industryterm:electricity bills

Price of electricity increases by 68 percent in 2015
▻http://www.todayszaman.com/business_price-of-electricity-increases-by-68-percent-in-2015_405857.ht

Despite the fact that the cost of generating electricity fell in 2015, electric bills did not go down in line with the decrease due to the increasing expenses of distribution, a hike in the illegal electricity usage charge and the cost of meter reading.

According to a recent report released by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, the cost of energy usage, which comprises the main pricing item in electricity bills, steadily declined in 2015.

However, those secondary items such as distribution steadily increased, prompting electricity distribution companies to steadily raise the electricity usage price by 38 percent. In addition to the increase stemming from the distribution expenses, extra payments in bills due to the illegal use of electricity saw a 65 increase in price

Bien que combattus, heureusement qu’il reste des usagers illégaux d’électricité sinon je ne vois pas comment le gouvernement turc pourrait justifier les hausses de prix de l’énergie.... libéralisation des marchés et diminution des subventions peut-être ?

#Electricité #Turquie #Tarification

Erdoğan plays politics with illegal electricity usage
▻http://www.todayszaman.com/business_erdogan-plays-politics-with-illegal-electricity-usage_396347.h

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appears to have been manipulating the much-debated problem of illegal electricity usage in the eastern part of Turkey, a controversial issue frequently on the public agenda after video recordings revealed clandestine ties between distribution companies and the government in 2014.

In a regular meeting with muhtars (headmen) at the presidential palace on Wednesday, Erdoğan said the government has been expending diligent efforts to overcome security problems in the eastern provinces; however, it suffers financial losses from illegal electricity usage, a common headache for distribution companies in the region.

There are nearly 37 million subscribers registered with energy companies in Turkey paying approximately TL 70 billion in electricity bills ?????, of which an amount of between TL 5 million and TL 6 million each year is surcharged from those who pay their bills regularly. Yet the illegal usage rate in some areas is much higher than in others.

Abdullah Tivnikli, a businessman known for his close ties to Erdoğan, said early in January that he wants to exit his partnership with Dicle Electricity Distribution (DEDAŞ) — which serves 1.5 million subscribers in the Southeast — in order to avoid further losses due to widespread illegal use of electricity in the area in which the company operates. After the revelation of massive corruption investigations late in 2013, Tivnikli was allegedly heard asking then-Deputy Undersecretary in the Prime Ministry İbrahim Kalın for reimbursement from the government for subscribers’ unpaid electricity bills in a voice recording leaked on YouTube in April 2014.

Erdoğan seems to have aimed at relieving Tivnikli’s concerns as he addressed unpaid electricity bills immediately after his talk about security woes.

“They [Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)] dig up the streets, lay mines along the roads and threaten people, set fire to their automobiles and bar highway and dam construction [in the eastern provinces]. Can you imagine? What will these reservoirs be for? Collecting water to irrigate dry areas… They generate electricity, if they are hydroelectric power plants. [When the PKK prevents dam construction] the burden will be on the government, and they will say ‘the state does not provide electricity for us.’ They are the ones who cut the electricity supply. The price of the electricity, unfortunately, is not paid as you may probably know,” Erdoğan said.

According to another voice recording leaked on Twitter, also in April of last year, Kalın told Tivnikli that the prime minister [Erdoğan at the time] was in favor of the idea of the state paying the company for illegally consumed electricity, given that the rate of unpaid electricity bills in the Southeast was as high as 60-70 percent

#Electricité #privatisation #PKK

State-owned broadcaster makes TL 800 million from tax in electricity bills
▻http://www.todayszaman.com/business_state-owned-broadcaster-makes-tl-800-million-from-tax-in-elect

Plus de 50% de la propagande télévisée AKP (via la 1ère chaine publique) est financée par les citoyens turcs eux mêmes grâce à une taxe indirecte sur leurs factures d’électricité...

The amount that the state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) made in 2013 from taxpayers’ electricity bills totaled TL 800 million, which is 54 percent of its total annual revenue, according to a report released by the Court of Accounts on Dec. 31, 2014.

Totaling TL 1.48 billion in 2013, TRT’s revenue for the year was composed of TL 800 million from a TRT tax on electricity bills TL 560 million in fees from the sale of every device containing a radio or television transmitter and TL 110 million in advertising revenue.

