Unpaid bills lead to electricity cuts for thousands in Turkey

In the first half of this year, according to data from the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, electricity was cut off for 41,064 citizens due to unpaid bills, Turkey's Sozcu newspaper reported.

Additionally, the electricity for 26,000 businesses and 2,700 farmers engaged in agricultural irrigation was also disconnected for the same reason.

CHP deputy Aliye Timisi Ersever raised concerns about the increasing number of individuals facing electricity disconnection due to unpaid bills over the past three years. In response to Ersever's inquiry, the Ministry of Energy provided information on the proportion of subscribers affected by electricity disconnection, avoiding direct disclosure of the actual numbers.

Calculating subscriber figures from official documents, Ersever determined that in the last 2.5 years, electricity was disconnected for 315,000 homes in 2021, 170,000 in 2022, and 41,000 in the first half of this year. The Ministry's response failed to specify the total number of subscribers but only provided the ratio of those with disconnected electricity due to unpaid bills.

Ersever emphasized the financial burden on affected citizens, revealing that in 2022 alone, consumers paid a total of 70 million TL to electricity companies for reconnection services. He also noted that the disconnection-reconnection fees had doubled within a year.

"The bitter truth, no matter how concealed, eventually surfaces. The public is living this reality every day," Ersever expressed.