Legal Clarity on Relations Regarding Electric Vehicle Charging to be Ensured

The Parliament is discussing a draft law proposed by parliamentary members Tsovinar Vardanyan, Arusyak Manavazyan, and Alen Simonyan regarding amendments and additions to the Law on Energy, aiming for the first reading approval.

According to the main reporter, Tsovinar Vardanyan, the draft law includes three main regulations. “In recent years, due to state policy, the number of electric vehicles in Armenia has significantly increased. Consequently, in line with this policy, there is a need to ensure legal clarity regarding the relations related to the charging of these vehicles and to facilitate the process,” she stated.

Charging electric vehicles is not a type of activity subject to regulation and licensing in the energy sector, allowing individuals to freely provide this service, provided they comply with relevant legislative acts. However, there is currently no explicit provision regarding this matter in the existing Law on Energy,” Vardanyan added.

She pointed out that especially for residents of apartment buildings, there are complications related to charging electric vehicles. “In particular, for them to charge their vehicles in their parking spaces, they must apply to an electricity distribution service provider to connect their consumption system to the electric network for a connection fee. Then, they must sign an electricity supply contract, thereby becoming a separate subscriber for that consumption point. This is naturally an expensive and time-consuming process, and often it is simply unnecessary, as the capacity of the existing consumption systems in the apartments is generally sufficient for both the apartment's electricity supply and the charging of electric vehicles.

We propose to establish that any individual, including the consumer, can provide electric vehicle charging services, which is not a type of activity subject to energy sector licensing and is not subject to regulation under the mentioned law. Furthermore, we aim to create the possibility for the consumer to use electricity supplied to them in parking spaces that are outside the area of their consumption system and in other residentially designated areas registered as independent property units, thereby independently facilitating the interconnection of those systems in compliance with existing requirements,” Vardanyan clarified.

She noted that the establishment of these legal regulations would ensure clarity regarding relations related to the charging of electric vehicles and ease the process for consumers, as well as facilitate the provision of electricity supply in areas intended for household needs that they own.