Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC as well as the Public Services Regulatory Committee will undergo international audit, Vache Gabrielyan, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of International Economic Integration and Reform, said on the Public Television of Armenia.
He said the audit will find out if the Committee made the necessary calculations and if ENA fulfilled the tasks set. "If the audit exposes any violations, the extra paid amounts will be returned," the minister said. He added that one of the best international companies will be auditing the company and the watchdog. After the audit, he said, the government may mull a possible change of the owner. "However, the government is not set to change the company's owner," he said. Gabrielyan said the owner of ENA will agree to liquidate the shortcomings, if the audit exposes any.
The watchdog adopted the decision to increase the electricity price by 6.93 drams on June 17 sparking thousands-strong protests in Armenia since June 19. ENA requested that the electricity price is increased by 17 drams.
Earlier on June 27, President Serzh Sargsyan said the Government will incur "the entire burden of the tariff increase." The president said ENA may be nationalized to be "transferred to competitive management." The president and the co-chair of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental committee, Transport Minister of Russia, Maxi8m Sokolov, arrived at a decision on the audit on June 26 in Yerevan.