Water Supply Activity and Licensing
A water supply licensee carries out its activity on the basis of a water supply license, in accordance with the Law of Georgia on energy and water supply and the subordinate normative acts issued under it. This means that water supply services may be provided only while a valid license issued by the regulatory commission is in force, and the licensee is obliged to duly perform the functions and duties assigned to it. The licensee is entitled to fully exercise the rights granted to it by the license in the manner defined by the law, the drinking water supply and consumption rules and the relevant decisions of the commission.
The Licensee's Core Duties
The law imposes numerous duties on the water supply licensee which, taken together, ensure the provision of quality and safe services to customers. The most significant of these duties are:
- carrying out the service in accordance with the law and the subordinate normative acts issued under it;
- operating drinking water supply and sewerage systems, supplying drinking water and/or providing sewerage services;
- supplying the customer, through the drinking water supply system, with drinking water of a quality corresponding to the standards in force in Georgia;
- ensuring continuous control of drinking water quality;
- ensuring proper protection of water objects and preventing any interference with the system by third parties or pollution of drinking water;
- treating pollutants in wastewater discharged through sewerage systems in accordance with the technical regulations in force in Georgia;
- developing special emergency plans and conducting relevant negotiations and agreements with other persons on drinking water supply in emergencies;
- observing allocated limits and established regimes during emergency periods and providing priority supply to objects of special importance, subject to payment of the water supply fee;
- where water is supplied on a schedule, providing information on that schedule to the Emergency Management Service;
- transmitting drinking water through its own network for another water supply licensee in exchange for a fee set by the commission.
The licensee must make accessible to the public the approved tariffs and the approved conditions of water supply services, and must present to the commission and the public an investment program and the next year's work plan, as well as any information the commission considers necessary. The licensee is also obliged to pay the regulation fee set by the commission on time. Non-performance of these duties entails liability under the law and under the Law of Georgia on Licenses and Permits.
Drinking Water Quality and Customer Guarantees
Through the water supply system, the customer must receive drinking water of a quality that meets the standards in force in Georgia, and the licensee is obliged to control this quality continuously. When obtaining the license, the applicant submits documents confirming the system's compliance with technical regulations and standards, including the condition of every visible structure and device in the water supply systems, the pipelines' capacity to ensure safe, continuous and reliable supply of drinking water to customers, and, for sewerage systems, the compliance of the treatment facility.
The conditions of water supply services in relations with customers are defined by the drinking water supply and consumption rules approved by the commission, which govern relations between the licensee and the customer. The commission also determines the drinking water consumption norm, approves the methodologies for calculating water supply and sewerage tariffs, and approves standard contract terms.
Tariff-Setting Principles and the Transitional Period
The commission sets the water supply tariff in accordance with the principles defined by the law. Given the specifics of the transitional period, when setting the tariff the commission is authorized, until January 1, 2027, not to apply the requirement of the basic tariff-setting principle and to redistribute the cost of water supply and sewerage services among different categories of customers in different proportions.
In addition, until the water supply systems are fully put in order, the commission is authorized to define, differently and taking seasonality into account, the procedure for charging the water supply fee to an unmetered household or non-household customer. This means that in the absence of a meter the charging procedure may differ depending on the season, but this exception operates only until the systems are fully put in order.
The Unified Service Administration System
Electricity, natural gas, water supply and sanitation services, and the collection of the corresponding fees, are based on a unified, integrated and coordinated administration system under conditions determined by a decision of the commission. The commission's decision determines the area of application of the system and the service providers, and one of those providers — the administrator — administers the fees. The administration is carried out on the basis of a contract between the administrator and the other providers, under the minimum cost principle and on a non-discriminatory and fair basis; where the parties fail to agree, the decision is taken by the commission.
What matters to the customer is that the administrator is entitled, where one of the fees or charges reflected in the invoice is unpaid or underpaid, to discontinue providing its own service to that customer, and this is not considered a breach of the administrator's contractual obligations. At the same time, responsibility for the accuracy of information lies with the provider submitting the information. Service providers must ensure continuous harmonization of their databases with the database of the Public Service Development Agency.
The Customer's Right to Choose a Supplier
In connection with the market opening process, the Government of Georgia is authorized to define, stage by stage, 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 unbundling, has no contract with a supplier receives electricity supply services from the universal supplier or another energy enterprise performing a public service obligation, and natural gas supply services 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.