As of January 1, the water tariff in Armenia may increase by 20 drams (about $0.042) to about 200 drams (about $0.42) per cubic meter. Garegin Baghramyan Chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC), told about this to reporters Wednesday.
He clarified, however, that this change will not refer to the socially disadvantaged segment—about 100 thousand people— of Armenia’s population, and their water tariff will remain at 180 drams (about $0.38) per cubic meter.
"In the case of other segments of the population, we propose to introduce a stable policy within 10 years—instead of subsidizing. This means that the tariff can fluctuate in the range of 1 to 2 drams,” he added.
According to Baghramyan, the respective petition was submitted in order to increase the tariff by 43 drams ($0.088) for the whole population.
And to the remark that, during the election campaign season, PM Nikol Pashinyan had promised not to increase the public utility tariffs in Armenia, the PSRC chief responded: "Tariff increase is not a violation of the agreements reached so far."
