Bayraktar rules out power and gas hikes this winter

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Oct. 19 that Turkey would not raise electricity or natural-gas prices this winter and that the 2026 power-support threshold was 4,000 kilowatt-hours, Aydınlık reported in a news article.

In the Oct. 19 news article, Bayraktar said households above the 2027 electricity limit would leave the support mechanism, a subsidy system that lowers bills, with the annual threshold set at 5,000 kilowatt-hours for 2025 and 4,000 kilowatt-hours for 2026.

“No price increase,” Bayraktar said, according to Aydınlık. “Support will continue this winter as well.”

Bayraktar said only the support consumption limits would be updated. For electricity, he said a new annual limit would be set for 2027, and users whose consumption exceeds it would be removed from the support mechanism.

For natural gas, Bayraktar said a similar system began in April 2026, though with a different method. He gave Zonguldak as an example, saying officials would compare household consumption in November 2026 with the previous five-year average.

If average natural-gas use in Zonguldak were 100 cubic meters, a household using more than 175 cubic meters would be taken out of natural-gas support, Bayraktar said.

Bayraktar said European natural-gas prices were $1,000, compared with $200 in Turkish homes, without specifying the unit in the article. He said support would be reduced rather than fully removed for higher-consuming users.

“Do not worry, $220 will not become $1,000,” Bayraktar said, according to Aydınlık.

Bayraktar did not give the new 2027 electricity limit or say when it would be announced. Officials are set to compare Zonguldak household gas use with the five-year average in November 2026.

Source: news article, Aydınlık, Oct. 19, 2026