Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

“Kakheti Energy Distribution Company” Robs Subscribers

October 29, 2009

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti 

Kakheti population blames the Energy Distribution Company in robbery. The company, based ono the resolution of the National Energy Regulatory Commission of Georgia, demands subscribers to pay bills according to communal meters. Ten thousands of subscribers have to pay extra 5, 10 GEL every month. Short time ago, the Minister of Penitentiary, Probation and Legal Aid Dimitry Shashkin assessed the activities of the Energy Distribution Company as “working according to the principles of Chingis Khan.” President Saakashvili also criticized working by communal meters several times but the situation has not changed yet. The subscribers who pay extra money for the communal meters are not supplied with electricity yet.

JSC Kakheti Energy Distribution Company was sold at the auction in December of 2008 and since January of 2008 it is owned by Lithuanian “Ahema Group”. The investor had to start installment of individual meters from July 1, 2009. At the first stage, the Company planned to install individual meters for 10 000 subscribers before December 31, 2009 and was going to spend 2, 200 000 GEL on it. According to the information of the company released on June 30, individual meters were to be installed in every village of the region and the company had to cover all the expenses. However, the installment activities still continue.

Kakheti Energy Distribution Company has 122 000 subscribers in the region and only 31 000 of them have individual meters. The rest 91 000 subscribers still use communal meters and pay bills according to them.

According to the Company, subscribers pay bills based on the resolution of the National Energy Regulatory Commission. Despite the protest of the population the National Commission allowed the Kakheti Energy Distribution Company to use communal meters before January 10, 2014. According to the commission, the reason for their decision was inability of the Energy Company to resolve all problems in the network. “There was no other alternative,” said the Commission.

The commission permitted the Kakheti Energy Distribution Company to use the communal meters on November 29, 2005. The deadline of the resolution was July 1, 2008 and it was to cover all subscribers who did not have individual meters throughout Kakheti region. However, the board of the Company demanded every subscriber to use the communal meters. According to the JSC, although subscribers have individual meters they are old and do not work properly. This definition is not regulated by the law, though it does not prevent the Company from working selfishly. It must be noted, that the Company does not hold documents to prove that subscribers have damaged meters.

According to the same resolution of the National Regulatory Commission, the Energy Distribution Company bears some responsibilities to protect the rights of the subscribers. For example, “if the subscriber requests, the company is entitled to examine the individual meter within one week and draw up a protocol which will clarify whether the meter is working properly or not. If the meter is working properly, the subscriber is allowed to use only individual meter and the company is obliged to calculate the used electricity according to the individual meter.”

Ana Pilavova, subscriber of the Kakheti Energy Distribution Company. “I petitioned to the Company to check my individual meter on December 19, 2008. I sent the petition to the regional office of the Kakheti Energy Distribution Company by ordinary mail. The letter was delivered to the addressee several days later; however, nobody checked my meter yet. According to the resolution of the Company, since my meter was not checked it is considered to be working well. Despite that I pay bills according to the communal meter.”

Gugula Rakviashvili, subscriber of the Kakheti Energy Distribution Company: “The only income of our family was social allowance; though it is dropped now. I hardly managed to pay the bill according to my individual meter and now they are arguing with me about additional bills and I cannot pay it. I requested the representatives of the Energy Company to invite Energy-Patrol and find out who uses electricity without meter but they do not care. They are eager to get money only.”

According to the resolution of the National Regulatory Commission, the company and subscribers with communal meters shall sign comparison protocols once a month where they shall include the index of the communal meter, technical loss of the electricity and the used electricity by each subscriber. Based on the data in the protocols the company will prepare receipts and deliver to the subscriber. The receipt should provide information about the price of the used electricity and address of the office where subscribers can apply with their complaints. These requirements of the Commission are not complied. Subscribers pay their bills at the cashers of People’s Bank in their villages. The receipts issued by the People’s Bank provide information only about the paid bill. Subscriber living in the village can receive a proper receipt if s/he arrives in the district center and applies to the service-center of the Energy Distribution Company. The service centers started to issue receipts with all necessary information at the end of October, 2009. Since the offices of the National Energy Regulatory Commission and Energy-Ombudsman are located in the western Georgia, in Kutaisi, dissatisfied subscribers cannot apply to them for help.

Article 8 of the temporary regulation clarifies that “unless the electricity bill is paid, the Company shall cut of the electricity supply only for individual subscribers.” The Kakheti Energy Distribution Company breaches this requirement of the law too. If subscribers do not pay bills, the company cuts the electricity supply for the entire settlement connected to one communal meter. According to the resolution of the National Regulatory Commission, shall not cut off the supply on holidays. Though, the company does not obey these regulations either,

The representatives of the Kakheti Energy Distribution Company did not comment on the situation. As for the delay in installing the meters, the spokesperson of the Company Zhana Didebashvili said the project has not failed. “There are several stages in the process: -survey of subscribers, selection of contractors, purchase special equipments and then installment of the meters. The process has started and 10 000 subscribers will have individual meters till the end of the year. We will finish everything early in 2014,” said Zhana Didebashvili.

News