Georgia plans to eliminate intermediary companies from electricity imports, with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze saying the move could save the state several million lari annually. Under the current system, electricity is imported through ESCO, the electricity market operator, and private trading companies.
Energy expert Gia Arabidze said removing intermediaries could reduce procurement costs and potentially benefit consumers or energy companies. However, analyst Murman Margvelashvili warned that direct state negotiations could undermine market mechanisms, while Galt & Taggart’s Mariam Chakhvashvili said the savings would likely be modest and have little effect on electricity prices.
Azerbaijan and Russia are Georgia’s largest electricity import sources. In the first eight months of this year, Georgia imported 164 million kWh from Azerbaijan, worth $10 million. Total electricity import costs reached $40.5 million. Chakhvashvili said negotiating directly with suppliers could eliminate intermediary costs, but energy expert Mikheil Odisharia stressed that any wholesale price impact would be minimal and unlikely to affect household tariffs, which are regulated by the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC).
It remains unclear whether the government’s decision will also apply to electricity exports and transit, including electricity transported from Azerbaijan to Turkey through Georgia.
