Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
June 22 2005
GEORGIANS FIGHT POWER REFORM
Electricity price rises and power cuts are causing tension in
Samtskhe-Javakheti.
By Ketevan Mishvelidze and Tsaulina Malazonia in Akhaltsikhe
The humming of power generators fills the streets of Akhaltsikhe
where in order to catch up on housework women have taken to bringing
irons to work as offices are the only buildings in the city where
electricity is regularly available.
They can’t smooth out their wrinkles at home as much of the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region has been blacked out since last month when
the government introduced a new way of paying for electricity,
described by some as draconian but by the government as essential if
the system is to function.
The state-run United Distribution Company, temporarily managed by the
US firm PA Consulting, has installed shared electricity meters at
homes around the region with each serving two or three blocks of
flats or several private residences.
The readings are then divided equally between all users and one bill
issued every month for all homes. Families get 15 days to pay their
share in full or power is cut off to all homes sharing the meter.
The new system has caused turmoil among families used to paying no
more than 30 lari (16 US dollars) for electricity who are now
receiving bills for up to 100 lari (55 dollars), no matter how many
people live in the property.
A solitary pensioner like Eter Saanishvili now has to pay as much a
wealthy neighbour who uses electricity to heat his house.
Saanishvili has been living in a street that has been without power
for the past month. She is being asked to pay for large amounts of
electricity used during a time when she wasn’t even living at home
but staying with relatives. `How could I have consumed so much
electricity not being at home?’ she said. `No one cares about us, its
no one’s headache that people like me are left in the dark.’
Another distressed resident who asked not to be named insists the new
bills are completely unaffordable, `No one asks me what my salary is
or whether I have any income. They just demand categorically that I
should pay. I won’t pay, just as I won’t resign myself to the
blackouts. My salary is only 57 laris. If I pay 50 laris for
electricity, how can I feed my child on the remaining seven lari?’
The electricity price rises and subsequent power cuts have led to a
rise in political tensions in the region.
On June 6, an angry crowd of around 250 people broke into the
provincial government building, demanding a meeting with the governor
to protest against the new system. A meeting was granted the next
day, but the governor, Giorgy Khachidze, was unsympathetic.
`I will not tolerate disorder even if the whole district comes to my
door, men, women and children. If the police and I cannot restore
order, we will call in the military,’ he said.
The head of the local office of United Distribution Company defended
the reforms, which he said were an attempt to correct the wide
disparity between power consumption and payments received.
`People have taken electricity for granted far too long, spending as
much as they wanted, and not paying. This caused losses to the state
and people did not get power anyway. Now we are going to find out
exactly how much power every neighbourhood consumes,’ said Giorgy
Beradze.
He explained that the `communal’ electricity billing system is just
the first phase of the reform process. Phase two will involve setting
up individual household meters in 16 Georgian cities including
Akhaltsikhe.
`Another 20 million lari (11 million dollars) has been earmarked for
this in this year’s government budget,’ Beradze said.
Nikoloz Valiashvili, advisor to the UDC’s general director, said such
reforms are essential, because abuse of the system has become
chronic.
`We investigated the region and discovered up to 32 ways to steal
electricity, practiced by the locals,’ he said. `For example people
have been tying a fishing hook to a really long rod and hitching it
onto a high-voltage power line.’
Former Georgian parliament deputy Gochi Natenadze is cynical, saying
the regions have been targeted as the government is too afraid to
implement the new system in the capital. `Whoever came up with this
reform thought they could do what they want in `backward’ regions,’
he said.
Samtskhe-Javakheti is a desperately poor region with no natural gas
and where water is supplied once every few days for a couple of
hours. Despite some windfalls from the new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline, unemployment is still more than 80 per cent.
If the situation does not improve before winter arrives – and
winters can be very cold and snowy here – more trouble is expected,
particularly in neighbouring Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda which are
next in line for reform. These regions are home to some 90,000
Armenians, who are already suspicious of the Georgian government.
Tensions are also running high here as the local Russian military
base, a major employer, prepares to shut down.
Giorgy Beradze insists the reforms will continue. `Let them live in
darkness until they start paying for the electricity they use,’ he
said.
Ketevan Mishvelidze and Tsaulina Malazonia are reporters for Southern
Gates, a newspaper supported by IWPR in Samtskhe-Javakheti.