Kadir Ulusoy, Deputy Chairman of İYİ Party Responsible for Agricultural Policies, made a press statement regarding the imposition of fines on farmers due to the use of solar panels.
Ulusoy stated that in order to cover energy costs, which is one of the biggest expense items of Turkish farmers, they have been installing solar energy systems for irrigation, barn cooling and heating for a long time, with their own resources or subsidized bank loans, including Ziraat Bank.
Ulusoy said that farmers are being punished for these systems, which they installed at a cost of 5 to 7 million liras and whose installments are continuing.
"FARMERS ARE BEING PUNISHED FOR 'ILLEGAL ELECTRICITY USE'"
Ulusoy, who argued that electricity distribution companies have been going from village to village and fining farmers for the last 10 days, made the following assessment:
"Let's say that electricity distribution companies went from village to village and started to fine farmers who installed these panels, produced electricity from solar energy systems and produced their own electricity. Such fines began to be imposed in Antalya, Aksaray, Konya, Karaman, Yozgat, Nevşehir, Niğde and many other provinces. What is the content of the fine? It says 'Illegal electricity use'. I say it again: Nobody uses illegal electricity here. On the contrary, they produce their own electricity.
He uses this electricity in his well, let me tell my master, in his barn. One of the most common complaints in some provinces is the illegal use of electricity. The state passes on the cost of illegal electricity that it cannot get from those provinces to all of us in Türkiye. You cannot prevent the reality of illegal electricity, you impose fines on people who do not use illegal electricity, on the contrary, produce electricity. Look, these penalties are not minor penalties. For example, right now I have an invoice from Aksaray. "They cut 321 thousand liras."
"THREATS ARE MADE THAT IF THE SYSTEMS ARE NOT REMOVED, THERE WILL BE DOUBLE PENALTIES"
Ulusoy stated that it was stated in the invoices that if the panels were not removed, the penalty would be doubled in the next inspection and continued his speech as follows:
"Solar energy systems are not cheap things either, they cost 5 million, 6 million, 7 million. You made the farmer invest that much. Maybe you made him spend money for a tractor. Do they want to say 'throw it in the trash'? Who does this? It is the distribution companies that use public power. How can the public allow this?
I am calling out to the Ministry of Energy: How can you allow this? You must open an investigation immediately. I call out to public prosecutors: Immediately launch an investigation into the distribution companies that carry out this operation in every district. "You cannot charge illegal usage fees for electricity that is not used illegally."
Ulusoy also stated that at the meeting, İYİ Party Group Deputy Chairman Turhan Çömez brought the heavy administrative penalties imposed on farmers using Solar Energy Systems (SPP) in agricultural irrigation and the demands for the dismantling of the facilities to the Parliament agenda and submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar to answer.
"750 MILLION LIRA FINE WAS IMPOSED ON AT LEAST 5 THOUSAND FARMERS"
Answering the question about the number of victimized farmers, Ulusoy said that according to the data they have, at least 5 thousand farmers were punished, and according to their estimates, around 10 thousand to 30 thousand farmers were punished.
Ulusoy explained the numerical dimensions with the following words:
"Of course, the Ministry of Energy will give an exact figure, but what we have collected is at least 5 thousand. So, in Konya, for example, it is now maybe 1,500, it has exceeded 2 thousand. In Türkiye, what I can roughly collect is maybe 10,000-20,000, but it is at least 5,000. So, do you know what this amount is? There are 320,000 deducted, there are 150,000 deducted. Let's say an average fine of 150,000 lira. The money we are talking about now is 750 million lira for 5 thousand farmers.
He also says: 'I will come in a month and cut twice as much.' He will also make 1.5 billion lira. When you look at it, energy distribution companies should make money without producing or trading electricity. The first regulations regarding unlicensed electricity in 2022 were to encourage this business. It seems that all of these distribution companies have lobbies in the Ministry of Energy. They have acquired certain rights to impose fines on farmers. I invite the Ministry of Energy to tell us the result. Energy distribution companies and electricity distribution companies will continue to collect these. "If such a thing exists, no one should produce electricity from now on."
