On the Verge of Real Competition in Electric Distribution

The Turkish Parliament’s discussions on the long awaited feed in law for the amendments to the Electricity Market Law No: 4628 have been finalized and the Law on the Amendment to the Electricity Market Law No: 5503 ("Amending Law") has been enacted on 24 May 2006. Studies for the Amending Law had been initiated by the Parliament upon the acceptance of the High Planning Board’s decision on the Strategy Paper Concerning Electricity Market Reform and Privatization ("Strategy Paper") drawing the map for the privatization of production and distribution sector. The Strategy Paper touches upon various issues such as privatization of distribution assets and power plants, transitional contracts and security of supply. According to the Strategy Paper, (i) privatization activities will be performed by the Privatization Administration; (ii) participation of financially strong companies able to achieve the objectives and principles of the program will be encouraged; (iii) legislation will be