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9.1.8 Utilities sector news
Turkey’s Electricity Producers Association expects to record a 20% decline in country-wide electricity demand in April, Cem Asik, head of the association, said on April 23.
On May 2, BloombergHT reported that electricity consumption declined by 15% y/y to 19 GWh in April.
A 17% decline in May and a 4% contraction in June were also anticipated.
Although most of Turkey’s automotive factories will resume production in upcoming days, the spot price of electricity is expected to dive 40% in April, 30% in Q2 and 15% overall this year, according to Asik.
The highest electricity rate for one-megawatt hour in the spot market on January 21 was Turkish lira (TRY) 345 ($58.3) while the arithmetical and weighted average price of electricity for the day-ahead was calculated as TRY326. The USD/TRY stood at 5.91 on the day.
On April 24, the highest electricity spot price was TRY326 ($46.7) and the average price was TRY203, according to Energy Exchange Istanbul.
Electricity producers have been struggling to sustain even operational profitability due to low prices, and, as a result, loan repayments were becoming harder, Asik warned, adding that the USD/TRY level and volatility were amplifying the problem. By the end of April 27 the level was 6.98 to the dollar.
Despite declines in producer prices, the energy market watchdog EPDK’s method of calculating the electricity and natural gas bills of households based on average bills across the past few years with the aim of avoiding sending meter readers into the field has been creating fury among consumers due to perceived outrageous rises in March’s bills.
Electricity prices for households have grown 58% and natural gas prices 60% in the past two years while official inflation has declined—although “official” is the operative word here, as many Turks do not believe in the veracity of the calculations made by the national statistical agency TUIK.
“Alarming” situation with gas plants. “Natural gas plants have been affected the most in this period. These plants are alarming to us. Their capacity utilisation rate shrank to 7% in April. This rate is 10% lower than the levels seen in the same period last year,” Asik also said.
53 TURKEY Country Report June 2020 www.intellinews.com
