Urban communism

Mayoral elections are to be held on May 30th in Tbilisi.

The Christian Democrats have nominated for the post an "experienced manager," the former Komsomol leader of Tbilisi, Georgy Chanturiya. From the very beginning of the election campaign Chanturiya propsoed decreasing gas
prices from the current 51 tetri to 10 tetri (about 6 US cents) for a cubic meter and electricity prices to 5 tetri and to charge nothing for water.

It seemed to be the usual election promises of a politician trying to get some popularity. But at the same time this suggestion exposes a serious problem of the Georgian municipal economy, where. gas and electricity prices are the highest in the CIS.

Electricity

At the end of the "awful decade" the American company AES and then RAO UES set about a reform of the energy system of Georgia and invested hundreds of millions of dollars. But this money needs to be repaid, and with interest.

Gas

A similar situation is with gas. Russia's Itera resumed deliveries to Georgia, and then Gazprom took its place, now a joint Russian and Kazakh venture owns gas distribution networks. The new owners modernized the infrastructure and increased the prices.

Water

The Christian Democrats promise to make water free for the people. But even though Georgia has lots of water resources, somebody needs to repair the water supply system, to clean the water, and all this costs
money.

Experts recall a famous paradox which takes place with the free supply of public goods - the lower gas, electricity and water prices are, the bigger the usage is. So the Christian Democrats will not succeed in building communism in a single city. But the ruling United National Movement party is in a complicated situation; it is hard to struggle
against the natural desire to get more for less money. So they are forced to use the much talked-about administrative resources so as not to let the country return to the past and be plunged in total darkness and become a waterless desert.