A new era is beginning in electricity and natural gas bills. Those with high electricity consumption will have to pay more starting from February. Bills exceeding 417 kilowatt-hours, which is over 1,050 Turkish liras, will reflect the actual costs. About 1.2 million residential subscribers will be affected by the regulation. Sources in the sector indicated that the bills of subscribers exceeding the limit will double. Energy Minister Bayraktar also stated that there is no agenda for increases in electricity and gas prices.

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar mentioned that they are working to remove the subsidized prices for high-consumption residential subscribers and that these subscribers will purchase electricity at the actual price after February. Responding to questions about electricity tariffs before the AK Party Parliamentary Group Meeting, Bayraktar said, “With the latest regulation by EPDK, citizens with a monthly consumption of more than two times, or 417 kilowatt-hours, will start paying the actual cost of electricity from February. This is essentially the essence of the regulation,” he said. According to Bayraktar, the average electricity bill of a household in Turkey is 414 liras.

If an individual’s monthly bill exceeds 1,050 liras, they will start purchasing electricity at the “actual cost.” Bayraktar emphasized that there are about 40 million residential subscribers in Turkey, and 3% of them, that is 1.2 million subscribers, will be affected by this situation. He stated, “These are, as I said, the high consumption group who have large houses, use more electrical appliances, maybe have an electric vehicle, all these people will pay the electricity price more in line with its cost. The regulation includes that.”

According to sector sources, if a limit of 5,000 kilowatt-hours of annual consumption is set, those who exceed this limit will see their bills double under the last resort supply tariff regulation. A sector source explained, “Currently, a bill with a monthly consumption around 420 kilowatt-hours costs approximately 1,000 liras. If there is a last resort supply regulation based on the mentioned 5,000 kilowatt-hours, this bill will increase to about 2,000 liras. This will result in an increase of around 96-97%.”

Bayraktar pointed out that support should be given to those who really need it, stating, “It means that those with high consumption can afford their electricity bills. Of course, we will make exceptions. Mosques, cemeteries… They are already in the residential group. They will continue with those exceptions. There are places where we show special sensitivity but we think it is not meaningful to provide support to segments that truly do not need additional state subsidies.”