South Ossetia: refugees complain about exorbitant pricing for electricity

In South Ossetia, refugees from Georgia – families of fire victims and families with many children, who moved in 2012 to new apartments of the neighbourhood "Solnechny", may be left without electric power because of their rising debts for electricity.

"Solnechny" is 10 kilometres off Tskhinvali, in former enclaves, where the Georgian population lived before August 2008. Later, the building of the interim administration, which had worked till 2008, was converted into an apartment block and provided for the citizens of South Ossetia who had no housing.

The district has no natural gas supplies, forcing all the tenants to use electric stoves and heaters. The refugees say that they cannot pay their growing electricity bills.

"When we were given there apartments, we raised the issue of electricity and gas. We were then promised free-of-charge supplies; and now we have our monthly bills of 12 to 15 thousand roubles. Where should we take them?" asked Zema Djioeva, a refugee from Georgia.

"The houses are cold, since they were built from foamy blocks and concrete. Concrete floors have no coating. Now, inspectors come to us, demanding to pay the debts and threatening to disconnect the power supply. This means that we will stay in cold, with no opportunity to cook a hot meal," Leila Guchmazova, a mother of many children, has complained.

Alan Gabaraev, Director General of the State Unitary Enterprise (SUE) "Energy Resource – South Ossetia", said that he was not able to write off all the debts; the issue should be resolved at the government level.