Activists criticize results of first phase of audit in Armenian energy sector

In Armenia, the initiative group "No to robbery!" has expressed its distrust of the results of the first phase of the audit in the energy sector of the country. According to the activists, the audit was based on the documents, selectively provided by the Company "Electric Networks of Armenia".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 17, the Commission on Regulation of Public Services (CRPS) made a decision to raise the electricity tariff starting from August 1. The decision caused a sharp public outcry and resulted in mass unrest in the country. The Armenian authorities have made advances to demonstrators and promised to conduct an audit of the "Electric Networks of Armenia". The government decided to subsidize the higher tariff till the end of the audit. On September 30, following the results of one of three phases of the audit in the energy sector of Armenia, Deloitte & Touche mentioned three reasons for the increase in the electricity tariff.

Maxim Sargsyan, a member of the coordinating group "No to robbery!”, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that all the attempts to justify the growth of the electricity tariff are unfounded.

He believes that if the consulting company really wanted to identify the causes for the growth of the electricity tariff, it would have held the technical audit instead of the financial one. In that case, according to the activist, numerous violations in the activities of the "Electric Networks of Armenia" would be revealed.

The results of the audit of the "Electric Networks of Armenia" could be predicted, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Rimma Sargsyan, a member of the coordinating group "No to robbery!".

Rimma Sargsyan has also added that in the next several days, the group "No to robbery!" will make a statement on the problem and announce its further steps.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.