Georgia spent USD 37 million 113 thousand on electricity imports in 9M2021, which was USD 650 less compared to the same period of the last year. The largest share of imports - 61% accounted for Russia, Georgia imported 1 billion 049.4 million kWh electricity worth USD 7 million.
Energy Expert Giorgi Abramishvili discussed the risks of cheap Russian electricity imports to Georgia on the example of the energy crisis in Europe.
“We should remember that Russia supplies Abkhazia with this cheap electricity, but this balance is reflected in our energy balance. On the other hand, let's focus on what does Russia make Europe today? In Europe, factories that depend on energy resources, such as metallurgy, cement production, etc are already stopped, for example in Spain, because electricity costs are three-fold up, as Russia has cut off gas supplies to Europe, and ultimately, one of the messages is that Russia wants to ratify construction of North Stream 2 to show Europe how much it needs another pipeline to connect with Russia.
Europe is facing these risks today. One of the British experts declares that this winter we may face the reality that the population with low income has to choose whether to pay for heating or buy the food. If the UK has this risk, how can we not analyze that such an attitude can be used by Russia, as a political lever in the case of need. Therefore, we must use our renewable resources as soon as possible, because then we will be in a situation where it will be impossible to get out of this dependence,” said Giorgi Abramishvili.
