Tuesday, May 26 2015 10:13

"Against Robbery" public interest group calls on the citizens of Armenia to join protests against rising energy costs that will launch on May 27 at 7:00pm at the Liberty Square. 
One of the organizers, Maksim Sargsyan, told reports on May 26, the Electric Networks of Armenia increase the electric power rate for a second time over the year without any reasonable explanations.  He blamed the company of mismanagement. He said the company has accumulated debts and is keen to have them paid off at the expense of ordinary citizens.

The activist hopes the action of protest will be large-scale enough.  "We will be demanding the authorities to give an adequate solution to the problem and stop robbing the people," Sargsyan said.  He said some political forces in Armenia support their fight and have already made statements on it. 
Earlier on May 25, young members of ARF-Dashnaktsutyun and "Nikol Aghbalyan" Student Union delivered speeches reminding about their rights consolidated the Constitution of Armenia. "We are demanding that an immediate investigation be carried out. Until then we are demanding the energy rate increase to be vetoed. We are going to be consistent during the whole process. We hope the issue will be relevantly solved", said the protestors.  Young rep of "ARFD" Ani Khachatryan said the rally is only one among those many still to be held. 

To remind, on May 8, the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia received an official application from "Electric Networks of Armenia" (ENA) CJSC for raising the electric power tariff, PSRC Spokesperson Mariam Stepanyan has told ArmInfo's correspondent.  Earlier, the company disseminated a statement about its intention to file an application to the PSRC.  ENA (subsidiary of Inter RAO) suggests increasing the daytime tariff to 58.93 AMD per 1KW/h versus the current 41.85 AMD, and the nighttime tariff - to 48.93 AMD from the current 31.85 AMD. The PSRC 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. In July 2013 electric power rose in price from 30 to 41.8 AMD, with the nighttime tariff growing from 20 AMD to 31.8 AMD. The second rise in the tariffs (by 4 AMD) was registered in summer 2014.  The authorities of the country (in the person of Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervand Zakharyan) are trying to shift the blame for the growth in tariffs to the "poor management of ENA CJSC and misappropriation". To recall, Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Iosif Isayan said that ENA CJSC borrowed USD 220 mln against the guarantee of the Armenian Government. Consequently, if the company is unable to repay the loan, these obligations must be assumed by the taxpayers.