ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia Tuesday Armenian Ministry of Energy: 2/3 of lifetime extension works on Armenian NPP 2nd unit are close to completion. Yerevan May 30 Alexander Avanesov. As of today, from USD 205 mln, allocated by Russian Federation for the implementation of Armenian NPP lifetime extension project, USD 136 mln is already utilized. This was stated on May 29 at the session on loans and grants management board conducted by Minister of energy infrastructures and natural resources of RA Ashot Manoukyan.. According to the statement of the Ministry press office, the results of the works implemented at NPP in QI of 2017 were represented to attendants of the session. The importance of the implementation of all arrangements in the terms set and within high quality. Based on the results of the session the Minister issue appropriate instructions. The Press office of Armenian Ministry of Energy states that 2/3 of lifetime extension works on Armenian NPP 2nd unit are close to completion. Earlier, during his interview with ArmInfo correspondent, AEP N2 energy bloc term prolongation works head said, that a considerable amount of work will be carried out during the preventive maintenance. The main focus will be put on the safety of the nuclear power plant: works related to the repair of equipment will be performed, as well as work on instrumental inspection of equipment. The repair of the equipment will be assisted by employees of the Kolskaya and Novovoronezh nuclear power plants - they are the ?twinning? stations of the Armenian NPP, scientific management will be carried out by JSC TsNIITMASH, an industrial enterprise of the Rosatom. As for the instrumental survey, the main task of this exercise is to calculate and confirm the residual life of the equipment using non-destructive testing methods. In simple words, it is necessary to check the possibility of further operation of NPP equipment. As you know, there is a lot of equipment on the NPPA, so the instrumental survey is distributed for several years, without compromising the safety and operation of the NPPA. Last year, we started this process; this year the volume of the surveyed equipment increased by 50% compared to last year (150 types of equipment) at the request of the supervisory authority. We hope to finish the instrumental survey process next year and in 2019. Transfer calculations and conclusions to the supervisory authority - the State Committee for Nuclear Safety Regulation. We hope to finish on time, but everything will depend on the results of the survey and the decision of the Gosatomnadzor. On 30 Sept 2015, Tashir Group headed by Russian businessman of Armenian origin Samvel Karapetyan and Inter RAO signed an agreement of purchase and sale of electric power assets of the Russian energy holding in Armenia - ENA CJSC and Hrazdan TPP. The reason of the sale was the public discontent about the ungrounded growth in electricity prices by approximately 16.7% (6.93 AMD per 1 kWh). The Public Services Regulatory Commission's (PSRC) decision to raise the tariff sparked protests and the Armenian authorities agreed to audit both the expediency of PSRC's decision to raise the tariff and the activities of the Electric Networks. In addition, the authorities and Tashir Group took a decision to subsidize on a parity basis the raised tariff for the households and SMEs until the audit is completed. Since August 1, 2015, the daytime tariff for households (from 7 am till 11 pm) has been 48.78 AMD per 1kWh, while the nighttime tariff has been 38.78 AMD per 1 kWh.