On every occasion Armenian authorities speak about the need to develop small and medium business, whereas in reality the current order of connecting new commercial users to power, water, and gas supply networks prevents people from establishing small enterprises, said Slavik Sargsyan, Chairman of the All-Armenian Association of Power Engineering Specialists. “Let us suppose that we want to establish a small business and we need to connect our workshop to a power supply network to have three-phase current. We need to pay 400-500 thousand drams only for being registered as a user and the same amount is necessary to lay a 50-meter cable from a substation to our workshop,” the Association Chairman noted. According to him, the RA Public Services Regulatory Commission believes that if expenses on this work are incurred by Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) Company, the cost price of power will grow. “The cost price of power produced by the nuclear power plant is 4 drams for 1 kW, of Sevan-Hrazdan hydropower plant’s power – up to 4 drams, and the cost price of other hydropower stations’ power is 1-2 drams. Let us suppose that the cost price of power produced by all plants makes 4 drams and the profit of power producers and ENA and other expenses make 4 drams, in this case the total sum is 16 drams, but, after all, 1 kW is sold to the ultimate user at 30 drams,” S. Sargsyan explained, concluding that the expenses related to the registration of new commercial users as power consumers and the laying of cable from their enterprise cannot have an impact on the cost price of power distributed by ENA. He underlined that in order to develop small and medium business in Armenia, it is necessary not only to oblige the power, gas, and water supplying companies receiving super profits to incur expenses on connecting new commercial users of these public services, but also to reduce the tariffs of these services. “Have you ever seen such a thing? We pay for a cable and its laying, we also pay a tariff double the cost price of power,” the Association Chairman noted. He considered it strange that by a decision of the RA Public Services Regulatory Commission, in case of noncommercial users, ENA shall incur the mentioned expenses, while commercial users shall incur these expenses themselves to have three-phase current. “I know many people who refused to establish a new business in Armenia because of such nonsensical conditions of power and gas supply,” Slavik Sargsyan said, expressing concern that the leadership of the country is unaware of the abovementioned difficulties of small and medium business founders.

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