Tbilisi and Sokhumi said a short-term deal on import of electricity from Russia to secure power supply to Abkhazia will help the breakaway region to prevent power outage it was facing because of falling water level in a reservoir formed by the Enguri dam.
Breakaway Abkhazia fully relies on electricity generated by the Enguri hydropower plant, whose 271.5-meter-tall concrete arch dam is located on the Georgian side of the administrative border and its five generators are on the Abkhaz side in the Gali district making the two sides to cooperate closely for years already to secure operation of the largest hydropower plant in the region.
Drop in Enguri dam water level, caused by shortages of rain and snowpack that reduced flows from the Enguri River, amid hike in power consumption in the breakaway region, has led Abkhaz electricity distributor, Chernomorenergo, to impose several hours of power cuts daily in Abkhazia from January 25 to save water in the reservoir.
Water level in the Enguri dam neared to its critical point of 420 meters above sea level below which the power generation will stop – the water level in the reservoir is expected to reach that critical point by the end of February.
Chernomorenergo said late on February 16 that “Abkhaz-Russian-Georgian negotiations were held” to discuss the ways how to fill the gap in Abkhaz electricity supplies.
“The sides elaborated arrangement for supply of electricity, produced in the Russian Federation, to Abkhazia,” Chernomorenergo said. “It helped to prevent complete termination of electricity supply in March and to fully provide Abkhazia with electricity before the start” of high water season in spring when Enguri River and its tributaries are expected to be swollen by snow melt. It did not report details of the arrangement.
Next day, on February 17, the Georgian Energy Ministry confirmed that a short-term deal was reached and said that Tbilisi will import additional electricity from Russia to supply it to Abkhazia.
“The territory of Abkhazia is out of the central government’s jurisdiction, but Georgia, international law and international community deem this occupied territory as part of the [Georgian] state and it is [Georgian] government’s political responsibility to be concerned about each and every citizen equally. That’s our good will and firm position… Electricity supply to our citizens on this territory [in Abkhazia] was facing a serious threat. Import of additional electricity from Russia was considered to be a short-term and an immediate solution for the purpose of preventing grave consequences. But it should be noted that it is far more difficult to comprehensively solve this problem, which requires thorough work in a long-run perspective,” the Georgian Energy Ministry said.
The ministry has declined request for providing details of the arrangement and it remains unclear how much Tbilisi has to pay, if at all, for import of additional electricity to provide it to Abkhazia. A spokesperson of the ministry told Civil.ge that it was “a political decision.”
Power cuts due to low water level at Enguri dam triggered various speculations in Abkhazia, among them allegations about corrupt schemes of Chernomorenergo. A trip of a group of Abkhaz journalists was organized to the Enguri dam on the Georgian side of the administrative border on February 9 in an apparent attempt to help defuse speculations over the reasons behind the power cuts in Abkhazia.
Abkhazia’s electricity consumption increased by more than 9% in 2015; in previous years increase was at about 3-4% annually.
Households in Abkhazia pay roughly at least fifteen times cheaper per kWh then in Georgia, and electricity bill collection rate in the breakaway region is reportedly below 30%.
According to a long-standing informal deal between sides, 40% of the electricity generated by the Georgian state-owned Enguri HPP has to go to Abkhazia and 60% to rest of Georgia. But according to the Georgian officials in practice Abkhazia has been receiving in recent years well over 40% as it has always been a “political decision” in Tbilisi to provide the breakaway region as much electricity from Enguri HPP as it needed. During this winter Abkhazia was receiving almost entire amount of electricity generated by the Enguri HPP, according to the Georgian and Abkhaz sides.
A week before the short-term deal on import of additional electricity from Russia for Abkhaz supplies was announced, Georgia’s Deputy Energy Minister Mariam Valishvili was insisting that Tbilisi was no longer going to buy electricity from Russia to then supply it to the breakaway region.
Speaking at a public discussion on Georgia’s energy policy, hosted by Tbilisi office of Heinrich Böll Foundation on February 10, Valishvili said: “For a year we have been warning them about restrictions in electricity supplies [from Enguri HPP because of low water levels] and that we would no longer buy electricity from Russia to meet Abkhaz power consumption. We are not going to import electricity at the expense of consumers, who are on the [Georgian] side of the [administrative border]. Abkhazia [which has population of about 240,000] consumes more electricity per day than Tbilisi with its population of million and half. Why? Should we supply free of charge Russian military bases and families of [Russian army members in Abkhazia]? No, it won’t last any more. Yes, they can take electricity from Enguri HPP as much as they need… That’s a political decision, which has been in place for many years already and no one is going to change it.”
As far as details of the recent short-term deal remain unknown it is not clear whether this position has been changed or some other arrangement was agreed to supply the breakaway region with electricity.
