Although the liberalization of the electricity market started many years ago, the real and sustainable competitive environment in the sector could not reach the targeted point.
The two most important obstacles to the opening of competition in the market were the imbalance in pricing and the closure of digitalization in the market. With the legislation update made by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) last February, all obstacles to digitalization in the market were removed.
With the update, 47 million electricity subscribers were able to perform all electricity-related transactions, including supplier changes, through digital channels for the first time, without the need for physical documents. The electricity suppliers comparison website encazip.com has announced the developments in the electricity market in the first 5 months of 2021 and the data on supplier changes.
Transaction completion rate increased 11 times
Consumers paying electricity bills of 80 TL or more per month had previously obtained the right to use electricity at a cheaper price by changing electricity suppliers, but 93 percent of consumers who took action to change electricity suppliers could not access cheap electricity due to the difficulty of physical documents in the contract process.
This digitalization move of EMRA started to bear fruit as of April, and with suppliers now making transactions with distance contracts, the rate of completion of supplier change transactions by consumers increased from 7 percent to 76 percent in April and May, with an increase of approximately 11 times.
The number of suppliers changing increased by 22%
The number of consumers who changed suppliers, on the other hand, was limited to workplaces in the first five months of the year, as the supplier companies could not offer an advantageous tariff for houses. The number of consumers who changed their electricity supplier increased by 22% to 1.3 million during this period. While 92 percent of these consumers consumed electricity in the small and medium-sized business subscriber group, they paid 13.4% lower electricity bills on average compared to the consumers in the same group who did not change suppliers.
In the supplier change, the commercial subscriber group was followed by the industrial subscriber group with 5 percent. Free market prices in the industrial subscriber group were lower than in other subscriber groups.
Çağada KIRIM, the founder of encazip.com, underlined that the most important reason why the targeted competition rate in the electricity market could not be achieved before was the regulatory barrier in digitalization and said, “Online transactions lead in all sectors, including retail. However, it was the first half of this year that paved the way for online transactions for the electricity market.
The fact that the transaction speed increased 11 times in the first two months when the market was opened to online transactions in real terms, sheds light on how the rest of the year will develop. As consumers get used to remote channels, no one will want to waste time going to the branch for electricity transactions, and instead of searching for a supplier for hours for a supplier change, they will complete the transaction over the internet in minutes.” he said.
