ArmInfo. On November 30, the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) approved the order of provision of services and a model form of the contract in the relevant field.
The PSRC press office has told ArmInfo that the PSRC has discussed issues regarding establishment of rules of services provision in the drinking water supply area and establishment of a model form of the contract between the operator and the subscribers.
Following discussions with the parties concerned, the PSRC took a positive decision on the projects. The decision will come into effect on 1 Jan 2017.
Earlier Veolia Djur (France), which officially became the single drinking water supply operator in Armenia on November 21, announced its intention to apply to PSRC to approve a single tariff.
Previously ArmInfo reported, citing its sources in PSRC, that starting from 1 Jan 2017, the single water tariff in Armenia will be fixed at 180 AMD per 1 cu m, including VAT. The new operator of water supply - the sole operator throughout the republic with a single tariff - will launch activities on January 1, 2017. The new single water operator will take management of the current five operators: "Yerevan Djur", "Armwatercanal", "Shirak Water Canal", "Lori Water Canal" and "Nor Akunq". The relevant lease agreement specifies the basic tariffs for 15 years. The basic tariff for the 1st year will be set based on the costs of retail supplies in water system and disposal of sewage. Starting from the 2nd year the tariff will be adjusted with due regard for a number of factors: change of electricity tariff and amount of retail supplies, as well as inflation. The tariffs will be revised no more often than once a year. Within 15 years, Veolia Environment SA, which has been chosen following the international tender, is to pay a lease fee of nearly 89 bln AMD (about $190 mln) to the government. Within the next 15 years, the new operator will invest 37.5 bln AMD (about $80 mln) in modernization of water supply and sewerage networks. The State Water Committee has told ArmInfo that the investments will be mostly spent on the repair of water supply network in the remote settlements. So far the five operators in Armenia have served 410-420 settlements - large cities and rural communities. Nearly 570 communities were outside the "coverage" of the companies. According to the State Committee, today one of the key tasks is to include those communities in the "coverage area" of the single water supply operator.
