First the increase of the water fee was discreetly announced. This became clear far before December 14, 2005. This was when the French company, “General Dez O” signed a contract with the RA government according to which, they are supposed to provide water to Yerevan and 30 neighboring villages for 10 years. Thus, they have become the new tenant of the “Yerevan Water Company” (YWC). In Yerevan “General Dez O” was informed that the sector that they have leased provides 70% of the population with water. The representatives of the company believed this statement and promised to provide the remaining 30%. In order to have that result the company thought that the $20 million loan from the World Bank and the co-financing of the RA government would not be enough. That’s why they decided to increase the water fee. In its report “General Dez O” informed that the fee of one cubic meter of water without the VAT should be 144 AMD. The RA government agreed to this price and soon the water fee in Yerevan will be 175 AMD. Last time the water fee was increased in May of last year and became 125 AMD for one cubic meter. It’s hard to tell when the new initiator of the new price will present the increased proposal to the committee on regulating public services. Let’s just remember that in this case the committee is authorized to revise its decision only in a year after the last change and that is after May 1. Therefore, “General Dez O” will apply to the committee with a proposal of increasing the water fee only after May 1. Practice shows that the “owners” of goods and services don’t like to wait long. And after the completion of the defined term they apply their “rights” by all means. We don’t know what intentions “General Dez O” has yet: whether they will make the water fee from 95 AMD to 175 AMD abruptly or slowly over the period of three years. We can only guess that the price will be increased abruptly after the completion of the defined period. It will probably be in autumn. Consumers are sure that water is expensive now and the new fee will be more expensive compared to the provided service and quality. The only consolation is that, compared to other services less money will be pocketed from consumers. “General Dez O” has not submitted its duties in Yerevan yet. We were informed by the “Community Development” office that the duties will be submitted in May. Before that the water provision of the city will be done by the YWC. The chairman of the Union of Consumers, Armen Poghosyan, doesn’t think that the quality is poor. He thinks that the water provision quality and the fee don’t correspond and that the quality lags behind the fee. This means that the water provision company demands are more than they provide. By passing over the inevitable increase of the gas price we would like to remind you that starting from November 1, 2005, the service of the inner-house gas system provision has been totally given to the “Arm Rusgasard” company. Poghosyan says, “For example, at the end of the last year the committee approved the fees for the inner-house gas provision service. But during the approval it was not clearly stated what service the consumer is going to pay for. The services were clarified after the approval. It’s not right, in fact, they approved the price without clarifying the services. In order to revise these fees we will apply to the committee regulation public services.”
According to Poghosyan, consumers with an average income during the summer, monthly consume 500-600 AMD of gas and by dividing the service fee into the year, it turns out that the consumer pays 500-600 AMD monthly. It means the average consumer pays about the same for the service as he pays for the good. This is not fair. The inevitable increase of the gas price will also cause an increase in the price of electrical power. It has already been announced that if the gas fee goes up to $110, the electrical power will increase by 4-5 AMD. The increase of the gas and electrical power price will also lead to the rapid increase in the price of transportation, and all goods and services. The consolation is that there is a few months left before that happens.