AES, an American global power company, has purchased Telasi, the ailing electricity distribution company in Tbilisi, capital of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, from the current government. Under Soviet communism, the government paid for electricity or the cost was negligible. Local AES manager Piers Lewis must now train the entire population that in the new market economy, customers have to pay for their electricity. This means the people of Tbilisi must face the painful reality that a significant portion of their already meager income will have to go to paying their power bills. Most Georgian citizens, large companies and even the Energy Minister choose not to comply and devise ever more clever ways to obtain electricity for free. Led by Lewis, AES now decides it must teach its clients a harsh lesson by disconnecting nonpaying customers from their electricity. In an environment of confrontation, hot tempers, street rioting, pervasive corruption, and even assassination, POWER TRIP takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride as AES struggles to help build a modern nation from the rubble of the Soviet collapse.

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