andy chapman

Moving Dilemmas in Turkey:

Roadmap for Connecting Utilities.

Moving is never easy, but Turkey may be a lot different than your home country. If the utility burden doesn't get you, then the actual movers might.

If utilities are now in your name, you must go to each local telephone, electricity, water, cable and natural gas place to disconnect and then reconnect your utilities. Go to whatever location serves the area you're in now and the one you're going to.

If you're a new customer, then it's a bit more labor intensive. There's no central, one-size-fits-all place that will do the work like one-stop shopping.

Nothing can be done by telephone! No one cares if you've built a solid credit history or you've been in the city for X number of years. There's no shortcuts, no benefits.

AWARENESS cuts through much of the stress and smoothes the road.

In the UK, we just pick up the phone and call the different utility companies to tell them we're moving and when we want everything cut off in our old place and the start date for the new place. Finished. No waiting, no hassle.

Not so here. Get your walking shoes on and climb into the chaos arena.

Here in Turkey, with its millions of people, it may take days or longer to accomplish the entire process. Of course, it may be somewhat easier in less congested cities and if no problems arise.

So now that you know there's no easy way to organize your utility adventure, we can cut through the minutiae and get you started. Listed below are common utilities with deposit costs that don't change much.

1/ Ayedas for electricity, monthly, deposit 30YTL

2/ ISKI for water, every 45 days, deposit 70YTL

3/ Turk Telekom for phone and internet, monthly, deposit small change

4/ TurkSat Cable TV, bimonthly, deposit 10YTL

5/ IGDAS for natural gas (exists in some places), monthly, deposit unknown

Don't forget! Whether you own or rent, you'll probably pay a monthly building fee which increases annually. If there's central heating in the winter, the occupants share the bill. This can add substantially to your monthly expenses.
If you've not had utilities in your name before, go to the central location of the area you're moving to and fill out some forms and stand in line. On subsequent moves, you must also fill out forms, but it's not as bad, and you may go to the local offices, for the most part.

Expect crowds! Take a number!! Ensure you're in the right line to start with.

Don't be surprised if you're sent to multiple windows at each utility place with either a stamp taken or money given.

Caution: Do not stand in any line unless you've brought plenty of copies. Each place will ask you for all or some items, but expect the number will vary.

1/ House deed or signed rental contract
2/ Passport with picture and all stamped pages
3/ Residence Permit with all pages in the booklet
4/ Turkish Tax or ID number card
5/ Driver's license in case they want another valid ID
6/ Photos, passport size will do.

After all that you can then relax and get on with your life in Turkey.
Please feel free to add to this in case iv'e missed anything, which knowing me i probably have.

So Good Luck i hope this is of help to some-one out there, sorry it's a bit long & winded.