Report: Three billion lira pandemic support for electricity companies to be paid by citizens

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About three billion lira (~366 million USD) of aid to be provided by the state to electricity companies due to the difficulties they experienced during the coronavirus pandemic will be added to electricity bills, daily Sözcü reported.

According to the Draft Amendment to the Electricity Market Capacity Mechanism, the "build-operate" power plants and plants that are older than 13 years and use imported coal and natural gas will be included in the "support mechanism" as of July 1.

The owners of the plants in question will have to apply within 15 days after the official publication of the regulations in order to receive the aid.

The money to be paid to the companies will be added to the revenue cap of the state-run Directorate General of Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEİAŞ).

"Hidden price increase"

The expenditures in the revenue cap will be added to electricity bills. Therefore, there will be a "hidden increase" in electricity prices, according to the report.

Electricity production companies have been receiving support payments since 2018. They were paid 1.4 billion lira in 2018, 2 billion lira in 2019 and 2.2 billion lira in 2020. The planned payment for this year was 2.6 billion lira but it's expected to reach 3 billion lira due to the pandemic.

Four natural gas plants and one coal-fired power plant will benefit from the aids, says the report.

According to the draft regulation, the amendment aims to help power plants that are in a difficult situation due to the decreased electricity consumption during the pandemic. (HA/VK)