Skip to main content

Eurasianet

Main Menu

  • Regions
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Search
  • Newsletter
  • русский
  • Support us
X

Caucasus

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Conflict Zones

Abkhazia
Nagorno Karabakh
South Ossetia

Eastern Europe

Belarus
Moldova
Russia
The Baltics
Ukraine

Eurasian Fringe

Afghanistan
China
EU
Iran
Mongolia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
X

Environment

Economy

Politics

Kazakhstan's Bloody January 2022
Kyrgyzstan 2020 unrest

Security

Society

American diplomats in Central Asia
Arts and Culture
Coronavirus
Student spotlight
X

Visual Stories

Podcast
Video

Blogs

Tamada Tales
The Bug Pit

Podcasts

EurasiaChat
Expert Opinions
The Central Asianist
X
You can search using keywords to narrow down the list.

Armenia’s Gas Bill May Go Up 60%

May 15, 2013

Armenians may want to sit down before they take a look at their next utilities bill. Russia's Gazprom hopes to increase the price it charges for gas to Armenia, a country that relies almost exclusively on Russian gas.

To reflect the hike in the cost of Russian gas supplies, the local distributor, ArmRosGazprom, majority-owned by Gazprom, and associated transporter TransGaz want to increase the fee for domestic consumers from the current 132,000 ($318) to 221,000 drams (over $530) per 1,000 cubic meters.

The proposed hike, which regulators have yet to approve, is hard to digest for Armenians, already struggling with rampant unemployment and flat incomes. The news also sent coughing fits across the business community. ArmRosGazprom said that corporate users will also get a higher charge, but did not specify the desired new fee.

Utility fees have long been a worry for Armenians and the emotions are already heating up at the planned increased. Some believe that President Serzh Sargsyan is lucky he just got reelected, before the gas news hit. Speculation has circulated that his ruling party requested the distributor to keep gas prices low until after the February 18 vote.

The outpouring of anger is likely to force the government to petition for Moscow’s understanding. Yerevan does not have too many options to find a gas supply elsewhere. Its next-door enemy, Azerbaijan, most likely would rather supply gas to the moon. Iran, meanwhile, has yet to lay a pipeline to supply gas to Armenia in significant volumes.

Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.

Popular

Armenia scrambles to accommodate uprooted Karabakhis
Fin DePencier, Katia Galati
Kyrgyzstan: MPs give president power to overturn court rulings on moral grounds
Ayzirek Imanaliyeva
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic disbands as Azerbaijan arrests its ex-officials
Heydar Isayev

Eurasianet

  • About
  • Team
  • Contribute
  • Republishing
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact
Eurasianet © 2023