The illegal use of electricity, prevalent in the east and southeast of the country, saw a significant drop after the adoption of a new system enabling remote monitoring and the shutdown of electricity meters.
Officials say illegal electricity use "dropped some six points" in the index used to trace the electricity flow in the provinces of Van, Bitlis, Muş and Hakkari, located in a region with the second-highest rate of illegal use.
Southeastern and eastern Turkey has long been plagued by the use of illegal electricity. A company that won a privatization bid of the utility in 2013 has struggled to recover losses from unpaid bills and curb the illegal use of electricity. Attempts to collect overdue debts and cut off the subscription of users have led to scuffles between utility workers and locals in recent years.
Illegal electricity use is widespread in the southeast where subscribers, usually farmers, go out of their way to avoid bills, such as establishing their own power transformers. The utility's efforts to collect the debts and shut down illegal electricity supplies often led to clashes between utility workers and locals. The problem dates back to the 1980s when the electricity infrastructure was set up in most settlements, especially villages in the region. Residents legally subscribed for the use of electricity, then supplied by a state-run company. However, they were not issued bills for years as violence perpetrated by the PKK and the Turkish military campaign to end terrorism led the region to descend into a state of emergency. Not receiving bills for years and unable to pay them due to poverty, subscribers, or those not subscribed, continued using electricity without paying.
The Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) and Energy and Natural Resources Ministry joined forces to curb the illegal use and installed a high-tech system for second-by-second monitoring of electricity use remotely through a command center. The project was first introduced in the Gevaş district of Van. In case of theft of electricity through the diversion of power cables to privately owned transformers, the system allows utility workers to shut down the energy flow. Officials say the pilot project almost halved electricity use in Gevaş, pointing out that the excess was stemming from illegal use while power outages linked to excessive illegal use also decreased, enabling a better power flow.
The project also helps to break the prejudice about illegal use. It was found only 15 percent of electricity subscribers were resorting to illegal use. Far-right nationalists have long claimed that illegal electricity use was linked to people in predominantly Kurdish region defying Turkish authorities. The monitoring of the flow, however, found most cases of illegal use were linked to businesses.
