Turkey plans to remove electricity subsidy for big residential users

Turkey plans to remove government subsidies for high volume residential electricity users from February next year, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Wednesday.

"With the latest regulation made by the energy regulator, citizens and residences with more than twice the monthly average consumption, namely 417 kilowatt-hours, will start paying the real cost of electricity after February," Bayraktar said.

Speaking to reporters in Ankara, Bayraktar said the planned regulatory change aimed to target government subsidies to citizens who need them most.

Out of around 40 million residential electricity users, high consumption users constitute about 3% of the total, Bayraktar said.

Turkey has subsidised electricity usage for years and government officials have repeatedly said that Turkish households have cheaper energy than in neighbouring countries.

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