According to Galt&Taggart average import price increased by 24.2% y/y and reached USc 5.7/kWh in April 2018, from USc 4.6/kWh in April 2017. This growth can be explained by last year’s low base, when there was a subsidized electricity import from Russia via Salkhino line to satisfy the excess needs of Abkhazian region.
Despite higher import price, the wholesale market price increased only by 5.0% y/y to USc 5.0/kWh, due to low electricity imports.
Electricity traded at the wholesale price through the market operator was 17.7% of total electricity supplied to the grid, down from 26.0% in April 2017. Average price of electricity in
Turkey was up 18.8% y/y to USc 4.8/kWh, 3.8% below the wholesale market price in Georgia. Average export price was USc 2.9/kWh in April 2018. We assume the low average price of export is due to high share (38.0%) of exports to Russia at significantly low price, and the barter of electricity agreed by ESCO in February 2018.
