BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 31
By Tamilla Mammadova - Trend:
Electricity consumption in Georgia was down by 7.1 percent year-on-year to 939 GWh in April 2020, caused by lockdown and related decreased economic activity due to COVID-19 pandemic, Trend reports citing Georgian investment company Galt & Taggart.
The electricity consumption of large commercial enterprises (group of direct consumers) is almost unchanged, both compared to the previous month and to the average of the last five months, indicating the stable operation of these companies.
Energo-pro Georgia’s electricity consumption was down by 12.4 percent month-on-month and 29.3 percent year-on-year in April 2020.
As reported, partial lockdown due to COVID-19 had most significant impact on Telasi’s subscribers. Electricity consumption of Telasi was down by 23.3 percent month-on-month and 23 percent year-on-year in April 2020. The legislative changes of May 2019 also affected Telasi’s consumption, but significantly less than Energo-pro Georgia.
In April 2020, 80.3 percent of the demand on electricity was satisfied by hydro generation, 15.1 percent by thermal power generation, and the rest volume was imported.
Hydro generation was down by 1.7 percent year-on-year due to unfavorable hydrological conditions. The 178-megawatt Shuakhevi Hydro Power Plant (HPP) started operation in February 2020 and already satisfied 5.8 percent of total consumption in April 2020.
Balancing electricity price in Georgia was $5.1 per kWh (+5 percent year-on-year) in April 2020. It was formed mostly by electricity generated from power plants (82.2 percent) and from imports (17.2 percent of total).
Some 21.5 percent of total electricity supplied to the grid was traded through the market operator (ESCO), with the rest traded through bilateral contracts. Buyers of balancing electricity were mainly distribution companies and direct consumers.
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