I consider it likely that HETC will lose its license in the near future: Romanos Petrosyan

Due to numerous significant violations and apparent legal infringements revealed in the course of inspections and audits carried out under the authority of the temporary appointed manager of HETC in recent months, I consider it likely that HETC will be deprived of its license in the near future, in accordance with the law. This was stated by the temporary manager of HETC, Romanos Petrosyan, on his Facebook page.

“On November 18, the proceedings will conclude, and the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) is expected to convene a session within the next week to ten days. Until then, the draft final conclusion must be published three days in advance, as required by law. The other party will have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with it and present their position at the PSRC meeting.

However, as a manager for three months, during this period of about three and a half months, I have identified around ten substantive reasons within the framework of legal authority reserved for me, including the application of supervisory and inspection mechanisms by state oversight bodies. Based on these, I consider it likely that HETC will lose its license according to the established legal procedure. After that, the future fate of HETC will be determined by other legal regulations arising from the decision made by the PSRC.

Among the nearly ten legal violations, I would like to highlight the issue of the credibility of data reports, which has been distorted for years. For a long time, HETC managers and leaders have submitted forged reports to the regulatory constitutional authority, affecting tariff formation.

Secondly, HETC has conducted its procurement, supply, and acquisition processes in a highly biased and discriminatory manner, employing formats that are in stark contradiction to the PSRC's norms. This has created an economic or monopolistic value chain, and excess profits have been migrated from HETC to other economic entities directly or indirectly connected to the 'Tashir' group of companies. Over the years, tens of billions of investment projects have been implemented by economic units affiliated with the 'Tashir' group, effectively blocking the involvement of any third parties in the energy system, thereby hindering the development of the sector.

The third crucial issue has been concealing the extremely poor condition of HETC's real and energy capacities from our government, the PSRC, and the public. Consequently, the indicators of losses in the network have been artificially lowered, fulfilling the plans set forth by the PSRC and resulting in an enormous volume of shadow circulation of energy, which, in my estimation, amounts to tens of millions of kilowatt-hours. This has been monetized in various sectors of the economy, leading to substantial shadow circulation.

All these mentioned facts currently have initiated criminal proceedings,” he stated in a video on Facebook.