ANKARA: Türkiye has raised electricity and natural gas prices for households and several business categories, with the biggest increases reaching 25% and taking effect on April 4. The Energy Market Regulatory Authority said residential electricity tariffs rose 25%, while prices increased 17.5% for public and private services, 5.8% for industrial users and 24.8% for agricultural activities. The regulator also said a household using 100 kilowatt hours of electricity will now pay 323.8 lira, reflecting the latest nationwide adjustment in regulated utility charges.
Natural gas prices were also increased under the new schedule published at the start of the month. Residential gas prices rose by an average of 25%, while industrial users saw an 18.61% increase and electricity generation plants faced a 19.42% rise. The revisions were issued alongside an updated BOTAŞ tariff schedule that reset wholesale rates across customer groups. The changes affect a broad range of users, from households and factories to power producers, and mark one of the most significant regulated energy price adjustments in Türkiye in recent months.
BOTAŞ also introduced a new two tier pricing structure for household natural gas consumption, adding a province based and month based billing framework to residential gas charges. Under the system, households that stay within their local monthly consumption threshold are billed at the lower Kademe-1 tariff, while those that exceed the limit are billed at the higher Kademe-2 tariff for the full amount consumed in that month. The company listed the Kademe-1 household gas tariff at 10.625 lira per standard cubic meter and the Kademe-2 tariff at 18 lira.
Household gas shifts to a two tier model
The monthly thresholds vary by province and are based on historical residential gas consumption data, with colder regions generally allowed higher limits. For April, the published thresholds include 192.55 standard cubic meters for Istanbul, 180.69 for Ankara and 157.90 for Izmir. BOTAŞ said the new billing framework applies from the first meter reading date starting April 4, and distribution companies must show Kademe-1 and Kademe-2 consumption separately on customer bills. The company also said each province will have a single monthly threshold and only two pricing bands for household users.
The new structure includes several technical rules that will affect how bills are calculated, especially when meter readings cover more than one calendar month. BOTAŞ said the applicable threshold for each month will be calculated using an average daily consumption limit, and that central heating systems will be assessed on a per household basis by dividing total use by the number of homes in the system. Certain users are exempt from the tiered household model, including places of worship, cemevis, Quran courses and individually metered homes of families of martyrs and disabled veterans.
Inflation and billing effects
The tariff increases come just after official data showed Türkiye’s annual consumer inflation eased to 30.87% in March, with prices rising 1.94% from the previous month. The energy adjustments add a fresh rise in utility costs at the start of the second quarter, even as the government continues to manage energy pricing through regulated tariffs. Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on April 5 that there was a global supply crisis, while also saying Türkiye did not face an immediate energy supply problem, framing the price move against a volatile international energy backdrop.
For electricity, the latest decision leaves households and agricultural users facing the steepest increases, while industrial users received a smaller rise than other categories. For natural gas, residential users saw the sharpest average adjustment, while industrial consumers and power plants were assigned lower percentage increases than households. The revised tariffs also show lower gas pricing for bread producers than for standard industrial and power generation use. The new electricity and natural gas charges took effect nationwide on April 4 and will begin appearing on bills according to meter reading dates – By Content Syndication Services.