Plans to Prevent Gas Undervoltage with Chips

The Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition plans to address the issue of undervoltage at gas stations through the use of chips. This was announced by the head of the commission, Gegham Gevorgyan, during a press conference discussing the problems recorded in the liquid and methane gas markets.

“We have identified a problem in the market regarding undervoltage. Following a signal received from the market inspection body concerning a particular operator, we conducted an inspection and found that there was a 30% discrepancy in the charging process. We have held them accountable, and the penalties have been quite significant. Now we are trying to develop mechanisms that will objectively reduce the number of frauds. We are considering a technical solution with chips that will allow monitoring the quantities of input and output in real time,” he stated.

According to him, balloons have been installed at gas stations through which any consumer will be able to verify the amount of gas charged, although the implementation on a large scale is still lacking. The head of the Commission believes that it is also necessary to create a system that activates reputational risk; in other words, consumers should be aware if Company X is committing fraud, making the remaining consumers more vigilant with respect to gas charging at that company.

Speaking about price fluctuations in the liquid gas market, he noted that the dynamics are quite normal, with changes in prices not being unique to Armenia; globally, prices are rising, and thus they are also increasing in Armenia, similarly in the case of price reductions.