Shevardnadze calls for “revising the contract” with the U.S. Energy Company

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze criticized the Georgian Energy Wholesale Market, managed by the U.S. company PA Consulting, for persistent blackouts in the Georgian provinces.

?The contract terms [with the PA Consulting] need revision,? the President said at the government session on October 1.

?If the President thinks so, we should discuss the issue and take particular steps,? Representative of PA Consulting Zurab Nogaideli said at a news briefing today.

The U.S. company, which is the USAID contractor in Georgia to implement projects in the country?s energy sector, explains blackouts with the provinces? failure to pay for the consumed electricity.

However President Shevardnadze said that the blackouts are occurring deliberately on the eve of the parliamentary elections.

In early September leaders of the presidential-backed election bloc claimed that the Wholesale Market, which cooperated with the opposition parties deliberately blacked out the regions in order to discredit the government.

Last month the U.S. company AES, which owned power distribution facility in Tbilisi, sold its assets in Georgia to the Russian energy giant UES. The AES explained withdrawal from Georgia with ?the difficult investment climate in the country.?

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