Electricity consumption was down by 7.1% y/y in April 2020, caused by lockdown and related decreased economic activity due to Covid-19 pandemic. Notably, Abkhazian region’s electricity consumption increased significantly by 18.4% y/y in Apr-20, while the consumption of the rest of Georgia was down by 12.9% y/y. Electricity consumption dynamic by group of consumers is as follows: Energo-pro Georgia’s electricity consumption was down by 12.4% m/m and 29.3% y/y, electricity consumption of Telasi was down by 23.3% m/m and 23.0% y/y, electricity consumption of large commercial enterprises was almost unchanged.
Demand on electricity was satisfied mostly by hydro generation (80.3% of total). 15.1% of demand was met by thermal generation and the rest was imported in Apr-20. Hydro generation was down by 1.7% y/y due to unfavourable hydrological conditions. The decrease of thermal generation (-6.5% y/y) and imports (-55.2%y/y) is explained by decreased demand on electricity. 82.0% of electricity imports came from Russia, mostly for satisfaction of Abkhazian region’s increased consumption, the rest was imported from Azerbaijan.
In 4M20, electricity consumption decreased by mere 0.8% y/y to 4.3TWh. During this period, electricity consumption in Abkhazian region increased by 10.2% y/y, while electricity consumption in the rest of Georgia decreased by 3.6% y/y. In 4M20, 53.8% of demand on electricity was met by hydro generation (-1.8% y/y), 28.0% by thermal generation (-11.1% y/y) and 17.4% of total supply was imported (+27.1% y/y). 52.4% of electricity was imported from Azerbaijan and the rest came from Russia (47.6% of total). Notably, electricity imports for Abkhazian region accounted for the third of total electricity imports and c.70% of imports from Russia.
