Karapetian’s family and recently established opposition movement insisted on a price cut ahead of energy regulators’ likely decision to formally strip his Tashir Group, the owner of Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), of its operating license and order it to sell ENA at a price to be essentially determined by the Armenian government.
The Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) is expected to announce the decision by November 18 in line with a controversial law hastily enacted by the Armenian government following Karapetian’s arrest in June. The tycoon was prosecuted hours after condemning Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s campaign against the top clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The law also enabled the authorities to “temporarily” take over ENA’s management.
In an apparent attempt to embarrass them, Karapetian’s nephew and right-hand man in Armenia, Narek Karapetian, revealed on Tuesday that shortly before the tycoon’s arrest Tashir asked the PSRC for permission to cut the electricity prices. He said it rejected the request. The commission responded by saying that the proposed price cut was too modest and not financially sustainable.
Tashir formally repeated its proposal on Friday after Narek Karapetian insisted that the daytime electricity price for households can be cut by roughly 6 percent, to less than 44 drams (11 U.S. cents) per kilowatt/hour. He again argued that ENA earned 6 billion drams ($15.7 million) in additional revenue before the seizure.
The PSRC dismissed the offer as unserious. The regulatory body headed by a political ally of Pashinian said the extra revenue did not result from increased efficiency of ENA’s operations claimed by Tashir. It again pledged to review the energy prices later this year.
Tashir appealed to the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) right after ENA’s seizure. The tycoon’s conglomerate headquartered in Moscow is seeking $500 million in damages for what it calls an illegal “expropriation” of its biggest asset in Armenia.
Later in July, the SCC ordered the Armenian authorities to refrain from confiscating ENA from Tashir, changing ENA’s top management or revoking its parent company’s operating license pending a verdict in the case. The authorities ignored the order.