Current Condition of Armenia

[Mher]

Re: Current Condition of Armenia

Minister Rules Out Sharp Rise In Energy Fees

Astghik Bedevian եւ Sargis Harutyunyan
Հրապարակված է՝ 28.05.2015

The impending increase in the electricity prices in Armenia will not be as drastic as has been requested by the Russian-owned national power distribution network, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Yervand Zakharian said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, the Electricity Networks of Armenia (ENA) utility asked the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) to allow it to raise its daytime tariff by as much as 40 percent, to almost 59 drams (12 U.S. cents) per kilowatt/hour. The company cited its continuing financial losses and outstanding debts to power plants and commercial banks.

“I don’t think that [the price] will go up by 17 drams [per kilowatt/hour,]” Zakharian told reporters. He implied that the PSRC will sanction a more modest price rise. The decision should be announced next week, he said.

The unpopular measure is resisted by Armenian opposition politicians and other government critics. They say that the ENA’s financial troubles are the result of poor management, rather than a low electricity price.

Thousands of people protested against the price hike sought by the ENA as they as they demonstrated in Yerevan on Wednesday.

Gagik Melikian, a senior pro-government lawmaker, said on Thursday that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) shares their concerns. “The HHK does not detach itself from the people and has the same concerns,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

However, Melikian was careful not to explicitly speak out against any changes in the existing energy tariffs. He said only that the state utility regulators should “meticulously” examine the ENA’s application and avoid “unfounded” price rises.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27041777.html

[Mher]

Re: Current Condition of Armenia

More Protests Planned Against Energy Price Hike


Sargis Harutyunyan եւ Hovannes Movsisian
Հրապարակված է՝ 29.05.2015

A Yerevan-based pressure group said on Friday that it will stage another larger demonstration next month to protest against the authorities’ plans to raise the electricity prices in Armenia for a third time in two years.

The non-partisan group called No To Plunder rallied thousands of people in Yerevan on Wednesday in an effort to prevent a more than 40 percent price rise requested by the national power utility, the Electricity Networks of Armenia (ENA). It was joined by leaders of the country’s main opposition parties.

Vaghinak Shushanian, a member of No To Plunder, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that the group has scheduled the next demonstration for June 19. He said it will conduct a publicity campaign in the next three weeks to ensure that the rally attracts “three or four times as many people.”

“Right from the beginning we opted for a tactic of street struggle,” said Shushanian. “That means we see no need to embark on a dialogue with any political force or the authorities.”

Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) is expected to rule on the ENA request to raise the energy tariffs before June 19.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Yervand Zakharian implied on Thursday that the regulatory body will approve a more modest price rise than is sought by the ENA. Zakharian stood by his arguments that higher prices are indispensable for enabling the Russian-owned company to sort out its serious financial problems.

No To Plunder, the Armenian opposition and other government critics believe that massive losses incurred by the ENA result from poor management, rather than the existing electricity fees.

Vahram Baghdasarian, the parliamentary leader of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), made clear on Friday that the authorities are listening to the critics’ arguments but will not necessarily accept them. Baghdasarian spoke of a risk of “the collapse of the energy system.”

Meanwhile, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Artem Asatrian gave further indications that electricity will soon become even more expensive for Armenian households. He said the government is already preparing to compensate people living below the official poverty line.

Asatrian noted that the government raised by 1,000 drams ($2.1) monthly poverty benefits paid to more than 100,000 poor families when the electricity price rose by 10 percent in August last year.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27043542.html

[Mher]

Re: Current Condition of Armenia

Who will pay for debts of Electric Networks of Armenia?

The Armenian authorities consider another increase reasonable and try to explain it with poor management of the ENA company , which is a subsidiary of Russia's Inter RAO UES. Thus, according to Minister for Energy and Resources, Yervand Zakharyan, only for the last three years, ENA has suffered a loss of 37.6 billion drams (1 US dollar is 475 drams). According to official data, instead of the permissible loss of 12% over the last 4 years the losses in the networks amounted to 16%, each percent of loss is equivalent to 2.5 billion drams. "The losses associated with theft, with the date of manufacture of the equipment, the quality of operation and the level of responsibility of the employees," the Minister said. In other words, the Armenian government, represented by the Minister for Energy recognizes that the ENA company is engaged in theft and is attempting to cover their debt through higher electricity tariffs.



A number of civil initiatives, non-governmental organizations and opposition forces have expressed their outrage as the impact of the tariff increase on already extremely difficult socio-economic situation and the position of the Armenian government, which declares , on one hand, theft, and on the other pointing to the validity of price increases for electricity. Of course, with the activities of the leaders of ENA about embezzlement of which (in expensive cars and apartments in Yerevan, on costly trips and so on.) media wrote and public statements were made by some public and political figures, the business owner Russian Inter RAO UES must figure out something. However, the Armenian government should not stay away because ENA acts on the territory of Armenia. Many opposition politicians and experts surprised by the position of the Armenian authorities, whose statements about the theft in the ENA company do not have any logical extension. "It was theft, catch, try, return the stolen,’’ says independent MP Edmon Marukyan proposes.



