.
Go further
Back to the full 44-term glossary, or open your own bill with the reference number lookup.