Supply Activity and Its Core Principles
The supply of electricity or natural gas to final customers is carried out under the procedure established by the Law of Georgia on Energy and the subordinate normative acts issued under it. Save for the cases directly specified by the law, supply is performed at an unregulated market price, on the basis of a supply contract concluded between the final customer and the electricity or natural gas supplier. Household customers and small enterprises are entitled, under the procedure established by the law, to use electricity and natural gas supply services.
A supplier purchases electricity or natural gas on the basis of a bilateral contract or on an organized energy market. A supplier bearing a public service obligation may buy and sell energy in compliance with the law, the relevant market model concept and the legal acts of the regulator, provided it keeps separate accounting for public service supply and its other supply or trading activities. The regulator ensures, in line with Georgia's international obligations, that the regulation of supply activity is not discriminatory towards an energy enterprise of any party of the Energy Community.
Supply Rules and Standard Contract Terms
The rights and obligations of the supplier and the final customer are defined by the supply contract. Matters of concluding the contract and its content are governed by the supply rules approved by the regulator, which are binding on every supplier in both the electricity and natural gas sectors. The supply rules define the procedure for changing contract terms, the customer's right to terminate the contract, the way information is provided before a price increase, the provision of information on applicable prices, standard terms and conditions of access to the service, the customer's obligation to make available information related to the contract, settlements or invoices, and the procedure for charging and paying the fee for services rendered.
Contract terms must be drafted clearly and comprehensibly and must not contain administrative or non-contractual barriers to the exercise of customer rights, including demands for unnecessary documents. The supplier must protect the customer from unfair and misleading sales methods. The regulator approves standard terms of the supply contract that govern the continuous and reliable supply of electricity or natural gas to household customers and small enterprises; a contract is deemed concluded under the standard terms upon connection to them in the manner established by the regulator. If the contract is concluded through an intermediary, the customer must receive the required information before signing.
A supplier may refuse to serve a customer, or request the system operator to stop supply, only in force majeure or security-related cases defined by Georgian legislation, or where the customer, despite a warning, fails to perform obligations under the supply contract, including payment for services received.
Supplier Obligations Towards Customers
Every supplier must establish an individual service point enabling the customer to obtain transparent information on prices, regulated tariffs and standard terms, to choose among several non-discriminatory payment methods, to receive information about the possibility of switching supplier free of charge, and to use a transparent, simple and free complaint procedure. This procedure must allow fair and timely resolution of disputes: under the law, disputes must be resolved within 10 working days, with compensation or redress where applicable.
For consumption control purposes, the supplier provides the customer with systematic and accurate notifications of actual electricity or natural gas consumption and the corresponding cost, free of charge and with the periodicity set by a legal act of the regulator. After completion of the supplier switching procedure, the customer receives a final account, an invoice, no later than 6 weeks. A supplier serving household customers and small enterprises also operates service centers providing information by phone, email and in person; the center works at least once a week up to 20 hours, and booking an appointment there by phone or email must be possible. For customer protection, a commission for reviewing complaints is also created.
The supplier must notify the customer of any change in the supply price and other conditions no less than 1 month before the change takes effect, together with information on the right to terminate the contract before expiry. If the customer does not accept the new terms, the customer is entitled to withdraw from the contract. In addition, the supplier publishes an information card for energy consumers, regularly provides information on energy efficiency improvement measures, and reflects the supplied energy and related service fees clearly in an intelligibly compiled invoice whose drafting rules are determined by the regulator.
Switching Supplier
The regulator ensures the introduction of an effective and simple supplier switching procedure, which allows the final customer to switch the existing supplier no later than 3 weeks from sending the notification. It is impermissible to restrict, by the supply contract, the right of a final customer wishing to switch supplier to terminate the current contract before expiry, or to impose an additional financial obligation on such a customer, except where the contract between the supplier and a final non-household customer provides otherwise.
In connection with the staged opening of the market, the Government of Georgia may gradually define the mandatory criteria and deadlines upon satisfaction of which the final customer chooses a supplier on a mandatory basis. A customer registered as a subscriber of the distribution license holder who, upon completion of the unbundling of the distribution system operator, has no contract with a supplier, receives electricity supply under the conditions and in the manner established by the regulator from the universal supplier or another energy enterprise performing a public service obligation, and natural gas supply from the respective public service supplier. This does not limit the customer's right to subsequently choose an acceptable supplier under the procedure established by Georgian legislation.
Rights and Duties of the Final Customer
The protection of final customers is carried out in accordance with the law, the subordinate acts issued under it and other normative acts of Georgia regulating consumer rights. The customer pays for electricity and natural gas according to the requirements of the supply rules and the relevant contractual terms, while the procedure for charging, settlement and collection of the fee is defined by the supply rules. The customer is entitled to freely choose and change the supplier, and also to receive free of charge all necessary information on consumption and metering data and to make these data available, without a fee, to any registered supplier.
The customer's further rights include the following:
- advance notice of any change in contract terms and information on the right to unilaterally terminate the contract;
- transparent information on access to the service, the applicable price, tariff and standard contract terms;
- a transparent, simple and free complaint review procedure;
- demanding short-term elimination of technical or other supply interruptions, where the interruption is not caused by the customer's own devices and installations.
A large customer may conclude supply contracts with several suppliers simultaneously, and a large customer wishing to trade on the wholesale market must register in the manner established by the regulator. An interruption caused by suspension measures taken to eliminate violations on the market is not considered a supply interruption if it satisfies the conditions defined by the law. For its part, the customer must consume electricity and natural gas in accordance with the conditions and purposes established by the law, the network rules and the contract.
Vulnerable Customer Protection and Termination of Supply
For the protection of vulnerable customers, state and municipal bodies, in consultation with the regulator and other interested parties, develop special programs, measures and benefits to promote the satisfaction of demand for electricity, natural gas or water supply, or to increase their accessibility, and define the vulnerable customers eligible for these programs.
As for termination of supply, the supplier may request the respective system operator to stop supplying electricity or natural gas to a final customer because of non-performance of obligations under the supply contract, but only in the manner established by a normative act of the regulator. This means that the detailed procedure, deadlines and conditions of termination are set by a separate regulatory act, which the supplier cannot circumvent. Where an unexpected situation arises, the customer may use the supplier's complaint review procedure, and the disputed matter may subsequently be considered under the rules approved by the regulator.