The ruling party, which allows the citizens to turn on the combi boiler at the lowest level even on a cold winter day, will not turn the boiler on at all with the gradual tariff. Using the concept of price update instead of a hike, Justice and Development Party (AKP) this time switched to a gradual tariff. The government, which almost broke the back of the citizens with gradual hikes, switched to a gradual tariff first on electricity and then on natural gas. We talked to Energy and Climate Specialist Önder Algedik about the games behind the scenes of the gradual tariff passed by Turkish Grand National Assembly in order to provide a ‘fair bill (!)’ and the problems that citizens will experience.
“THEY COLLECTS THE MONEY LEFT IN THE PUBLIC THROUGH HIKES”
Energy and Climate Specialist Önder Algedik said, “We know what the game behind this is from the gradual electricity regulation. We have seen that the gradual electricity tariff creates inequality by saying equal bills in electricity. With the gradual increase tariff, 23 billion Turkish Liras (TL) will be collected from the public only from electricity bills every month. This is almost as much as the currency speculation on December 20. But the only difference is what happened on December 20. It was a day, this will happen every month. Now AKP wants to add this to natural gas. The gradual tariff issue in natural gas is a new example of money transfer from the public. Already at the beginning of the year, there was a 25 percent increase. Compared to last winter, billions of money will be taken from us. But it's not enough. The AKP, which impoverished the country with the currency crisis, is now collecting the money left in the people by electricity and natural gas hikes.”
“THE REMEDY IS EXPROPRIATION IN ENERGY”
Stating that the solution is expropriation, “The solution is expropriation in energy. Electricity Generation Company (EÜAŞ) should sell electricity to the public rather than to companies at a cheap price. If EÜAŞ gives electricity to the public, the hikes will be taken back, and a 20 percent discount will come under 150kwh. EÜAŞ finances the losses of distribution companies. Wouldn't it be better if it finances the public instead? Is the duty of EÜAŞ to finance distribution companies or to meet the needs of citizens? Why will EÜAŞ finance the losses of distribution companies? You are a public institution, you meet the need of public. You should welcome it,” Algedik added.
“HIKES DUE TO THE INVOICE DATE NOT FULLY REFLECTED”
Stating that the hikes in electricity are not fully reflected due to the billing period, Algedik said, “In electricity, people do not pay the entire hike at the moment. You need to read the coming invoices well. If invoiced from December 15 to January 15, it reflects half of the hike. There is a hike that changes depending on the invoice dates. 60 percent of households in Turkey spend less than 150 kWh. 150kwh used to be 137 TL, now it will be 206 TL. This is a huge amount of money.”