International Association for Energy Economics | 21 Expanding Access to Modern Energy Services in Transition Countries: the Republic of Georgia

Assuring access to modern energy services to the population is a crucial step to improve human well-being and stimulate economic and social development. The International Energy Agency (IEA) identifies the lack of access to modern energy services as one of the main obstacles to overcome in order to achieve the UN Millenium Development Goals. The definition of modern energy services includes both access to electricity and to clean cooking facilities (e.g., fuels and stoves that do not cause air pollution in houses). In its 2011 World Energy Out-look, IEA argued forcefully about the need to find and mobilize the resources required to extend access to modern energy services to the poor around the world. Transition countries are typically not considered particularly problematic as access to energy services is concerned. However, in transition countries the coverage is sometimes far from complete and substan-tial efforts are still required to ensure the full coverage. A clear case is the one of the Republic of Georgia. Most of the infrastructure used for the transmission of electricity and the transportation of gas was seriously damaged (and/or deteriorated substantially) in the years immediately following the separation of the country from the Soviet Union (1991). Despite impressive improvements taking place after the rose revolution (2003), some challenges are still ahead