The Public Services Regulatory Committee of Armenia will submit its decision on the application of the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) CJSC for raising the energy rate on June 9-10, the public services watchdog Robert Nazaryan told reporters. He did not say how much the public watchdog will increase the rate, adding that the unreasonable expenses of ENA (rent of expensive cars, mansions etc.) will not be reflected in the new power rate. "Armenian consumers will not have to pay for those unreasonable expenses," Nazaryan said.
He said it is necessary to increase the power rate as the initial rate was based on the exchange rate of 407AMD/1USD. Now dollar rose to 480 AMD. "If anyone guarantees that the dollar will depreciate again, there will be high water in Armenia, and the uranium price for the nuclear power plant will not rise, we will leave the tariff unchanged," Nazaryan said.
He said the applications for raising the power rate have been submitted also by another five big energy facilities: NPP, High-Voltage Power Networks, small HPPs and others.
On May 8, Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) CJSC submitted an official application to the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia to raise the electric power tariffs. ENA (subsidiary of Inter RAO) suggests increasing the daytime tariff to 58.93 AMD versus the current 41.85 AMD, and the nighttime tariff - to 48.93 AMD versus the current 31.85 AMD. The Public Services Regulatory Commission may consider ENA CJSC's application for 80 working days. In case the Commission satisfies ENA's request, it will become the third rise in the electricity tariffs for the past 2 years. It is widely rumored behind the scenes that the public service watchdog will satisfy ENA's application only partially and the power rate will increased by 7 drams instead of the requested 17 drams.