ArmInfo. Starting from January 1, 2017 water supply and sewerage services single tariffs will be applied in Armenia. An appropriate decision is taken at the session of Public Services Regulating Commission on December9.
According Garegin Baghramyam, the head of the tariff pociy department of PSRC, the fee for water supply network use will form AMD 153 for 1 cubic meter (including VAT), and the sewerage services will cost at AMD 27 for the same (including VAT).
PSRC has also issued a license to the sole operator of Water and Sewerage Network - the Company of Veolia. The Company will undertake the management of 5 actual operators - Yerevan Djour, Armenian Water and Sewerage, Shirak Water and Sewerage, Lori Water and Sewerage and Nor Akunk. To note, for now the lowest tariff is applied in Yerevan, it forms AMD 170,256 for 1 cubic meter, and in districts it is at up to AMD 200. The highest tariff is in Armavir - AMD 204. As ArmInfo has nformed earlier, in the beginning of November 2016 a 15-year term Lease Agreement has been signed with new operator of water supply and sewerage - company of Veolia. The lease Agreement states the basic tariffs for 15 years, where the basic tariff for the first year will be set as the tariff for retail supply of water and sewerage services.
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.
