Georgians Fight Power Reform

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.