Regulator to officially announce its decision on gas tariffs on May 31

 On May 31, the Public Services Regulatory Commission of Armenia (PSRC) will approve the draft decision on changes in the gas tariffs. The gas tariff for the Armenian consumers will decline by 9.3 AMD per 1 cu m. Afterwards, the new terms will come into force on 1 July 2016, Garegin Baghramyan, Head of the Tariff Policy Department of the PSRC, has told ArmInfo. 

Baghramyan says that the PSRC has familiarized itself with the conditions of the gas tariff revision and at the moment the 9.3 AMD reduction in tariffs is the maximum possible limit. He recalled that the changes in the gas prices stem from the interstate agreement signed between Armenia and Russia on April 1. "Based on the agreement signed between the Governments of Armenia and Russia, the gas tariff can be revised within the framework of the profit commensurable to 15 USD", he says. 
At the same time, Baghramyan notes 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. Gazprom Armenia reported that it suggested reducing the gas tariffs for households from 156 to 146.7 AMD per 1 cu m. The operator said that the specified reduction concerns subscribers consuming up to 10 thsd cu m of gas per month (households and a part of small and medium businesses). The operator suggests reducing the gas tariff for the subscribers consuming over 10 thsd cu m of gas 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).  

To recall, on April 7, during Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Armenia, an agreement was reached to reduce the Russian gas price in Armenia to $150 per 1,000 cu m. Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan told reporters that the two countries' governments have already signed the relevant document. To note, the Russian gas price for Armenia is currently $165 USD per 1,000 cu m.  However, the consumers pay $318 at the current exchange rate, and the large consumers - subscribers purchasing over 10,000 cu m monthly - pay $277 per 1,000 cu m. As of May 27, the official AMD/USD exchange rate was 477.82 AMD/1USD.