Turkey hikes electricity, gas prices by 50% for industry, 20% for homes

ISTANBUL, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Turkish authorities hiked electricity and natural gas prices for households by around 20% and by around 50% for industry on Thursday, putting further upward pressure on inflation, which was running at nearly 80% in July.

Turkey’s EPDK energy regulator said it had raised houshold electricity prices by 20% and that used in the industry by 50%.

While state energy importer BOTAS said it had hiked the natural gas price for domestic use by 20.4%, and by 47.6% for small- to medium-scale industrial customers, and by 50.8% for large industrial users.

The price of gas used for electricity production was raised by 49.5%, BOTAS said.

(Reporting by Can Sezer; Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)