Armenian utility regulators announced on Thursday a 25 percent reduction in the price of electricity supplied by it to low-income families.
The Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) said the daytime price for them will fall from 40 to 30 drams (6 U.S. cents) per kilowatt/hour starting from February 1. They will pay 20 drams per kilowatt/hours during night hours, it said.
The daytime price for the rest of the population is currently set at just under 45 drams per kilowatt/hour.
The price cuts affecting some 110,000 households were supposed to take effect on July 1. They were promised by both the government and the Electricity Networks of Armenia (ENA), the national power utility, in June. Then Energy Minister Artur Grigorian said the electricity price for the poor will go down “at the expense of ENA’s profits” and cost the private company 2 billion drams ($4.1 million) in annual revenue.
The PSRC said it decided to cut the price during an annual review of energy tariffs in Armenia which found a net “positive result” in the domestic energy sector. ENA did not immediately comment on the regulatory body’s decision.
The power distribution network is owned by the Tashir Group of Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetian. Tashir seems to have significantly reduced ENA’s massive losses since purchasing the debt-ridden company from a state-run Russian energy giant, Inter RAO, in 2015.
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