This paper is concerned with the development of a model for the treatment of a circular arc-crack in piezoelectric materials under antiplane shear and inplane electric field using the complex variable method. The problem is formulated in terms of the analytical continuation principle and complex series expansion, and as a result is reduced to two Riemann-Hilbert problems. The resulting closed form solution was then used to obtain the electroelastic field intensity factor and the energy release rate. Unlike the electric enthalpy release rate, the internal energy release rate is always positive and can thus be used as a more reliable fracture parameter in piezoelectric materials. It is also observed that the crack configuration has a significant influence upon the energy release rate.