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Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak, explained the results of the new customer satisfaction survey and said that customer satisfaction of electricity distribution sector increased by 53% compared to last year.

ELDER - Association of Electricity Distribution System Operators, organized 10th Sectorial Meeting with high level participation of Turkish energy sector. ELDER 10th Sectorial Meeting which is an important organization for evaluating the current situation of electricity distribution sector, was held on May 26th, 2017 in Istanbul.

In this meeting Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak, explained the new results of the “Survey of Customer Satisfaction in Electricity Distribution Sector” and set the new goals for the sector for the next year.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TARGET: 80%

Albayrak noted that they first announced the consumer satisfaction survey in the electricity distribution sector based on the March 2015-March 2016 period at the ELDER 9th Sectorial Meeting in Trabzon last year. Afterwards, Albayrak announced the results of the survey for the March 2016-March 2017 period. Saying that they conducted the survey with participation of 22,606 people in 44 provinces, Albayrak underlined that, the sector reached a better point compared to last year and there is a good progress, however, it is not enough.

Albayrak explained that customer satisfaction of electricity distribution sector increased by 53% compared to last year and they aim to increase this rate to 80 % by the end of this year. "We're getting better, and we will keep doing so. With new targets, we will set the bar even higher," said Albayrak.

Pointing that there is a 19% decrease in the rate of the citizens who tell that there is an electricity outage every day, Minister Albayrak, indicated that there is a 60% increase in the ratio of the citizens who say, “the outage never or rarely occurs”. He also said that, there is a %34 increase in the ratio of the people who call the call center and receive instant reply, compared to last year.

50,000 MEGAWATTS OF GROWTH IN 10 YEARS

Albayrak noted that over the past decade, over $75 billion worth investment has been made in energy sector and installed capacity reached to 80,000 megawatts. He underlined that they will continue to expand the sector with at least 50,000 megawatts investments over the next 10 years. He emphasized that they will carry out these investments with the most advanced and highest environmental criteria.

INVESTMENT TARGET FOR 2017 : TL 5 BILLION 

Albayrak said, “We have determined the investment base for 2017 as 4 billion 24 million TL, but we aim to increase this figure to 5 billion TL ($1.3 billion).” He also pointed out that, the sector opened 9 new call centers last year and with these call center investments 3,200 jobs were created.

Ziya Altunyaldiz, Chairman of the Trade, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology Commission in Turkish Grand National Assembly Industry, emphasized that the energy sector where national targets are determined will be the pioneer of the transformation in the new breakthrough period.

Speaking at the ELDER 10th Sectorial Meeting, Altunyaldiz said that, Turkey should be one of the top 10 players in energy trade in regional and global scale.

Altunyaldiz stated that Turkey's stability and governability are increasing. He underlined that in Turkey, energy sector, where national targets are determined, will lead the transformation in the new breakthrough period. Altunyaldiz underlined that the investments for domestic and national resources will increase.

Altunyaldiz completed his words by saying that it is extremely important to increase cooperation of the university and energy sector for training of qualified human resources.

Mustafa Yilmaz, Chairman of the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA), stated that a high investment target was set in the new electricity tariff period and Turkish electricity distribution sector made an investment above the determined investment ceiling.

EMRA President Mustafa Yılmaz, speaking at the opening of ELDER’s 10th Sectorial Meeting, said that they are against to an energy market where there is no consumer satisfaction. He also said that they are against to a market where investors are offended too.

CONSUMER SATISFACTION PERIOD IN ELECTRICITY SECTOR

Yilmaz underlined that last year’s Sectorial Meeting was a milestone for the electricity sector. He said, "This meeting has started a process that focuses on consumer satisfaction and encourage DSOs to improve themselves in terms of service quality."

Yilmaz reminded that after last year’s meeting, 9 new call centers were established in 9 provinces. He stated that each distribution company took significant steps for consumer satisfaction along with the employment in these cities.

TURKEY’S ROADMAP FOR TRANSITION TO SMART GRIDS WILL BE COMPLETED SOON

Yilmaz, stated that a high investment target was set in the new electricity tariff period and Turkish electricity distribution sector made an investment above the determined investment ceiling.

He added that the distribution companies invested TL 4 billion. Yilmaz also mentioned that, the service quality for the consumers is going to increase during the 5 year investment period between 2016 -2020.

Yilmaz also underlined that Turkey’s Roadmap for Transition to Smart Grids (TAS 2023) , which is conducted under the presidency of EMRA, will be completed soon. TAS 2023 is conducted by 9 Turkish DSOs, under the presidency of EMRA and coordination of ELDER.

Serhat Cecen, Chairman of ELDER- Association of Electricity Distribution System Operators, stated that, over the period of 2016-2020, the annual investment budget in the electricity distribution sector will be realized as TL 4 billion on average.

Speaking at the opening of the ELDER 10th Sectorial Meeting, Serhat Cecen, Chairman of ELDER, said that important changes have been occurred in technological developments in the energy sector, both in global and national scale. Cecen stated that for adopting these changes, companies must identify proper strategies. He underlined that, energy demand for the world will continue to increase over the next 30 years and it will not be easy for energy production to keep up with this increase.

PREDICTABILITY IS IMPORTANT

Cecen, emphasized that “National Energy Strategy” announced by Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak, is important for the private sector. Pointing out that one of the 3 basics of this strategy is ‘predictability’, Cecen said:

“Predictability is a vital element in the continuity of private sector investments. A non-predictable and non-transparent market is not sustainable. Authority addressing this issue, created huge expectation among the investors. We are prepared with all of our knowledge and experience to support these efforts."

INVESTMENTS ARE 3 TIMES HIGHER

Serhat Cecen, Chairman of ELDER, stated that over the period of 2016-2020, the annual investment budget in the distribution sector will be realized as 4 billion TL on average and this investment amount is 3 times higher than the period where this service was given by public sector.

Cecen, underlined the efforts for bringing Turkey’s average non-technical loss to OECD levels. He also said that, advanced technology applications are used widely in these efforts and he continued as follow:

"Successful results have been achieved in the pilot projects under R & D budgets of EMRA. By excluding some of our regions, the average of our regions catches OECD figures. Also, in the regions where high non-technical losses are seen, with the usage of advanced technology and rising awareness, successful results will be taken in a short time.”

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