Electricity subscribers are charged a tax which goes to TRT which amounts to as much as 2 percent of their electricity bills. In spite of the fact that the institution’s commercial revenues decreased in 2013, its earnings from the electricity tax surged 20.9 percent. While in 2012 the electricity bill tax generated TL 662 million according to the report, the corresponding figure was TL 800 million in 2013. The total expenditure of TRT, meanwhile, totaled TL 1.27 billion in 2013.

Indirect taxation has long been an issue in Turkey, where two-thirds of governmental revenues are levied from citizens via indirect taxes. When it came to the power first in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government pledged to remove the TRT contribution from electricity bills in order to supply cheap and sustainable electricity to the public. However, since then taxpayers have continued to subsidize TRT.

The state-run TRT has come under sharp criticism for also its favoritism in the coverage of then- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, particularly since the official start of the presidential election campaign in July 2014. Although the Constitution requires TRT to offer fair coverage to political leaders, Erdoğan appeared on TRT Haber, a subsidiary of TRT, for a total of 559 minutes during the election period. While Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the joint presidential candidate of the two leading opposition parties, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), was given a chance to appear on TRT Haber for 137 minutes, the public broadcaster devoted 18 minutes to the last candidate, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtaş. Meanwhile, TRT Türk, another subsidiary of TRT, aired five hours and 26 minutes of Erdoğan in three days, with no other candidates being broadcasted at any time on the station during the election period. As a result of this unfair coverage during the election period, TRT was given the highest penalty in its history by the Supreme Election Board (YSK)

#Electricité #Politique #taxation

ECHR : Turkey Discriminated Cemevis
▻http://bianet.org/english/world/160434-echr-turkey-discriminated-cemevis

Le refus acquittement des factures d’électricité des lieux de culte alévis par l’Autorité des Affaires Religieuses en Turquie : quand l’énergie se transforme en levier de violence symbolique

“Cemevis are not places of worship”

In August 2006, submitting that the Foundation was a place of worship for the Alevi community, its director requested exemption from paying electricity bills, since the legislation provides that the 4 electricity bills for places of worship are paid from a fund administered by the Directorate of Religious Affairs (DAR).

The courts dismissed the Foundation’s claims, basing their decision on the DAR’s opinion that the cemevis are not places of worship but places of assembly in which spiritual ceremonies are held. The total amount of the Yenibosna Centre’s bills comes to 668,012.13 Turkish lira (TRY), or EUR 289,182, under the exchange rate at the relevant time.

#Electricité #Alévisme #Turquie #Court_européenne

Minister targets PKK over illegal electricity use
▻http://www.todayszaman.com/news-352421-minister-targets-pkk-over-illegal-electricity-use.html

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız singled out the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) while addressing recent protests about electricity cuts in southeast Turkey on Tuesday.

“We know that the PKK has said it would be great if you do not pay your bills,” said Yıldız, referring to the illicit use of electricity that has been a problem in the Southeast for years.

“It must be known that the number of people who pay their electricity bills in this region is around 10 percent. [The Ministry of Energy] serves 77 million people. We need to stress to the public that there is a difference between those who pay their bills and those who do not. It is not right for those who do not pay to take from those who do,” continued Yıldız.

“Those who have not paid their bills — intentionally or unintentionally — must do so immediately," said Yıldız.

Illegal electricity usage reportedly cost every Turkish household registered with an energy company TL 140 last year. A total of TL 4.9 billion was lost through unpaid electricity because of illicit usage in 2013.

The formerly state-owned Dicle Electricity Distribution Company (DEDAŞ) was privatized last year. One of the DEDAŞ partners, pro-government businessman Abdullah Tivnikli, came under scrutiny when it was revealed that he had received loans from Kuveyt Türk — a bank where Tivnikli is the deputy board manager — to help finance the privatization venture.

An extended period of drought, which began at the end of last year, has severely reduced the volume of water in Turkey’s reservoirs and raised concerns that electricity production will decline.

#Electricité
#Piratage
#Privatisation
#PKK

Egyptians launch campaigns against paying electricity bills amid power crisis

▻http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/72214.aspx

Egyptian activists have launched online campaigns to withhold paying electricity bills in protest against frequent power cuts, which the government says is due to fuel shortages.