Turkey raises household electricity and gas prices by 20 per cent

Utility price increases expected to push inflation up by 0.8 percentage points, according to a Reuters calculation

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Part who refuses to pay his electricity bills in protest at the high energy prices that Turkish households are facing, and his wife Selvi at their home in Ankara, Turkey. APShow less

Turkish authorities on Thursday raised electricity and natural gas prices for households by about 20 per cent and by about 50 per cent for industry, putting further upward pressure on inflation, which was running at nearly 80 per cent in July.

The utility price increases are expected to push inflation up by 0.8 percentage points, according to a Reuters calculation, while higher industrial prices lead to an indirect increase in inflation as producers pass higher costs on to consumers.

Turkey's EPDK energy regulator said it had raised household electricity prices by 20 per cent, those used by public and services sectors by 30 per cent and those used in the industry by 50 per cent.

State energy importer Botas said it raised the natural gas price for domestic use by 20.4 per cent, by 47.6 per cent for small to medium-scale industrial customers, and by 50.8 per cent for large industrial users.

The price of gas used for electricity production was raised by 49.5 per cent, Botas said.

Both bodies cited the conflict in Ukraine and global developments, including the Covid-19 pandemic, as reasons for the increases.

Households and businesses in Turkey face significant increases in their fuel bills. Bloomberg

Turkey is almost completely reliant on imports to meet its natural gas and oil needs and domestic demand has risen since the Covid-19 pandemic. The rise in global energy prices this year, as well as the lira's sharp decline ― 44 per cent in 2021 and more than 27 per cent this year ― have stoked domestic prices.

Household natural gas prices have risen 174 per cent this year, small to medium-scale industrial gas prices were raised 277 per cent and large industrial prices by 379 per cent.

The state still subsidises more than 80 per cent of natural gas prices for households, Botas said on Thursday.