ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
December 28, 2004 Tuesday 1:50 PM Eastern Time

Georgia to have non-stop electricity supply on New Year holidays

By Eka Mekhuzla
`
TBILISI

The electricity supply will be non-stop throughout Georgia on
December 29 – January 3, Energy Minister Nika Gilauri said on
Tuesday.

He said they would be generating electricity at all the Georgian
power plants, many of which had been repaired. After the New Year
holidays the electricity supply will keep to the previous schedule
that depends on local payments for electricity, the minister said.

As for reasons for the energy crisis, Gilauri blamed “incompetence of
former energy ministers, corruption and ruin of the energy industry
for the past 12 years.” “The national energy industry was under
methodical destruction for the past 12 years, and it is impossible to
change things for the better within several months no matter how hard
we try,” he said.

Georgia receives about 20% of electricity it consumes in winter from
Russia, and another 5% comes from Armenia. The energy crisis in
Georgia began in 1992. In winter cities have eight to twelve hours of
electricity supply a day, while villages have two or four hours of
electricity supply a day.