Most municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), whose mayors pledged a reduction in water bills before last year’s elections, appear to be acting on the contrary. Rise in water bills almost every month face public complaints, with social media users sharing astronomical figures they were billed.
In metropolitan municipalities, from Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, to Izmir, Antalya, Van and Balıkesir, consumers saw price rises of as high as 1,000% within six months per cubic meter of water they consumed.
Water bills have been a fraction of higher electricity bills for a long time in the country, which, despite the risk of a decline in water resources, occasionally overcomes the challenge thanks to fluctuating precipitation rates. This, however, changed in most places run by opposition. In Istanbul, water bills saw an 837% rise during two tenures of CHP Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, whose one of the campaign promises was freezing price rises in the utility. Similarly, in the capital, Mayor Mansur Yavaş’s two tenures were marked with rises reaching as high as 1,018%. In the Mediterranean city of Antalya, water bills have doubled in the past two months. Along with the usual rises, water bills are significantly higher due to delays in metering.
In Türkiye’s most populated city, Istanbul, water bills are based on a gradual metering system, with users billed higher based on the frequency of water use. Water use up to 15 cubic meters are billed TL 37.92 ($1.07) per cubic meters and this figure rises if the user exceeds this quota. For instance, users are required to pay TL 57.78 per cubic meters if their monthly water use is between 16 and 30 cubic meters. This system is exploited by the municipalities, which at times increase the metering period up to 45 days, thus bloating the bills.
The situation is no different in Antalya, where a social media user recently shared two different bills to show the skyrocketing prices. One bill shows 11 tons of water used, charged TL 180 in May 2024 and another shows the same amount billed, TL 376. The social media user said the difference contradicted the municipality’s statement that they did not raise the price of water use up to 20 tons.