State support for natural gas reduced following 25 percent price hike

The Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) has announced that electricity and natural gas prices have been increased, effective from tomorrow. The statement included the phrase, "A tiered pricing application has also been introduced for residential consumers (household consumers)."

TIERED SYSTEM ACTIVATED

With the regulation that came into effect as of April 4, 2026, it is anticipated that high-consumption subscribers will benefit less from state support and pay higher bills. Based on average consumption values at the provincial level, a higher price will be applied to subscribers whose consumption is 75 percent above the average.

While the plan aims to reduce state support for villas and detached houses with high energy consumption, it is expected that approximately 2 million 800 thousand out of a total of 21 million subscribers will be affected by this change. However, no official figure has been shared regarding the matter.

The implementation does not mean that support will be completely removed; subscriber groups that are supported and those that are less supported will be created.

PROVINCE-BASED CONSUMPTION DATA

According to 2023 data, the highest natural gas consumption per household occurred in Hakkari with 1,401 cubic meters. Erzurum followed with 1,348, Ardahan with 1,317, Muş with 1,311, and Ağrı with 1,224 cubic meters.

The lowest consumption was recorded in Adana with 521 cubic meters. Osmaniye with 527, Mersin with 531, and Antalya with 566 cubic meters were in the low-consumption group.

In metropolitan cities, average consumption was measured at 869 cubic meters in Istanbul, 1,067 in Ankara, and 736 in İzmir.

FRAMEWORK FOR TRANSITION TO TIERED TARIFF

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar had previously shared the plan for the transition to tiered pricing with the public. Within the scope of the system;

• Price changes are to be made once a year
• Inflation and global energy costs are to be taken into account in regulations
• State support is aimed to be directed towards low-consumption subscribers.

With this model, it is intended that high-consumption subscribers will be encouraged to save, low-consumption subscribers will pay lower bills, and energy subsidies will be managed more balancedly.

Bayraktar had expressed the new era with these words:

Describing the new era as a system where "those who consume less pay less, and those who consume more pay the real cost," Minister Bayraktar had said:

"We want to switch to tiered pricing in natural gas as well, just like in electricity, in February 2025. But there are also different situations in natural gas. For example, a normal citizen whose hometown is a cold place like Erzurum might consume 1,200 cubic meters, while this consumption drops to 600 cubic meters in Antalya. There will be a study on a province-by-province basis here. Natural gas is a bit more complicated, but we want to switch to tiered pricing there as well."

PRICE HIKE RATES IN ELECTRICITY AND NATURAL GAS

The following statements were included in the EPDK's statement dated April 3, 2026:

"Due to the increase in electricity generation and distribution costs, final electricity retail sales prices have been increased by 25 percent for the residential subscriber group, 17.5 percent for the public and private services sector subscriber group connected to low voltage, 5.8 percent for the industrial subscriber group connected to medium voltage, and 24.8 percent for the agricultural activities subscriber group connected to medium voltage.

With this increase, the amount to be paid for a residential subscriber with 100 kWh of electricity consumption has become 323.8 TL.

In light of the BOTAŞ natural gas wholesale prices announced on the BOTAŞ website, there is an average increase of 25 percent for residential consumers (household consumers), an average of 18.61 percent for industrial consumers, and an average of 19.42 percent for electricity generation plants in final natural gas sales prices. In addition, a tiered pricing application has been introduced for residential consumers (household consumers)."

News Source: 12punto