Government to abolish some fees from electricity bills

The Turkish government has decided to remove two fees from consumers' electricity bills that will help millions of households spend less on power annually.

Two fixed payments, one is the TRT (state-run broadcaster) share and the other Energy Fund, will be eliminated from the bills, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Nov. 8, following a cabinet meeting.

The government move means effectively some 2.7 percent reduction in electricity bill.  Consumers presently pay 2 percent levy for the TRT and another 0.7 percent for the Energy Fund.

With those fixed payments removed, households' spending on electricity bill are expected to decline by around 930 million Turkish Liras (some $96 million), according to Anadolu Agency.

The country's electricity consumption amounted to 241 billion kilowatt-hours over the past year of which around 71 billion were used by households, but the largest consumer was the industry sector at 107.5 billion kilowatt-hours. Households pay around 48 liras per kilowatt-hour.

According to a report by the Court of Accounts, around 1.3 billion liras were transferred to the Energy Ministry through the Energy Fund, while the TRT received another 1.2 billion liras from the fees collected from electricity bills.

Turkey, Economy,