Social Compact in Electricity Privatization in Southeastern Turkey

About 70 percent of electricity users in
Southeastern Turkey are not used to paying for electricity,
partially due to the protracted situation of conflict and
lack of trust between citizens and the government in the
region. Historic tension throughout the 1990s caused an
inability for the government to invest in electricity
infrastructure and has resulted in low service quality. A
large portion of consumers did not pay for electricity use
at all, since full electrification of these regions did not
take place until the 1980s. This has also resulted in
wasteful and non-sustainable patterns of electricity use
behavior. The social compact pilot implemented in two
provinces in this region, Mardin and Sanliurfa, set up
stakeholder committees representing urban and rural
communities to forge and sustain a dialogue between the
consumers and the electricity company on increased
electricity payment and improved service quality. The
stakeholder committees came up with a joint stakeholder
committee strategic plan to address payment, service quality
and communication issues. Moving forward, the electricity
company will institutionalize the stakeholder committee
meetings, and start implementing portions of the strategic
plan, starting with an energy efficiency educational
campaign and improving its grievance redress mechanism. This
is the beginning of a process to increase popular trust in
and dialogue with formal institutions in a region marked by
a protracted conflict and a deep distrust in the state and
formal institutions.