Minister meets with electricity distributors

ANKARA

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez has met with representatives of electricity distribution companies in the afternoon today.

The main topic of the meeting was investments that should be made to protect households against disruptions caused by natural disasters.

All of the residences and businesses without power in Turkey’s southwestern province of Isparta have had their power supplies restored after days of outages caused by a massive snowstorm. The power outage affected nearly 300,000 customers of CK Enerji Akdeniz.

The government is also currently weighing several options to lower the electricity costs of households and businesses.

At the start of the year, a gradual tariff was introduced for households’ consumption, and the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) set the limit in the two-stage electricity billing system as 150 kilowatt-hours.

Under the newly introduced tariffs, consumption up to 150 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a month would cost 1.37 Turkish Liras per kWh, and consumption above this limit would cost 2.06 liras, corresponding to 50 percent and 127 percent increases in electricity prices.

Electricity prices for businesses also increased by around 127 percent.

In the face of mounting public criticism, the lower limit was lifted to 210 kWh, while presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın recently said that some steps will definitely be taken regarding electricity tariffs.

Energy costs increased by 27.4 percent in January from the previous month for an annual rise of 55.8 percent, the latest official data showed.