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Evaluation of Reimbursement to Consumers of Lost and
Illegal Electricity Costs within the Context of Precedents Set by
the Court of Appeal and the Legislation
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Att. Ozen Odev
In this newsletter, we evaluate the reimbursement of lost/illegal
electricity costs, a subject that, from a legal perspective, is of particu-
lar concern to consumers.
Lost/Illegal Electricity Costs
The judgment of the Court of Appeal Assembly of Civil Chambers
ruling that lost/illegal electricity costs reflected on electricity bills
“cannot be demanded from subscribers,” has provided said subscribers
with the opportunity to request reimbursement of the charges they have
paid over the last ten years.
The event surrounding this Court of Appeal’s judgment began in
2012, following a subscriber’s application to the Consumer Arbitration
Tribunal seeking reimbursement of lost/illegal electricity costs that had
been added to the subscriber’s bill. The Arbitration Tribunal found the
consumer’s request to be justified. At the conclusion of the proceed-
ings, and upon application to the court by the distribution company
requesting annulment of the said decision, the Court of Appeal
Assembly of Civil Chambers passed judgment on the subject matter.
This Court of Appeal’s judgment is summarized is as follows:
Nature of Lost/Illegal Electricity
The lost/illegal electricity cost reflects the difference between the
amount of energy input to the distribution system and that of the ener-
gy billed to the consumers. In other words, the cost of lost/illegal elec-
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NEWSLETTER 2015
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Article of January 2015