Representatives of four non-ruling parliamentary factions — Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Heritage Party, Armenian National Congress, and Prosperous Armenia Party — at a press conference today all agreed that the recent increase in the electricity tariff was as a result of a political decision.

Representatives of the four parties participated in yesterday's Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) meeting and, according to Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) MP Mikyael Melkumyan, presented reasonable arguments against the electricity price hike.

Melkumyan said that Commission members and company heads made no counterarguments and voted unanimously in favor of the price increase. According to the MP, if things continue this way, the price of electricity will increase year after year. "The state might take these steps to mitigate [the problem], which is not in the professional, but in the political arena, and we witnessed this yesterday — the decision is only in the political arena," he said.

Head of the Heritage Party faction, Ruben Hakobyan, agreed, saying that yesterday's decision was political. According to him, the PSRC has succumbed to political decisions carried out by the ruling authorities. Hakobyan said their group of four non-ruling parties never opted for categorical rejection but took an alternative path, proposing solutions, and in this case too it will take similar action because it sees the existence of shady deals.

"You'll see, that which is being done — I'm referring to electricity becoming more expensive — doesn't have to be done, if only we are able to ensure transparency in how the system works. Yes, it's a closed space, there is no transparent gaze, for us to supervise what's happening here. This is against the law, and the quartet [the four non-ruling parties] is attentive in this matter," he said.

As a result of the electricity price hike, life will increase by about 10%, Hakobyan added. "No one denies this, and tomorrow we are going to witness this. Those 3, 4 months that we were thinking to give to the authorities, the authorities understood completely differently and, taking advantage of this break, are forcing such decisions on the people. If the authorities are using this political break to force these decisions on people, then we will give an adequate response to the authorities in the fall," he said.

Secretary of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) faction, Aram Manukyan, said the authorities were confident that the Commission would vote in favor of increasing the electricity tariff. "They knew 100% that [PSRC Chair] Robert Nazaryan's Commission will vote quietly, and all voted facing downward. It's a fact that the decision was political. This time our arguments were both political and financial," he said, adding that the PSRC is meekly carrying out the authorities' orders and is not an independent body.

Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF-D) MP Armen Rustamyan, in turn, said that the ruling authorities identify any situation that evoke issues that have social or political resonance with bankruptcy. He said that we are witness to a collapsing economy, adding that the authorities have a need for financial resources, for which there are two sources: "The first source is to extort from the people, which is possible, what remains; the other is acquiring debts from abroad. We don't need brains to understand this… We have an energy system that should've become the driving force behind the economy, but this system is losing its power. We've been an energy exporter, but this too is under attack because it turns out that we get energy from Georgia. So there's a need to save the economy. Also, the body regulating public services is not carrying out its role, not taking its steps, [fulfilling its] functions, and so there are grounds to appeal to the Constitutional Court, in terms of revealing shortcomings in the law. What would've been better is if the vote was postponed, but there was an order from above," he said. 

As for Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's statement yesterday, that assistance should be provided to socially vulnerable families to ease the burden of the electricity price hike, Manukyan said it's an empty promise. "Similar promises were made after the price of [natural] gas increased, but they didn't carry them out. This is […] an empty promise and won't be implemented, and even if it is, it won't solve anything because it can't stop inflation; it can't effect the drop in [consumer] purchasing power," he said.

Hakobyan said he has the impression from Sargsyan's statement that the latter found out about the electricity price increase only yesterday. According to him, state assistance to poor families is simply a tactical move — it won't solve the problem.

Rustamyan added that by saying "below poverty line" they understand different things. "When we say below the poverty line, we imagine that to be those who have an income less than the minimum budget. But for them [the authorities], it's something completely different. For us, 70% of the public is below the poverty line because it doesn't make the minimum income," he said.

The four non-ruling parties, Manukyan said, haven't come to a decision on the electricity price hike, but they're convinced that the electricity tariff doesn't have to be raised. "We want to convince the authorities not to increase the rate because it will lead to emigration, to inflation. Perhaps it's hopeless optimism, let's convince them to step back from this issue, but we don't plan to lash out at them."