According to the MP from the opposition faction he Armenian National Congress' (ANC) Stepan Demirchian, it is obvious that the rise in price of electricity is not due to objective reasons, no matter how they are trying to convince society, and aims to cover the accumulated by ENA debt of nearly $ 250 million dollars: "accumulated debt" of ENA "caused by bad governance, in other words, with thefts that took place.



And all this happened in front of the government. Rather than improve the system, to punish those responsible, to make the company's management more efficient, they are trying to cover the company's debt with the resources of the population, which is unacceptable. We must put an end to impunity, to develop and implement a program of recovery."



The parliamentary opposition considers the continued policy of raising tariffs, which will lead to the next round of price hike for goods and services, and hence to the further impoverishment of the population, to be unacceptable. The opposition demands that a special hearing be held with the participation of representatives of both the government and administration of the ENA company.



The future increase in electricity prices caused an uproar in the community. On May 24-24 in Yerevan and some other cities protests were organized by the civil initiative ‘No to Robbery’. On the evening of May ENA, the initiative organized a two-hour protest, which was attended by many media resources, which refused to use electricity for two hours. On May 27 in Yerevan and in more than 15 cities across the country there were rallies and marches to protest against the price hike fares. In the organization of protests, local civil society activists and representatives of the opposition parties, ANC and Heritage took part.



It is possible that this wave of discontent in the country in some way sobered the officials and representatives of the ruling elite in general. A couple of days after the crowded marches in the capital and protests in other cities, the energy minister Yervand Zakarian, previously indicated the validity and the need to raise the tariff ruled out sharp price increases and expressed doubt that the application of the ENA on a tariff increase of 17 drams will be fully satisfied. The Minister suddenly confessed that he understands all the protesters, all the discontented citizens: "I also do not want to raise the price of electricity. There are social issues that really bother our citizens."



We can assume that this is a derogation from the usual tough stance of the government in a social and economic matters. However, given the familiar logic of the Armenian authorities, this is just a tactical move, which hides all the same the clear desire to implement its own (governmental) decisions. It may be applied to the scheme, which implies an increase in tariffs in two stages, so as not to encourage further social discontent.



In all cases, the position of the authorities will be cleared up in 10 days, it was then, according to official data, the CRPS will make a statement at the request of the ENA. Meanwhile, civil society activists, who are working in partnership with the opposition political forces, do not intend to depart from the fight started: on June 19, another rally is scheduled.

http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/71865.html

[Mher]

Re: Current Condition of Armenia

Tashir group of companies is not going to buy Electric Networks of Armenia

YEREVAN, May 12. / ARKA /. The Tashir group of companies is not currently considering the purchase of the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), a member of the Armenian parliament, Karen Karapetyan, the brother of Samvel Karapetyan, the owner of Russia-based Tashir group of companies, said today in a statement.

In the statement, Karen Karapetyan brushed aside allegations that the latest request of the national power distributor to allow it to dramatically raise the price of electricity was prompted by the imminent deal.
He said the increase in electricity price now is not desirable, especially given the dire socio-economic situation of the population.

According to him, ENA is a private company that has accumulated a debt of $250 million because of a string of reasons, such as weak management, poor tariff policy, unjustifiably high losses and a wrong energy balance.

He noted that the potential buyer of ENA will take a serious risk given the plight of the company, accumulated huge debts, and the imminent halt of the Armenian nuclear power plant for six months in 2017 for preparation of its rehabilitation, which will significantly affect the balance of power.

With this in mind, Karapetyan said the government itself should be interested in attracting a buyer that will be able to take the company out of the crisis.

On May 7 Armenia's Russian-owned national power distribution company - Electric Networks of Armenia - asked the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) to allow it to raise the price of electricity a third time in less than two years by 17.08 drams per one KWh.

The company asks for a permission to increase the daily rate (from 7 am to 11 pm) from the current 41.85 drams per 1 kWh to 58.93 drams and the night rate (from 11 pm to 7:00 am) from the current 31.85 drams per 1 kWh to 48.93 drams.

The tariff went up 27 percent in July 2013 because of the increased cost of Russian natural gas, which generates more than one-third of Armenia’s electricity. The PSRC raised it by another 10 percent in July 2014, citing the need to end the company’s mounting losses

http://arka.am/en/news/business/tashir_group_of_companies_is_not_going_to_buy_electric_networks_of_armenia/#sthash.1Ywv869p.dpuf

[Mher]

Re: Current Condition of Armenia

Losses in Armenian electricity system caused by aged network and non-optimal management - Tractebel Engineering S.A.


