Domestic electricity consumption was up 0.7% y/y in January 2016. Consumption by Telasi (the DNO servicing the greater Tbilisi area residential, commercial and industrial consumers) increased 8.3% y/y (37.1% of total DNO consumption), while consumption in the regions (Energo-Pro) was up a negligible 0.5% y/y (58.6% of total DNO consumption). Consumption by eligible consumers was down 25.4% y/y, with Georgian Manganese (GM) electricity consumption down 28.3% y/y in January 2016. Consumption by the Abkhazian Region continues the upward trend, with the y/y growth at 7.7%, and accounts for 93.7% of Enguri & Vardnili generation and 23.3% of total domestic consumption.
Domestic generation increased 9.3% y/y in January 2016, partially displacing electricity imports. TPP output grew 14.5% y/y, while HPP generation increased 6.7% y/y. Imports were down 43.9% y/y, with their share in January electricity supply down from 15.8% a year ago to 8.8% in January 2016. Georgia imported 89.7gWh of electricity from Russia (-21.9% y/y) and 3.4gWh from Armenia (-93.4% y/y) at an average price of USc 4.9/kWh.
Turkish electricity prices continue the downward trend. In US$ terms, the market clearing price in January was down 32.5% y/y to USc 5.2 per kWh; the price was also down in TRY terms (12.8% y/y). The balancing price for electricity in Georgia also decreased 19.9% y/y to USc 5.5 per kWh. Georgian electricity exports for the month were negligible, as January is typically an electricity deficit month.
