YEREVAN. – The Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia can deal with the matter of reducing the price of Russian natural gas being supplied to the country’s consumers.

Opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) MP Mikayel Melkumyan, who is also Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, told the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Melkumyan stated this commenting on the recent announcement by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Russian energy Gazprom Company, that the price of Russian natural gas being supplied to Armenia will drop by $25 on Armenia’s border.

The PAP MP noted that the price of gas depends on a methodology, and the PSRC sets this price.

“The methodology of deciding the gas price is a complete chain. If the price of gas goes down on the border, it should appear in this chain, too,” the deputy said. “That is, the price should drop to some extent for the consumer; and its initiator is not Gazprom, but the Public Services Regulatory Commission.”

He noted that Gazprom will not petition to the PSRC with a request for reducing the gas price, since this is not in its best interests. Consequently, the PSRC should take this initiative; and if it does not, it must be made—or guided—to do that by various ways.

Mikayel Melkumyan noted, however, that even though natural gas is available to 93 percent of Armenia, the villages prefer to burn dry animal dung because gas is expensive.