Yesterday, on February 8, Georgia online news site issued information that starting from February 5 Georgia is considered a transit country for receiving electricity from Russia to Armenia. As reported by the same source, Armenia will receive an average of a 30-megawatt capacity of electricity in 24 hours. In this regard, Aravot.am asked the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources whether this information is correct true and if so, why Armenia is buying electricity when we are an electricity producing and exporting country. We also asked the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources why there is an energy deficit in Armenia and there is a necessity of importing electricity if Armenia’s nuclear power station – HAEK plant – is still running. We also asked about the purchasing price for electricity from Russia.
The Ministry confirmed the aforementioned information, saying that by the approved balance of electricity production, the electricity produced by “Hrazdan TPP” for February, which is the most expensive in the energy system, to substitute with a cheap one, has signed an agreement with Georgia’s “International Energy Corporation” for supplying electricity to Armenia. As reported by the Ministry, under this agreement, the supply has started from February 5 and it is planned to import 20 million kwh/hour by the end of the month or an average of 650-700 kilowatt/hours of electricity per day. “The agreement was signed based on the economic profitability of energy system. Unlike “Hrazdan TPP,” whose tariff for the produced electricity is AMD 35.78, under this signed agreement, the electricity is purchased by 6.3 cents, which by today’s exchange rate of the Central Bank is equivalent to AMD 31.1.” The Ministry added also that in both cases, the tariffs are mentioned without the VAT.
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
