Gas tariff for Armenian consumers to decline by 9.3 AMD per 1 cu m. from July 1

ArmInfo. On May 31, the Public Services Regulatory Commission of Armenia (PSRC) made decision on changes in the gas tariffs. The new terms will come into force on 1 July 2016. The gas tariff for the Armenian consumers will decline by 9.3 AMD per 1 cu m. Tariffs for households consuming up to 10 thsd cu m of gas per month was reduced from 156 to 146.7 AMD per 1 cu m.  The gas tariff for the subscribers consuming over 10 thsd cu m of gas reduced from 276.98 to 257.56 USD in AMD equivalent (at the AMD/USD exchange rate as of the 25th day of the previous month. The tariff includes VAT). 

At the same time the Regulator made a decision, according to which the whole profit emerged as a result of reduction of gas price at the border from 189 USD to 165 USD for 1 thousand cu m (the draft of the relevant Armenian-Russian protocol was adopted at the Armenian government's session on August 18, 2015) will remain at Gazprom Armenia's disposal. Garegin Baghramyan, Head of the Tariff Policy Department of the PSRC stated that according to Gazprom Armenia Company's data, the formed profit was assessed 7 bln AMD and this sum will be invested in modernization of gas transportation system, as well as repair work. At the same time Baghramyan noted that the PSRC has assessed the profit at 8.9 bln AMD as during the study of the application of the company the Commission revealed certain mismatch between the presented expenses and those that had been made according to the PSRC.

To recall earlier Baghramyan informed ArmInfo's correspondent that as the interstate agreement was signed on April 1 and the new tariff will come into force on July 1, the difference formed over that period will be transferred to the Government of Armenia. When asked whether the consumers may receive compensation for that difference, Baghramyan replied that "there are no clear legislative standards that regulate such situations".   

Earlier on April 29 it was reported that Gazprom Armenia submitted an application to the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) for reducing the gas tariffs for the local consumers. To note, the Russian gas price for Armenia was set at  $165 USD per 1,000 cu m according to the agreement signed on April 1 2015 between Armenia and Russia. The Armenian government approved the draft of the relevant agreement on August 18. However the consumer did not enjoy the reduction of price. It was officially stated that the reason for this is the losses, which the company suffered due to fluctuations of the currency. "The current tariff is set based on 416AMD/$1 rate while the official rate of the CBA differs from the tariff one", the company's press-service had informed.