BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 8
By Tamilla Mammadova - Trend:
Domestic consumption of electricity increased by 1.2 percent year-on-year and reached 3.4 TWh in first quarter of 2020 in Georgia, Trend reports citing Georgian Galt & Taggart investment company.
"The growth is far below expected 5 percent year-on-year growth, but higher than 0.6 percent year-on-year decrease of first quarter of 2019. Electricity consumption was up by 3.6 percent year-on-year. The growth was mainly attributable to eligible consumers (also known as direct consumers)," said the company.
As reported, electricity consumption was down by 7.8 percent year-on-year in March 2020, caused by partial lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic. From second half of March, the lockdown affected cafes, restaurants, hotels, shopping malls, places for public gathering.
Importantly, electricity consumption of eligible consumers was unaffected by COVID-19 lockdown as large industrial users continued their everyday operations.
Electricity consumption dynamics of certain consumer groups in first quarter of 2020 are explained by the impact of legislative changes.
Consumption by eligible consumers increased by 52.8 percent year-on-year, while distribution licensees’ consumption was down by 11.2 percent year-on-year in first quarter of 2020.
From the group of distribution licensees, Energo-pro Georgia’s consumption reduced the most (-17.2 percent year-on-year), as its several subscribers were registered as direct consumers. In line with market deregulation, started in May 2018, all companies with average monthly consumption over 5 GWh were mandatory registered as direct consumers.
As a result, the number of direct consumers increased from 2 to total 15 companies. Moreover, their share in overall domestic consumption increased from 9.8 percent in first quarter of 2018 to 19.4 percent in first quarter of 2020.
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