Pashinyan on Electricity Issues and Outages in Armenia

The electricity issue in Armenia is deepening, and outages are becoming widespread. This was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a government meeting.

"There are constant complaints in the villages of Shirak, Syunik, Tavush, and Vayots Dzor regions. The problem is so urgent that people raise these issues during our regional visits," said Pashinyan.

He emphasized that the issue needs to be discussed as quickly as possible to understand the causes. "In my understanding, the problem is worsening... I expect a clear plan from the Public Services Regulatory Commission and the ministry on how we can solve this issue as soon as possible," the Prime Minister remarked.

The head of the Public Services Regulatory Commission, Garegin Baghramyan, noted that several programs have already been implemented, taking into account the significant increase in new subscribers over the past three years. According to him, if the 10-year investment program planned for annual investments of 4 billion drams, this year, considering the increase in workload, investments will amount to 26 billion drams.

In this regard, the PSRC has lifted the limit on the annual volume of investments for the company (to prevent tariff increases) and increased the connection fee for new subscribers.

Pashinyan also pointed out that the infrastructure does not align with Armenia's development. This pertains not only to electricity but also to water supply, road construction, and waste management.

"But specifically, the electricity issue is widespread... We will discuss this next week, and we need a clear solution plan," the Prime Minister stated.