Premier: Tariff for small wholesale water trade in Armenia must be kept

ArmInfo. The tariff for small wholesale water trading should be maintained. Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan delivered a similar request at a government meeting on November 2. According to him, on August 7, 2017, the French company Veolia Jur submitted an application to the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) for a revision of the tariff. According to the application, it is proposed to raise the tariff for drinking water and sewage disposal services by 14.3 drams per 1 cubic meter in 2018. The application of the company is in the process of studying the PUC.  "After summarizing the results of the research, if the PSRC satisfies the company's application, the Armenian government deems it necessary, together with Veolia Jur, to find an opportunity to save the tariff for small-scale water trade within the framework of the agreement." In this regard, the prime minister instructed the chairman of the state water committee for 20 days in case of tariff change in conjunction with "Veolia Jur" to hold discussions, and in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and PSRC to submit to the government staff a draft decision on maintaining the tariff for m lkoopotovuyu water trade ", - said the head of the Armenian government.

Recall that at present PSRC is discussing the application of the company "Veolia Jur", according to which it is proposed to increase the tariff for water from the current 180 to 194 drams. Next week, the study of the application will be completed, the final decision on which will be taken before the end of November of this year. The tariff for water is affected by three factors: electricity tariffs, water sales volumes and inflation. And if the tariffs for electricity and inflation did not change, then the volume of water sales by the company declined to 113 million cubic meters, or 10 million cubic meters. less than the planned indicator. Now PSRC will analyze the situation to understand the reasons for the decline in sales.

As ArmInfo informed earlier, on August 7 a single operator of the sphere water supply and sanitation Armenia Veolia Djur sent to PSRC an application for increasing the tariff for water. Application for review of the current tariff was submitted to the PSRC and will be considered within 80 working days. If approved, the new tariff will come into force on January 1, 2018. A year earlier, when the Armenian government announced the results of an international tender to determine a single water supply operator in the country, it was officially announced that the priority was given to the company that offered the lowest tariff for water - the French Veolia Enviroment SA. The company undertook to significantly reduce losses in the water supply sector, and the responsible persons assured that at least two years after the establishment of a single tariff in the territory of Armenia, a new revision of it will not be made. Since January 1, 2017, the Republic of Armenia has raised the single water tariff for residents of Yerevan from 170,256 drams per 1 cubic meter of water to 180 drams, including VAT. Participants of the process hastened to assure the citizens of RA that the increase comes from their own interests, since the funds will be used to improve the system and expand the service network.