Fighting Corruption in Public Services

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Improved Power Sector Performance Within a very short period of time, reformers completely turned around Georgia’s power sector: • Power is now available around the clock. No nationwide blackouts were reported over 2009–11. • Technical losses in the transmission system declined from 6.6 percent in 2004 to 1.7 percent in 2010. • Collections increased from 22 percent of billings in 2004 to 95 percent in 2007 and 100 percent in 2009 and 2010. • Tariff rates are at cost-recovery levels. • Higher tariffs and collections forced households and businesses to improve consumption efficiency. Consumption in 2010 was only 8 percent higher than in 2004, despite the fact that electricity is now supplied around the clock. • Domestic power generation increased from 6.9 TWh in 2004 to 10.0 TWh in 2010. • Georgia, a net importer of power in 2003, is now a net exporter.

Stronger Accountability Framework Before the Rose Revolution, there was little accountability in the sector. Corruption perpetuated nonpayment, lack of financial discipline, and overconsumption, all of which contributed to a shortage of electricity. The old government instructed distribution companies to keep electricity supplied at all costs. As power companies rarely disconnected customers for nonpayment, there was no accountability between consumers and service providers. A key driver for achieving results has been the strengthened accountability in the sector (figure 5.1).

Conclusions Zero tolerance for nonpayment of electricity was essential to establishing credibility very early on in the reform process. The government was committed to disconnect nonpayers no matter who they were—hospitals, army bases, even state prisons. No payment meant no electricity, without exception. The government’s guarantee and subsequent delivery of 24/7 supply strengthened the credibility of reform. Similar disconnection efforts before the revolution had not been effective, because the power company had not been able to provide around-the-clock service for paying customers. The decision to adopt communal metering was an unconventional solution to

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Fighting Corruption in Public Services

Published on Jan 19, 2012

World Bank Publications

Since the Rose Revolution at the end of 2003, Georgia has had singular success in fighting corruption in a variety of public services. This book is an attempt to chronicle these efforts and to distil the ‘how to’ of these anti-corruption reforms. The reason corruption in public services had to be fought was clear. What had to be done was also obvious to many. But little has been written on ‘how’ the government made it happen. What were the salient features of Georgia's anti-corruption reforms? Can Georgia’s success with cleaning up its public services be replicated elsewhere or is it unique? And are the achievements to date in Georgia sustainable? This book tries to answer these questions. It uses available data and interviews with current and former government officials to describe the challenges facing government, the decisions made, and the tradeoffs considered.