Ministry of Economy expects decrease in electricity consumption caused by Covid-19 to continue until Sep-20. Electricity consumption was down by 7.8% y/y in Mar-20 due to partial lockdown caused by Covid-19 pandemic. Pandemic impact on electricity consumption will be sharper in April 2020, when full lockdown was in place. However, based on the updated annual forecast of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (adopted on April 24, 2020), the annual decrease in consumption in April is expected at 5.9%, less than actual growth figure for March. The same document forecasts negative growth of electricity consumption to continue until Sep-20, resulting in 0.8% drop in annual electricity consumption in 2020 (to 12.7TWh).
In order to mitigate the negative impact of coronavirus, the government will cover population’s utility bill for 3 months. This support will affect those subscribers who consume less than 200 kWh of electricity and 200 m3 of natural gas in a month. This consumption is approximately equal to the monthly payment of GEL 37 in the case of electricity and the consumption of GEL 100 for natural gas. Citizens were allowed to leave the support scheme voluntarily and 3,534 subscribers refused this support in March.
Shuakhevi HPP resumed operations in February 2020. The 178-megawatt station was first launched in 2017, but had to undergo repairs due to technical problems with the tunnel. In March 2020, its output was 58.9 GWh, which is 5.4% of the total supply this month and 8.3% of hydropower.
Policymakers are meeting their deadlines set by newly adopted energy law for market reforms. Government of Georgia has adopted concept design of electricity market; Georgian Energy and Water Regulatory Commission adopted licensing rules for Transmission System Operators and made changes into some legislative acts, including grid code. According to concept design of electricity market: Power trading on day-ahead, intraday, bilateral and balancing markets should start by Jul-21; Public service provider at wholesale level (probably ESCO) will be in charge of price stability on the market and supply of electricity to Abkhazian region.
