Armenian authorities want to reduce electricity tariffs "on their  behalf, claiming credit for the process":  David Ghazinyan

ArmInfo.  Armenian authorities are planning to reduce electricity tariffs at the end of this year or early next year. However, they will do so in their own  name, claiming credit for the process, in order to gain political  dividends. David Ghazinyan, former head of the Electric Networks of  Armenia (ENA) company,  shared his viewpoint during a press  conference on November 3.

The former head of ENA recalled that the first application for a  tariff reduction was submitted to the Public Services Regulatory  Commission (PSRC) on June 6, given that there was a positive balance  of 3.6 billion drams due to the fact that relatively cheap  electricity was being supplied to the system in larger quantities  than expected. The PSRC's response, received on June 13, stated that  the tariff would only be revised by the end of the year.

However, following Tashir Capital's corresponding statement, one of  the PSRC's executives shared "obviously false information" on PTV,  claiming that the company had allegedly requested a tariff reduction  on one hand and an increase on the other, due to the proposed  investment of 12 billion drams, Ghazinyan continued. To refute this  claim, the former head of the ENA previously shared an audio  recording of a PSRC meeting online, obtained legally. 

"Duringt this meeting, Tashir Group requested permission to increase  investment in line construction and cable repairs by 12 billion drams  this year. Reimbursement of expenses was supposed to be deferred for  30 years, and if not, the company was prepared to make the investment  using its profits," he said. Ghazinyan mentioned the Regulator's  statement that Tashir's application only required a 0.2 dram per  kilowatt-hour reduction another "lie." "This is another lie for the  simple reason that the 3.6 billion dram surplus was formed over less  than six months; that is, they took the entire year's generation and  divided it by the profit earned over the first six months. However,  even in this case, the surplus would have been more than 1 dram, but  considering that in 2025, as of today, the population's electricity  consumption was 1.6 billion kWh, the indicated 3.6 billion dram would  have increased to 7.2 billion dram. That is, dividing these 7.2  billion dram by 1.6 billion kWh would have resulted in a figure  within which the tariff for the population could be reduced,"  Ghazinyan clarified. 

David Ghazinyan believes that the Public Regulatory Commission of  Armenia is currently completely devoid of independence and operates  under the dictates of the authorities, and the Regulator will only  reduce tariffs when given the appropriate order "from above." The  Armenian authorities will do this in a way that avoids mentioning the  name "Tashir Capital" or Samvel Karapetyan, but "attributes credit to  themselves and their good work." However, the plan failed because  Tashir preempted these actions, Ghazinyan added. Thus, on October 31,  the application for a tariff reduction from the owner of Electric  Networks of Armenia CJSC was resubmitted to the Public Regulatory  Commission of Armenia, and Tashir Capital CEO Narek Karapetyan  announced on social media that it was possible to reduce the tariff  for the population by 3 drams.

Additionally, the former head of the ENA noted that for the years  2023-2025, as a result of the liberalization of Armenia's energy  market (where large consumers purchase kWh from traders, while ENA is  only responsible for transportation), 30 billion drams were taken out  of the country's energy system.  Without this factor, the tariff  could have potentially be lowered  by up to 5 drams per  kilowatt-hour, and electricity for the socially disadvantaged could  have been made practically free, David Ghazinyan assured.