On January 5, during a broadcast on the TV channel Mtavari Arkhi, a journalist reporting on an accident that claimed the lives of five small siblings in the village of Saberio, Gali Municipality, said (1;2) that occupied Abkhazia is in darkness because the Georgian government and Russia have cut off their electricity supply.
Journalist Ema Gogokhia: “We contacted relatives [of the deceased] in the occupied village of Saberio. They stated that there was no electricity in the village, which led to the grandmother being unable to distinguish between the container with gasoline and the one with kerosene. As you know, occupied Abkhazia is completely in darkness because the Georgian government has cut off the power supply, as has Russia, leaving all the villages in Gali without electricity.”
The journalist manipulates the issue of electricity supply when talking about the village of Saberio in occupied Abkhazia. Although it is true that the Georgian government has not provided additional electricity to Abkhazia, the problem in the supply was caused by the decrease in the water level of the Enguri Hydroelectric Power Plant. It is noteworthy that occupied Abkhazia receives free electricity from the Enguri HPP, but the agreed 40/60 ratio in the distribution of generated power, according to which a portion of electricity should be supplied to the territory controlled by Georgia, is often violated, with a larger share being supplied to Abkhazia.
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What caused the restriction of power supply in occupied Abkhazia?
The source of electricity supply for occupied Abkhazia is the power generated by the Enguri and Vardnili HPPs and the electricity imported from Russia. Part of the Enguri HPP is located in the occupied territory. According to the existing agreement, the generated electricity should be distributed between the occupied territories and the territory controlled by the Georgian government in a 40/60 ratio. However, this ratio is not maintained, and a larger share of the electricity often goes to occupied Abkhazia.
At the same time, the water level in the Jvari Reservoir decreases at the beginning of winter, increasing the power shortage in occupied Abkhazia. It is also noteworthy that energy experts believe that half of the electricity deficit in occupied Abkhazia is due to consumption by cryptocurrency mining devices. In December 2024, when Abkhazia’s power consumption exceeded the producing capacity of the Enguri HPP, the generators automatically shut down, causing a half-hour interruption. Although the issue with the generators was resolved, a statement from the Enguri HPP said that the situation in terms of electricity supply remained grave and that due to the lack of reserve, Enguri and Vardnili were operating based on the water inflow from the river. On December 11, the Technical Director of the Enguri HPP, Gia Khubua, said that the hydropower plant had not shut down and that one unit was operating at a minimum level.
It is noteworthy that Abkhazia receives free electricity from the Enguri HPP; the turbines are located on Abkhazian territory, but the plant is entirely managed by a Georgian company. According to Levan Mebonia, the head of the Board of Directors of the Enguri Hydroelectric Power Plant, as explained in the media, since Abkhazia does not pay for the electricity it consumes, the hydropower plant is forced to sell a portion of the electricity abroad to cover the cost of free consumption. If Abkhazia had paid for its quota, there would have been more water in the reservoir, as the hydropower plant would not have had to engage in electricity trading.
In previous years, when there were issues with electricity supply from the Enguri HPP, occupied Abkhazia received electricity from Russia. However, the situation worsened in 2024. Since September, Russia has suspended funding for occupied Abkhazia until Abkhazia fulfills certain obligations. In addition, the issue of Abkhazia paying commercial prices for annual Russian electricity supplies was raised. Since November, electricity supply problems have arisen in occupied Abkhazia, leading to restrictions. On November 1, Russia imposed a 4-hour restriction on electricity supply to Abkhazia, and from December 11, this restriction increased, with electricity supplied only for 3 hours during the day and from 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM at night. This caused the suspension of the educational process. From December 23, Russia reinstated a 4-hour supply restriction. This decision was made after the de facto president, Badri Gunba, requested Russia to provide humanitarian aid in the form of electricity.
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How is occupied Abkhazia supplied with electricity?
For additional details about Abkhazia’s electricity supply, the causes of the crisis, and Georgia’s role, Myth Detector spoke with energy expert Gia Arabidze. As he explained, the agreement on the 40/60 ratio in the distribution of Enguri-generated power between the occupied territory and the rest of Georgia is verbal, and it is more or less honored. During the period of crisis (from mid-November through January), all the electricity generated by Enguri was supplied to occupied Abkhazia for free. Simultaneously, occupied Abkhazia also received electricity from Russia, referred to as “social electricity.”
