The politics of regulation in the Turkish electricity market

Abstract

Turkey began reforming the electricity market in 2001. The regulatory reform aimed to liberalize the market. However, the institutional and political structure was not ready for creating an efficiently working competition. The independent regulator did not have both experience and will to direct the industry to a more competitive environment. Currently, the reform has slowed down and political preferences drive the industry. This paper studies the reasons for the slowdown in the reform efforts by focusing on the relationships between the government, judiciary and the independent regulator. We conclude that strategic behaviors of players in the market, including the judiciary, the government, and the regulator, have made the introduction of competition to the market more costly.