Wednesday, January 24 2024 10:48

ArmInfo. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired a consultation, during which the report of the  Public Services Regulatory Commission was presented.

Before the presentation of the report, the Prime Minister said: "This  year, the terms of office of the chairmen of the Public Services  Regulatory Commission and the Competition Protection Commission  expire. They were elected to these positions in April 2019. You know  that the chairmen of the commissions are elected by the National  Assembly, while the authority to nominate candidates belongs to the  Government of the Republic of Armenia." Nikol Pashinyan added that  the purpose of the consultation is to get acquainted with the report  on the activities of the chairman of the Public Services Regulatory  Commission, based on the results of which a decision will be made on  nominating a candidate for the chairman of the commission.

The Chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission, Garegin  Baghramyan, presented the works performed during the reporting period  in the fields under the regulation of the commission and the results  of the activities: energy (electric power, water supply and gas  supply systems), water, telecommunications, postal communication,  railway transport, vehicles, mandatory technical inspection.

Referring to the upcoming activities, it was presented that  legislative reforms are planned. ensuring the continuity of market  monitoring, improving tariff mechanisms, ensuring the continuity of  the development of the electronic communication sector, implementing  programs aimed at the development of the water system. Based on the  report, an exchange of ideas was held, observations were presented  regarding the commission's conceptual approaches and program  directions.

Commenting on the tariff policy, Garegin Baghramyan noted that  according to the law, the commission must determine the tariffs if  the authorized body applies with such a claim.

In this regard, the Prime Minister noted. "The tariff is what should  guarantee quality to the consumer and profit to the producer. That  is, if this balance is violated, then something is wrong with that  tariff formula.  Of course, it is clear that all this is not done in  one action, but I think that these systems have been operating for  quite a long time, and we must be concrete in solving this problem  and formulate the problem in this concreteness."

Turning to the issue of renewable electricity, Nikol Pashinyan  emphasized that it is developing quite well in Armenia and added: "We  need strategic cooperation agreements. The problem is that we produce  electricity, what do we do with that electricity, store it? That  storage, as said, is very expensive with today's technology.  According to this logic, it will be more efficient to produce  electricity, export that electricity, accumulate the funds obtained  from it and, as necessary, use the funds to meet the needs."

The Head of the Government also referred to the quality of  electricity and noted. "It is obvious that we have problems here. I  want to understand why these problems are not solved and what are we  planning to do to solve these problems? The first problem is the  quality of the electricity supply, to be uninterrupted and the second  is the quality of the supplied electricity."

In response, the chairman of the Public Services Regulatory  Commission noted that the problem has also led to quality  deterioration in some places and emphasized. "It was for the  violation of service quality that I said that the supplier paid 580  million to consumers. In other words, if it does not restore, for  example, a group of consumers' electricity supply within 4 hours, it  automatically debits money for the next month as an advance payment.  The supplier pays a fine of about 120 million AMD every year."

In this regard, the Prime Minister emphasized. "In other words, we  have launched the mechanism by which the progress of that quality  should be visible by all standards."

A detailed reference was also made to the regulations in the fields  of gas supply, water supply, and telecommunications, the existing  problems, and the further steps for their solution.