Historically, the main concern in monitoring the Georgian electricity market derives from the negative generation-consumption gap arising in the winter season. However, persistent electricity deficits over ten months between August 2018 and August 2019 suggest that the number of months characterized by a negative generation-consumption gap might be on the rise. Looking at Figure 1 below, generation can only clearly be seen to exceed consumption twice during the past 12 months, in May and June.

In August 2019, Georgian power plants generated 1,020 mln. kWh of electricity. This represents a 3.6% increase in total generation, compared to the previous year (in August 2018, the total generation was 985 mln. kWh). The increase in generation on a yearly basis comes from the increase in wind (+9%) and hydro power generation (+6%), more than offsetting the decrease in thermal power generation (-8%).

In July 2019, the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC) introduced changes to electricity supply and consumption rules and procedures, among which the prices and terms of connection of a new customer to the distribution network.

In July 2019, Georgian power plants generated 1,055 mln. kWh of electricity (Figure 1). This represents a 16.8% decrease in total generation, compared to the previous year (in July 2018, the total generation was 1,268 mln. kWh). The decrease in generation on a yearly basis comes from the decrease in thermal (-52%) and hydro power generation (-17%), more than offsetting the increase in wind power generation (+11%).

In June 2019, Georgian power plants generated 1,198 mln. kWh of electricity. This represents a 0.9% decrease in the total generation, compared to the previous year (in 2018, the total generation in June was 1,208 mln. kWh). The decrease in generation on a yearly basis comes from the decrease in hydro power generation (-1%), more than offsetting the increase in thermal power generation (+141%) and wind power generation (+6%).