Kib-Tek, the north’s electricity authority, is in 805 million TL (€27.4 million) of debt, it was announced by the north’s ‘government’ on Thursday night.
The debt is owed to Turkish energy company Aksa, which operates the north’s Kalecik power plant, near the village of Gastria.
Kalecik is responsible for just under half of the north’s energy production, and Kib-Tek pays Aksa for the energy produced before passing it onto the consumer.
However, Aksa said on Monday that Kib-Tek owed them over 1 billion TL (€34 million) and that they had not received any “serious” payment from them in over three months.
Kalecik’s general manager Sener Senturk also pointed out that as Kib-Tek pays Aksa in Turkish Liras, Aksa effectively loses money every time there is a delay in payment as the currency is constantly being devalued.
On Thursday evening the north’s ‘government’ announced the measures it had taken, ordering Kib-Tek to take out a loan worth 805 million TL to settle its debts with Aksa.
The loan was taken out at Turkish bank Halkbank and is repayable over 24 months with an annual interest rate of 24 per cent.
On Friday afternoon, Kib-Tek workers’ trade union El-Sen claimed the north’s ‘government’ had submitted a proposal to Kib-Tek to privatise all the north’s energy production.
El-Sen say that this proposal has not been agreed to by Kib-Tek’s board and have requested a meeting with ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel.
They added that if any agreement is signed increasing the extent of the private sector’s control of the north’s energy production, they will take “every legal step including an indefinite strike”.