The Parliament of Georgia elected Davit Narmania and Givi Sanikidze to the 2 vacant positions of Сommissioners of the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC). Davit Narmania was elected to the position of GNERC’s Commissioner by the Parliament of Georgia for the first term of 6 years in 2017 and has been leading GNERC since 2019 to present. Givi Sanikidze will occupy the position of GNERC’s Commissioner for the first term.
The candidacies of Davit Narmania and Givi Sanikidze were selected for the vacant positions of Commissioners for 6 years in accordance with the Law of Georgia "On Energy and Water Supply" on the basis of an open contest. With the co-signature of the Prime Minister of Georgia, by the President of Georgia the candidates selected by the special competition commission were submitted to the Parliament of Georgia for election. According to the legislation, the same person can be elected to the position of a member of the Commission for two terms. GNERC’s Chairman is elected among the Commissioners, by secret ballot, for a term of 3 years, no longer than the remaining term of the commissioner. The number of elections for the position of the Commission Chairman is not limited.
During Davit Narmania's first term as GNERC Chairman, several important events took place, such as: the Commission was awarded with the ISO 9001:2015 international standard quality management system certificate; Energy Training Center was established to promote education in the energy and water supply sectors; Mechanisms promoting the development of net-metering was established; Simplified dispute resolution procedures were approved; Various projects were developed and implemented for simplified access to utility services; GNERC employee evaluation system was adopted, international relations were promoted.
Davit Narmania is an economist by profession. He has been awarded with the degree of Academic Doctor of Economics. He is the author of 42 scientific and research papers, co-author of 48 papers and continues his scientific activities till present. In 2014-2017 he was the Mayor of Tbilisi and the head of the Georgian delegation to the Congress of Regional and Local Self-Governments of the Council of Europe. In 2012-2014 he held the position of the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, from 2012 to present he is the Professor of Tbilisi State University - Head of the Department of Management. In 2008-2012 he was the Executive Director of the Caucasus Economic and Social Research Institute, Professor of the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) and Georgian-American University (GAU), in 2006-2007 he was a Chairman of the Board of the Association of Young Economists, in 2004-2005 he held the position of the General Director of the “Business Consulting Group”. In 2001-2003 he worked in the Ministry of Finance and Revenues of Georgia.
Givi Sanikidze is a Doctor of Energy and Electrical Engineering, he has Master’s Degrees in Finance and Credits, as well as Economics and he is the author of several scientific papers. He has been working at GNERC since 2011 - he was the head of GNERC’s Financial Analysis Department, Deputy Executive Director, and since 2014 he led GNERC’s Tariff and Economic Analysis Department. Givi Sanikidze was actively involved in the development of tariff methodologies and determination of the tariff policy in the GNERC’s regulated sectors. Under his leadership, the regulatory cost audit of regulated companies operating in the electricity, natural gas and water supply sectors and the process of tariff calculation was carried out every year. Givi Sanikidze is an invited lecturer at the Energy Training Center. Until 2012 he worked at "Vartsikhe 2005" LLC, was the Head of the Poti Regional Branch of the “Bank of Georgia” and the Account Manager of the Kutaisi Regional Branch of the “Bank of Georgia”.
