Some 4 mln households to receive heating support: Minister

ANKARA

The government plans to distribute funds to up to 4 million households that use natural gas for heating to help them cover costs, Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık has said.

“Studies on this scheme will be completed soon. Applications to benefit from the heating support will start to be collected in the second half of February and payments to eligible households will begin in the second half of March,” Yanık told a group of journalists in Ankara on Jan. 15.

The payments will be made in two equal installments in March and October, according to the minister.

“Households will receive between 450 Turkish Liras [$33] and 1,150 liras [$85] annually and total support to be provided will amount to 3 billion liras,” she said.

Yanık also explained that the natural gas financial support will differ among the regions, with households in colder areas receiving higher payments.

“A household’s natural gas consumption in [the eastern province of] Erzurum is not the same with that of a household in the Aegean region. Our colleagues have worked on a thermal map as to determine the heating support to be provided,” she added.

National distributor Botaş announced last month that natural gas prices were hiked by 25 percent for residential use. Thus, the price of 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas was increased to 1,860 liras for households.