What is the difference between YEK-G certificates and the Yeşil Tarife green tariff in Turkey?
Yeşil Tarife is a price plan: you choose it and your last-resort supplier does the rest. YEK-G (Yenilenebilir Enerji Kaynak Garanti Belgesi, the renewable energy source guarantee certificate) is the proof behind it. Under the regulation the supplier must back the tariff with retired YEK-G certificates.
The plain version
Think of a restaurant menu. The green tariff is a dish on the menu: you order it and the kitchen sorts out the ingredients. YEK-G is the supplier's invoice for those ingredients, showing the electricity came from renewable plants.
The two are not rivals. The regulation defines Yeşil Tarife as the tariff the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (Enerji Piyasası Düzenleme Kurumu, EPDK) board sets under Article 17(4) of the Electricity Market Law to support renewable energy sources. YEK-G is the certificate system that proves the green part.
What the regulation says about the green tariff
- The last-resort supplier (görevli tedarik şirketi) must prove the energy it supplies under the green tariff with YEK-G certificates.
- It can get those certificates only from the organised YEK-G market, not from bilateral deals.
- It must show the green tariff on the consumer's invoice with a special mark. EPDK sets the standard for that mark.
- The consumer is not charged anything extra for the retired certificate on top of the tariffs EPDK sets.
What the regulation says about buying YEK-G on your own
- Certificates are issued 1 per 1 megawatt hour (MWh) and are valid for 12 months from the end of the production period.
- A system user can notify a retirement on behalf of a free consumer, with the energy supply or without it. A free consumer is a customer allowed to choose its supplier. This depends on how much power the customer uses, or on being an organised industrial zone entity.
- Trading can happen on the organised market, where offers are matched, or in bilateral agreements, where the parties agree. This page gives no price.
Side by side (my reading)
- Who does the work: with the green tariff, your last-resort supplier. With separate certificates, you or your supplier arrange them and a system user retires them for you.
- What you hold as proof: with the green tariff, the marked invoice. With certificates, ask for the retirement confirmation for your consumption.
- Where certificates come from: the green tariff uses the organised market only. Separate certificates can also come from bilateral agreements.
- Who can choose it: the regulation text I read does not list who may take the green tariff. Ask your supplier.
What to tell a buyer (my reading)
A buyer wants three things: how much of your electricity is covered, for which year, and who retired the certificates. The green tariff invoice answers the first two for the energy billed under it. A retirement record answers all three. Ask the buyer which one it takes before you pick.
One factory on the green tariff for a year (example numbers)
- Monthly use under the tariff: 150 MWh
- Certificates needed each month: 150, because one certificate equals 1 MWh
- Over 12 months: 150 x 12 = 1,800 MWh, so 1,800 certificates retired by the supplier
These are example numbers, not a bill. The regulation says the supplier must prove the green tariff energy with certificates; it does not give a monthly schedule.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records. Bill upload applies Turkey's official grid factor (Ministry of Energy, 2023) to the electricity on each bill, and labels it with that source. This is the location-based figure; a YEK-G certificate does not lower it here.
- YEK-G or a direct PPA
- YEK-G certificates for European buyers
- Buyer asks for location and market based Scope 2
- Free calculators
Last reviewed 2026-11-07. Read from the regulation text on the EPDK site, last amended 17 December 2024. Who may take the green tariff and the invoice mark are set outside this regulation, so check EPDK and your supplier.