Protest against electricity price rise to be staged tomorrow

The civil initiative opposing the upcoming rise in electricity tariffs in Armenia will stage yet another protest on July 1, the initiative said in a statement on Facebook.

“A protest is scheduled for 10:30 am on Tuesday, July 1 outside Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) on Sarian Street in Yerevan. PSRC will hold a sitting on July 1 to discuss a rise in electricity tariffs, and in all likelihood a final decision on the tariff increase will be taken. We should express our protest, put pressure and prevent adoption of the illegal decision,” the statement reads.

The initiative calls on all those who oppose yet another unfounded tariff rise to participate in the protest action.

We would remind you that the previous protest against the electricity tariff increase from August 1, 2014 took place outside PSRC building in Yerevan last week and let to a clash with police. 27 citizens were detained during the protest.

It is noteworthy that PSRC Chairman Robert Nazaryan earlier said that on August 1, 2014 the tariff of electricity supplied to all the consumer groups will increase by 3-8-4.3 drams/kWh (inclusive of VAT). In his words, the rise in electricity tariffs is inevitable as Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) CJSC may face financial difficulties: the company’s debt is already 16 billion 600 million drams.