Mahir Ulutaş, Chairman of the Board of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers (EMO), said that the energy bill of 230 kWh, which is believed to be consumed by a family of four for the minimum standard of living, has risen from 211 TL in December 2021. Ulutaş stressed that he had made an effort to get its electricity running when needed through loans right after the blackouts, and said, “The minimum bill in the dormitories has increased by 703 percent between 2007 and March 2022.” We spoke to Mahir Ulutaş about the citizens’ rising electricity bills.
In an environment where the cost of living is at its highest and incomes are declining, is the number of citizens unable to pay their utility bills increasing?
Unfortunately, finding reliable energy data, including key indicators, is very difficult. Due to the multi-headed structure, the data of the respective public institutions often do not overlap completely. There are no publicly available payment statistics. If we look at the responses to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources parliamentary questions, we see that 3 million 449 thousand subscribers suffered cuts in 2021 due to irregular payments. According to EMRA’s statement, on the day that CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s power was cut off, 278,350 subscribers across the country had their power cut off because of their debts that night. This problem mainly affects more than a million of our citizens. Electrical power is a necessity and cannot be replaced by anything else. For this reason, citizens with payment difficulties try to get the electricity running immediately after the blackout, if necessary with loans. In view of the great economic crisis, the number of citizens with payment difficulties will undoubtedly increase in 2022 compared to the previous year.
There have been serious surges in electricity over the last year. How much electricity bill does a household receive?
The bill for 230 kWh of energy assumed to be consumed by a family of four for the minimum standard of living was 211 TL in December 2021. This number rose to 289.1 TL as of March 1, 2022. Before the privatization of the distribution areas, the housing bill of a family of four for the consumption of 230 kWh used for the minimum standard of living was 36 TL in 2007 and increased to 289.1 TL by March 2022. The minimum bill in the dormitories was increased by 703 percent between 2007 and March 2022. According to TURKSTAT data, the change in consumer price index between December 2007 and January 2022 is 424 percent. This situation led to privatizations making electricity more expensive than general inflation. The bill, which has been less than 100 TL for the past five years, rose to 300 TL for apartments. A family with two children living on minimum wage spends about 7 percent of their income on electricity bills.
IT CAN BECOME A FOOD CRISIS
Not only households, but also industrialists and farmers consume very expensive electricity in Turkey. what will you say
Various formulas have been tried for most of the last year in order not to directly reflect the energy costs of homes. The energy costs of industrial users who are large consumers and organizations in organized industrial zones included in the last resource tariff have increased more. It is this chart that is causing the high inflation we are witnessing today. With the change made by EMRA in the communiqué regulating the Last Resource Supply Tariff and implemented after July 1, 2022, the limit was reduced to 1 million kWh. Thus, for more industrial subscribers, a more expensive tariff is applied, where the spot market and YEKDEM costs are directly reflected. After this date we could face the problem of increasing production costs for the industry. This situation will trigger a new wave of poverty.
Given the cost of electricity for agricultural production, it seems inevitable that inflation, which is expected to ease over the summer months, will escalate. The current crisis is tending to escalate into a food crisis.
“CUT OFF IN 10 DAYS”
CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s stream was cut off. Can the acceptance deadlines not be extended in this crisis environment?
Deductions will be made within a maximum of 10 days after the last payment date. Companies generally prefer to notify as soon as the payment deadline has expired in order to shorten this deadline. For deduction, bills must not be paid continuously for at least three periods a year in the homes of families over 65, the disabled and martyrs. In this currently privatized area, the likelihood that distributors and utilities will agree to an extension, let alone a reduction, is very slim.
BRING THE ENERGY SECTOR TO THE PUBLIC
Whose pocket does the income from energy migration go to?
Power distribution companies have a twin brother: the commissioned utility. Only those companies, whose accounts are separate from the distribution company, charge the “end user energy cost” on the bills. It is paid to the sales companies with the sales fee. Solicitations by distributors for invoice financed investments may be carried out by subcontractors that these companies have established under other names and with whom they have worked. All profits of these companies belonging to the same owners are accounted for on the invoice. They have built a kind of profit chain. Electricity costs cannot be reduced to a reasonable level without breaking this chain. In order to create a healthy economy, our country must plan to nationalize energy companies.
What actions should be taken to reduce electricity bills?
The only way to bring down utility bills is to reverse the damage caused by liberalization and expropriation. Energy is to be withdrawn from the commercial activities of the profit-oriented private sector into the public sector.
IT WILL NOT BE EASY TO RENT
How much of the bills citizens receive is due to the electricity they use?
After the abolition of the energy fund, the TRT share remained as a tax burden on the electricity bill, the municipal consumption tax at 5 percent on the energy retail price and the VAT at 8 percent on the total bill. The government only responded to citizens’ expectations of reductions with a limited tax cut. The companies’ share of the bills has not decreased. As of April 1, 2022, 62.8 percent of the 230 kWh household bill, all of which have entered the low level, consists of energy costs, 26.7 percent of distribution costs and 10.5 percent of taxes.
Do you expect a new increase in electricity prices in the short term?
After January 1, the natural gas used to generate electricity was increased, this increase should also be reflected in electricity according to market rules, but it will not be easy to make an open increase in the short term at a time when society is suffocating.
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