Introduction
The CENN project Development of Local Capacities and Public Awareness for Better Energy Governance was launched in November 2003. The main objective of the project was to increase the transparency and efficiency of performance and consumption in the energy sector through community mobilization, confidence building, increasing public awareness and citizens’ responsibilities over the resources’ use, creation of ESCAs (Energy Services Consumers' Association), increasing public participation in the decision-making processes at all levels and launching a nation-wide constructive dialog between all stakeholders on energy sector governance.
A decade of transition and
uncertainty in energy sector – reflecting a broader economic and political
transition in Georgia – produced an atmosphere of poor transparency and
generating a lack of confidence, distrust and anger among consumers. Although a
number of steps have been taken towards unbundling, privatization,
liberalization and deregulation of the energy sector, the reform process has
been hindered and protracted for the last ten years in Georgia.
There has been little public involvement in the energy sector and little room for constructive dialogue between the State entities, which produced and regulated energy, the public and private distributors, and the consumers who received deteriorating service. There was an absence of open and fair hearings, impartial decision-makers, inter-agency and judicial review, accountability and civic participation. There was also little understanding, both within and outside of the government, of the role of civil society institutions in a democracy.
Objective
The project, Development of Local Capacities and Public Awareness for Better Energy Governance, sought to ease existing tensions in the Georgian electricity sector through strengthening energy governance. The objective of the project was to enhance transparency and establish bottom-up accountability through community mobilization, public education, and consumer representation. The project established ESCAs (Energy Services Consumers’ Association) in six districts[1] to serve as liaisons between consumers, state institutions, and private companies at the local level. The goal of these organizations was to empower citizens, and to provide the necessary skills for them to effectively serve as consumer advocates in the energy sector. Consumers were also made aware of their responsibilities as consumers of electricity in a market economy.
The project had three specific objectives:
Main Activates
The Project was implemented by the NGO Coalition led by Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN), the leading environmental NGO network in Georgia, along with partner NGOs - Green Alternative and Eco-Vision. The NGO Coalition intended initiation of grassroots citizens groups (in the pilot districts of the capital of Georgia – Tbilisi) that would act as a liaison between the consumers, private companies and the State institutions in the energy sector.
The main strategy of the Project was grassroots level mobilization to empower the citizens’ groups, on one hand, for protection of their rights through the constructive public pressure from bottom up, and, on another hand, to increase citizens’ sense of responsibility to meet their obligations towards the society. The main challenge of the Project was the confidence building among the main stakeholders in the energy sector of Georgia.
The Project established 6 pilot ESCAs (Energy Services Consumers' Association) in various districts of Tbilisi. To demonstrate results of the Project, two types of consumers’ districts - ‘well payer’ and ‘poor payer’ – were proposed. All six districts have similar level of income and poverty indices.
To create and develop ESCAs, the NGO Coalition organized a number of public meetings, explanatory work, on-going training and training of trainers' courses. Community mobilization was structured around intensive interaction with all households in the neighborhood, as well as actual interventions in the community to solve electricity problems to build up good-will and credibility. Through interactions with the community, potential community members were identified as ESCA leaders and approached by the project team to see if they would be interested in participating in an organization like the ESCA. The CENN project team made a conscious decision to build up “natural leaders” who evolved from within the community rather than working with existing organization and leaders of organizations. By September 2004, all six ESCAs were established. A total of six training sessions were offered on specific energy subjects.
The NGO Coalition assisted ESCAs to protect consumer interests through watchdog monitoring. To empower ESCAs as a watchdog mechanism, the Project will organized regular meetings between ESCAs leaders, state authorities, private companies, NGOs and the general public, developed district specific strategies of interventions, providing expertise to ESCAs and assisting in developing relevant recommendations to the government and implementing purposeful lobbying of rules and regulations directed toward sustainable management and development of the energy sector in Georgia at different levels (including differential and step-rates on energy, energy efficiency, energy saving, etc.) through ESCAs and public pressure.
After 2 years of work, ESCAs became recognized in the sector by the consumers, utility, regulator and the government. In November 2005, because of sustainability reasons, 6 ESCAs were united in one association and expanded their assistance to consumers to water, street-lighting, waste management and other areas of consumers’ concerns throughout the city. Nowadays, ESCA serves as a conduit for public information, and is able to represent organized consumer interests.
In order to open a nationwide dialog on the energy issues, a public educational campaign has been launched that includes information dissemination, media outreach and public meetings. Project worked with children of the schools of the selected districts, prepared and published a series of public education leaflets, brochures and booklets, different publications on the energy issues, including citizen's guide and school textbook on energy saving; prepared monthly broadcasts on national radio and TV, PSAs and documentary about ESCA's activities.