|
 |
|
 SYNOPSIS TRAILER SCREENINGS AWARDS REVIEWS PRESS CREDITS BACKGROUND BIOS CONTACT INFO BUY DVDs & TAPES --> OUTREACH LINKS GUESTBOOK HOME |
Electricity Today
Power Trip: Georgia Utility No "Fun" for AES
The cautionary tale of U.S. firms investing in foreign utilities is depicted unforgettably in the award-winning documentary Power Trip. It's a must-see for any utility manager still dreaming of fat offshore profits.
Power Trip relates the experience of AES Corp., whose corporate values are: "fairness, integrity, social responsibility, and fun." In 1999, AES, the world's largest independent power producer, purchased Telasi, the ailing utility that serves Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, for $35 million. Georgia, a former socialist republic, is tucked snugly between Russia and Chechnya to the north and east, Armenia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan to the south, and the Black Sea to the west.
The film might well be called "Caveat Emptor," because the favorite game of AES-Telasi's customers -- residentials, and industrials and government agencies most of all -- is power theft. Georgians aren't used to paying for electricity, so when residential customers in the economically depressed capital start getting $24 monthly bills that rival their monthly wage ($15 to $75) they do what they've always done: they don't pay.
AES-Telasi starts out with a puny 10 percent collection rate and immediately launches its plan to meter the territory, a $60 million investment. But no sooner are new $100 meters installed in a section of the city than they are vandalized.
AES-Telasi bills the customers they can and shuts off those who don't pay. But field inspections soon reveal customer-improvised wiring that looks like a bad night at the pasta factory. Some customers hitch a ride on their neighbors, and the company's offices swarm with irate customers who insist that they paid. It appears that someone lifted the payments. One customer pleads: "Don't make us kill each other over meters." An inspection of a distribution vault reveals the bloody corpse of an unfortunate power thief who got more juice than he wanted.
AES steers an admirable course between compassion and commerce. The company's principal face in the documentary is project manager Piers Lewis, a British expat who has lived in Tbilisi for six years. He speak the language and engages customers everywhere. In one scene, the courageous Lewis enters an angry crowd to explain the company's plight. If they aren't paid, they can't provide service.
Georgia's grave problems are compounded by the severe winter of 2000-01. Telasi's customers get only 4 hours of electricity daily. The company pays for power from the grid but much of it is diverted by the national dispatch center to industrials and government installations. AES officials meet with President Edouard Shevardnadze to explain that they can't pay for gas to generate if they don't have revenues. The company is losing $120,000 daily. There is rioting in the streets.
Shevardnadze has his own problems. The country recently ended its civil war, and he has survived an assassination try. In the midst of the unrest, a leading TV anchor for Georgia's "60 Minutes" is assassinated. Later, so is AES-Telasi's principal finance officer.
Through it all, the plight of both AES-Telasi and Georgia's put upon citizens is sympathetically portrayed. AES chief Dennis Bakke makes two trips to Tbilisi to ask the government's cooperation and promise the company's commitment, though it is hemorrhaging money. After the second trip, with AES's stock pummeled in the wake of the Enron scandal, Bakke resigns. AES still does not quit Tbilisi.
Two themes -- the corruption of Georgia's underworld and some of its officials, and AES's plucky determination to make a go of its ill-starred acquisition÷play against each other beautifully.
Director Paul Devlin, an alum of TV sports and music videos, has made a documentary as engaging as any thriller. For a print of the movie, contact him at pdevlin@nyc.rr.com.