Claims that There Is No Family in Armenia from Which HETC Has Not Stolen Are Not True, Public Oversight Says

The Public Oversight has issued a clarification in response to the statements made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“1) Regarding the claim that there is no family in Armenia from which the Hrazdan Energy Distribution Company (HETC) has not stolen, we clearly state that this statement does not correspond to the reality. The company’s staff has consistently taken a principled stand on this issue and has fought against any such phenomenon. It is also important to mention that when the company became the property of Tashir, the situation was several times worse, and there are numerous facts to support this. The data presented during the last meeting of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) unequivocally demonstrates the groundlessness of this claim. We urge the reporting person to provide accurate data.

2) We find it necessary to emphasize that the loan funds are not included in the tariff, and the interest rates for servicing them have been entirely borne by the owner instead of the people of Armenia. This fact can be easily verified by submitting a relevant inquiry to the PSRC. If we are talking about the loans of the Republic of Armenia, amounting to 14 billion dollars, yes, these loans are serviced by the citizens of Armenia.

3) Regarding salaries, we inform that from 2016 until January 1, 2025, around 11.2 billion AMD has been provided to the company’s employees from the owner’s funds. Once again, we reiterate that these funds come from the resources of HETC’s owner, not at the expense of the people, and this fact is confirmed by the state PSRC. In such circumstances, a question arises – whether the data has been misrepresented or an attempt is being made to create a false and negative perception of the owner among the public.

4) We cannot answer where the information comes from that if there were no temporary manager, the number of accidents would be three times higher. However, the fact remains that on December 31, 2024, there were 15 accidents and 6,750 customers without power across Armenia, of which at midnight there were only 261 customers without power. On December 31, 2025, there were 125 accidents and 117,021 customers, of which at midnight 13,399 were without power. It remains unclear where this chaos-creating commission has gone. Perhaps a moment should be taken to see that the culprits are not the former or the future decision-makers but those who are currently making decisions, both in HETC and in the state structures of the Republic of Armenia,” the statement reads.