“As a rule, from mid-November and through December to January, the electricity generated by Enguri was entirely supplied to Abkhazia. In this case, the 40/60 ratio did not exist. This electricity amounted to about 2 to 2.5 kWh per day, often less. Over 90% of the electricity generated by Enguri went to Abkhazia, with the remainder supplemented by Russia. When Abkhazia had no problem receiving electricity from Russia, they consumed about 9.5 to 10 million kWh per day. Enguri supplied 2 to 2.5 million kWh, and the rest came from Salkhino and Nakaduli [power transmission lines]. The situation was relatively stable.
Then, there were political implications: in September, Russia stopped supplying the so-called social electricity and demanded payment for the supply. This created a serious problem for the Abkhazians because Russia supplied them with electricity at about 3 cents, or 4 rubles, per kWh. This was quite a large amount because the electricity tariff in Abkhazia was around 1 to 1.5 cents, and even with a hundred percent payment of electricity bills, this would not have been enough. Hence, a problem arose. Another issue is that a large number of legal entities and individuals do not pay for the electricity they consume. Consequently, they lacked the funds in their budget to purchase electricity from Russia and import it to Abkhazia. This led to the problems in electricity supply. It was the period of a severe crisis,” says Gia Arabidze.
In the first six months of 2024, Georgia imported 457 GWh of electricity, 91% of which was imported from Russia to meet Abkhazia’s demand. During the same period, 39.3 GWh of electricity was imported from Azerbaijan. In 2023, 98% of the imported electricity was also for Abkhazia’s consumption. Energy expert Gia Arabidze states that talks about “cutting off” the supply are deeply misleading and unfair.
“The electricity coming from Salkhino and Nakaduli [transmission lines] was imported and used in occupied Abkhazia, and none was virtually used in the rest of Georgia.
[…] Georgia did not cut off the supply; this year Georgia continued to provide what it did in the previous years. Whether Georgia could have supplied Abkhazia when Russia cut off the supply is another matter; whether Georgia, when purchasing electricity from Azerbaijan, Turkey, or Armenia in November and December, could have supplied Abkhazia with the electricity bought for the rest of Georgia. Here, a different issue arises – if I purchased electricity for the rest of Georgia, should I also supply it to you? There might be an option in terms of relations, but the Georgian government did not provide electricity to Abkhazia directly and free of charge, because the electricity was bought at a fairly high price,” he explains.
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What did the Georgian government say about the power supply to Abkhazia in the past?
In the past, there were instances when the Georgian government signed agreements to purchase electricity from the Russian company Inter RAO to cover shortages in occupied Abkhazia. For example, in March 2019, an agreement was signed on the supply of 45 million kWh of electricity at a cost of $315,000. The then Deputy Minister of Economy, Natia Turnava, explained that when the resources of the Enguri HPP were insufficient, they had two options: either not to supply electricity to Abkhazia or to balance it and supply themselves.
“This is not the first time; similar practices have occurred in previous years because the Enguri HPP is our primary source of electricity, with one part of it located in Georgia-controlled territory and another part in the territory not under Georgia’s control. For 25 years, we have had to share this electricity with Abkhazia, as well as with the rest of Georgia, and this is the right decision, as otherwise, we would push the separatist regime to seek alternative energy sources independently,” said Natia Turnava.
However, in 2023, David Narmania, the chairman of the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC), made a different statement. When asked whether the Georgian government would assist if Abkhazia could not pay the amount Russia demanded for electricity supply, he clarified that, apart from the Enguri HPP, the Georgian government had no other obligations:
“We have no obligation in this regard. I do not have any additional information. Normally, we will not assist.”
The journalist from Mtavari Arkhi, while discussing the tragedy that happened in the village of Saberio, claimed that the Georgian government had cut off electricity supply to occupied Abkhazia. However, this assertion is manipulative. The reduction in electricity supply from Enguri to occupied Abkhazia was due to a decrease in water levels; this has been a recurring problem for years and did not occur for the first time in 2024. As for the second source of supply, Russia, it demanded payment for electricity from occupied Abkhazia at commercial rates.
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