YEREVAN, October 15./ARKA/. High losses in Armenia’s high-voltage electricity networks are caused by the aged network and non-optimal management, Vincent Lambillon, manager of Tractebel Engineering S.A., said at the presentation of the report on energy network development and optimization.

Armenia needs a new infrastructure as energy demand is growing, he said. Apart from this, optimization may help improve the management system, he said at a conference on energy loss optimization in Yerevan on Wednesday.

Lambillion also said his company can propose solutions to reduce losses.

Tractebel Engineering S.A. is currently implementing two in Armenia for rehabilitation of electric mains and substations, which is the first step to reduce losses, he said.

Lambillon noted the company has not studied yet the amount of possible loss reduction in Armenia, the time and the investments required.

There are two factors contributing to energy losses – technical and non-technical. The first include losses in the network and the second is illegal use, bills that are not paid and calculation errors, Lambillon said.

He said the energy losses have reduced in the last years, from 15% down to 12%, but are still high as compared to the global 8% level.

According to Electric Networks of Armenia closed joint stock company, the percentage of losses in relation to total grid output was 12.97% in 2013 as compared to 13.13% in 2012.

Lambillion said his company is ready to offer long-term and short-term solutions to the problem and help install special counters measuring losses in the network.

Tractebel Engineering S.A. is a leading technical consulting company in energy sector, with an annual turnover of 500 million euros and a staff of 3,300 experts. The company is represented in some 30 countries.

Tractebel Engineering S.A. has won the tender in Armenia on WB-funded feasibility studies for Noyemberyan-Larvar 110 kV electric mains. In 2012 the company implemented a “Stress Test” technical assistance project in the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant.

The company submitted bids for two tender projects implemented in Armenia by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Some earlier reports said the ADB council approved lending of 37 million to Armenia for reconstruction of electric transmission lines. The project will help the country reconstruct its Soviet-time electric mains, enhance its management and data transfer systems and modernize two high-voltage substations.

Tractebel Engineering S.A. cooperates with the Armenian Development Agency and the Armenia-Belgium Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

http://arka.am/en/news/economy/losses_in_armenian_electricity_system_caused_by_aged_network_and_non_optimal_management_tractebel_en/?sphrase_id=2322436#sthash.y4da5isS.dpuf

[Haykakan]

Re: Current Condition of Armenia

To understand our current condition you must understand our past. Someone posted this video in another site and I think this guest is spot on about a lot of things. The important takeaway here is that you cannot count on others to do your job for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss0E-Uq4C3c

[Mher]

Re: Current Condition of Armenia

Energy Price Rise Inevitable, Says Armenian Regulator


Astghik Bedevian
Հրապարակված է՝ 02.06.2015

Armenia’s chief public utility regulator said on Tuesday that the prices of electricity in the country will again rise soon despite strong resistance from opposition parties and many ordinary Armenians.

The Electricity Networks of Armenia (ENA) utility last month asked the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) to raise the tariffs by as much as 40 percent, citing its continuing financial losses and outstanding debts. The PSRC is currently looking into the request.

“As a result of the ongoing review of the tariffs, [electricity] will become more expensive,” Robert Nazarian, the commission chairman, told reporters. “To what extent? I’m not prepared to talk about that today.”

Nazarian described a sizable depreciation of the Armenian dram against the U.S. dollar as the main factor behind the impending price rise. “As you will recall, our last tariff revision in 2014 was based on an exchange rate of 1 dollar per 407.6 drams,” he said. “Today [the dollar] is worth 480 drams.”

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Yervand Zakharian has cited similar arguments in recent weeks. Critics dismiss them, saying that the ENA’s financial troubles result from poor management and extravagant expenses, rather than the existing electricity fees.

Nazarian insisted that the higher energy price planned by the PSRC will carry “no element of luxury” attributed to the ENA management.

The Russian-owned power distribution network has specifically come under fire for renting expensive cars and office space for its senior personnel. It had to disclose those expenditures in its tariff application filed with Nazarian’s commission.

The ENA’s operations appear to have prompted concern also from lawmakers from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). They met with the ENA’s Russian chief executive, Yevgeny Bibin, on Tuesday to demand more detailed explanations for the highly unpopular measure sought by the company.

Zakharian also took part in the meeting that lasted for more than three hours. Neither he nor Bibin agreed to talk to reporters afterwards.

Last Wednesday thousands of people marched through downtown Yerevan to protest against the planned price hike. A non-partisan pressure group that organized the protest said it will rally even more supporters on June 19.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27050022.html

[Mher]

Re: Current Condition of Armenia

Sale Of Armenian Power Grids Cleared By Regulators

Sargis Harutyunyan
Հրապարակված է՝ 01.10.2015

Armenian regulators on Thursday formally allowed Russia’s Inter RAO group to sell Armenia’s national electric utility owned by it to a Russian-Armenian tycoon who has pledged to overhaul the heavily indebted company.

The Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) made the decision one day after the announcement of the deal struck by Inter RAO and Samvel Karapetian’s Tashir Group mainly operating in Russia. It is still not clear how much Tashir will pay for the acquisition of the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) company.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian stressed the importance of the deal at a cabinet meeting held later in the day. He said that the Armenian government itself asked Karapetian to take over the ENA earlier this year after Inter RAO “expressed a desire” to sell its loss-making Armenian subsidiary.

“At our request, Tashir Group has committed itself to ensuring that the company is managed in accordance with international standards and reducing its technological and commercial losses over the next five years,” Abrahamian told ministers. He indicated that the ENA will be managed by Kaskad-Energo, a Russian energy firm which is part of Karapetian’s business conglomerate.

Kaskad-Energo specializes in manufacturing low-voltage electric equipment and installing it at residential and office buildings and industrial enterprises.

In a joint statement with Inter RAO issued on Wednesday, Tashir said it has drawn up an “anti-crisis program” for the ENA that will involve “tighter controls” over the company’s finances widely believed to be embezzled by ENA staff. Tashir also pledged to embark on a “gradual modernization of the power grids’ equipment.”

The ENA has incurred mounting losses since 2010 despite repeated increases in electricity prices approved by the utility regulators. The most recent price hike announced by the PSRC in June sparked dramatic street protests in Yerevan. They forced the government to subsidize power supplies and thereby make the energy tariffs unchanged for households and some small businesses.

Abrahamian confirmed that Karapetian, who was born and lived in Armenia until the early 1990s, and the government will jointly finance the subsidy at least until August 2016. He cautioned, though, that it will only apply to individual and corporate consumers using up to 250 kilowatts of electricity per month.

Abrahamian estimated that nearly 80 percent of Armenians will be covered by the subsidy. He insisted that the other, wealthier households can afford higher tariffs.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27281816.html

[HyeSocialist]

Re: Current Condition of Armenia

Sale Of Armenian Power Grids Cleared By Regulators

Sargis Harutyunyan
Հրապարակված է՝ 01.10.2015

Armenian regulators on Thursday formally allowed Russia’s Inter RAO group to sell Armenia’s national electric utility owned by it to a Russian-Armenian tycoon who has pledged to overhaul the heavily indebted company.

The Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) made the decision one day after the announcement of the deal struck by Inter RAO and Samvel Karapetian’s Tashir Group mainly operating in Russia. It is still not clear how much Tashir will pay for the acquisition of the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) company.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian stressed the importance of the deal at a cabinet meeting held later in the day. He said that the Armenian government itself asked Karapetian to take over the ENA earlier this year after Inter RAO “expressed a desire” to sell its loss-making Armenian subsidiary.

“At our request, Tashir Group has committed itself to ensuring that the company is managed in accordance with international standards and reducing its technological and commercial losses over the next five years,” Abrahamian told ministers. He indicated that the ENA will be managed by Kaskad-Energo, a Russian energy firm which is part of Karapetian’s business conglomerate.

Kaskad-Energo specializes in manufacturing low-voltage electric equipment and installing it at residential and office buildings and industrial enterprises.

In a joint statement with Inter RAO issued on Wednesday, Tashir said it has drawn up an “anti-crisis program” for the ENA that will involve “tighter controls” over the company’s finances widely believed to be embezzled by ENA staff. Tashir also pledged to embark on a “gradual modernization of the power grids’ equipment.”

The ENA has incurred mounting losses since 2010 despite repeated increases in electricity prices approved by the utility regulators. The most recent price hike announced by the PSRC in June sparked dramatic street protests in Yerevan. They forced the government to subsidize power supplies and thereby make the energy tariffs unchanged for households and some small businesses.

Abrahamian confirmed that Karapetian, who was born and lived in Armenia until the early 1990s, and the government will jointly finance the subsidy at least until August 2016. He cautioned, though, that it will only apply to individual and corporate consumers using up to 250 kilowatts of electricity per month.

Abrahamian estimated that nearly 80 percent of Armenians will be covered by the subsidy. He insisted that the other, wealthier households can afford higher tariffs.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27281816.html

I wish they had sold it to a German or Japanese company, much like the water company was sold to the French. The technology, management, and money generated would have been greater than selling it to yet another Russian...

[arakeretzig]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

We need more investment from chinese. Thing is what can we offer them? Any ideas?