RAISE OF GAS PRICE WILL CAUSE INSIGNIFICANT INCREASE OF ENERGY TARIFFS (ARMENIA)

Regnum, Russia
March 21 2006

Increase of natural gas price will cause insignificant increase of
energy tariffs for domestic users, only on $0.8 or 15%, stated Deputy
Head of Public Services Regulation committee of Armenia Nikolai
Grigoryan on March 21. He said that Armenian power plants produce
only 25% of the country’s energy, so raise of cost price will not
lead to serious increase of gas price for the population.

As a REGNUM correspondent informs, Grigoryan noted that Hrazdan power
plant already presented its application in the committee that must be
considered before June. And because Hrazdan and Yerevan power plants
will suffer losses, the committee will revise energy tariff in the
beginning of 2007.

In his turn, MP Manuk Gasparyan said that Hrazdan power plant is
Russian property, and Armenia must cease using its energy. “They
can export their energy to Georgia, Iran, but we don’t need such
expensive energy,” he said. According to Gasparyan, Russia must
modernize Hrazdan power plant to lower the price.

It should be notes, that Hrazdan power plant has been transferred to
Russia in the framework of an Armenian-Russian inter-governmental
agreement on Armenian debts repayment. Russia bought Hrazdan power
plant for $31. It is the only way to supply energy from Armenia
to Georgia.