Domestic consumption increased 8.4% y/y in March 2017, with distribution companies (+8.2% y/y) driving the growth. Electricity transit from Azerbaijan to Turkey amounted to 4.0 GWh in March 2017, down 84.1% y/y. The large reduction in transit was largely the result of lower transit capacity due to the high level of electricity imports. Total electricity supply from domestic sources was down 12.2% y/y, while imports more than doubled (+133.6% y/y) in March 2017. Total hydro generation decreased 21.7% y/y. The drop in hydro generation was partially compensated by TPPs, which posted a significant increase (+26.5% y/y), albeit from a very low base in March 2016 (-56.2% y/y). The guaranteed capacity fee was down 59.0% y/y to USc 0.34/kWh, with guaranteed capacity provided by each of the five sources for the entire month.
The share of electricity imports in total electricity supply was at a historical high of 29.6% in March 2017. More than half of the imported electricity came from Azerbaijan (56.8%), with the rest imported from Russia (27.0%) and Armenia (16.2%). 61.6% of the Abkhazian region’s consumption was satisfied by Enguri/Vardnili generation, while the rest was met through imports from Russia via the Salkhino line. The average price of imported electricity in Georgia was USc 3.9/kWh, up 38.0% y/y from the fully subsidized price of USc 2.8/kWh in March 2016 (-57.7% y/y). The main reason for such low prices in the last two years was the subsidized price of electricity imported from Russia (via the Salkhino line) to meet the Abkhazian region’s continuously increasing demand.
Electricity consumption by the residential sector, which accounted for one-third of the electricity supplied by distribution companies, was down 1.6% y/y in 2016. The rest was consumed by non-residential subscribers, whose usage was up 12.5% y/y in 2016 and contributed 5.2 percentage points to the overall 6.2% increase in Georgia’s electricity consumption. The key drivers of growth were new commercial entities added to the distribution grid. Telasi posted the largest increase (+28.7% y/y) in the non-residential sector, followed by Energo-Pro Georgia (+5.7% y/y) and Kakheti Energy Distribution (+2.9% y/y).
Natural gas consumed by TPPs was down 19.5% y/y in 2016, while electricity generated by TPPs decreased by only 6.0% y/y. Commissioning of the more efficient Gardabani combined cycle power plant at the end of 2015 was the main driver of this improvement. Gardabani CCGT accounted for half of TPP-generated electricity in 2016, partially substituting for the less efficient Mtkvari TPP and Tbilsresi blocks, which operated at full capacity in previous years.
