Turkey's electricity import bill in the first quarter of 2018 decreased by 63.6 percent compared to the same period of 2017, according to Turkish Statistical Institute's (Turkstat) data Monday.
The country paid $11.13 million for its electricity imports between the January and March period, compared to $30.59 million during the same period of 2017, the Turkstat data showed.
While Turkey imported 504.44 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from Greece, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Czechia, formerly known as the Czech Republic, in the first quarter of 2017, the country's electricity imports in the same period of 2018 were down by nearly 45.84 percent and amounted to 273.18 million kilowatt-hours.
The country imported electricity from five countries in the January-March period this year including Greece, Czechia, Bulgaria, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The highest electricity import bill of $4.80 million was paid in January when Turkey imported nearly 117.71 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from these countries.
- Highest amount of electricity imported from Bulgaria in 1Q18
Bulgaria was the country from which Turkey imported electricity the most in the January-March period. During this period, Turkey imported 205.38 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from Bulgaria paying $7.82 million.
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Czechia and Greece followed Bulgaria, according to Turkstat data.
The amount of electricity imported from Azerbaijan decreased from 126.01 million kilowatt-hours in 2017 to 59.48 million kilowatt-hours in 2018 when Turkey paid $3.02 million for its imports.
In the first quarter of 2018, Turkey imported 6.66 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from Georgia, 1.08 million from Czechia and 572,000 from Greece.
The country paid $225,646 to Georgia, $39,600 to Czechia and $26,728 to Greece.
By Ebru Sengul
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr