The RoA Public Services Regulatory Commission today gave the green light for “HayRusGazArd” to hike its natural gas rates to 132 AMD per cubic meter as of April 1, 2009. The utility’s current rate for residential gas customers is 96 AMD. “HayRusGazArd” had sought a price of 136 AMD from the Commission. Prices for larger commercial enterprises are to go up by 17%. HayRusGazArd pointed to the depreciation of the Armenian AMD by more than 25% over the past year to substantiate its request to raise gas prices. The utility also claimed that the cost of imported Russian gas would rise almost 17% come April and said that natural gas from Iran is even more expensive.