Last year, there were about 120, according to many, non-professional companies providing people with inner gas pipeline installations in homes. This opinion corresponds to reality in some way because most of the companies signed contracts but did not perform their jobs well. The residents were not informed about this and did not follow the rules of gas consumption. The corresponding bodies came up with this reason for many intoxications and accidents during last year. In order to prevent the same events from taking place again, the board of regulation of public services and “HyeRusGazard” (Armenian Russian Gas Industry) decided that ArmRusGas industry will be the only one implementing gas pipeline installations in homes. Owner of the company Karen Karapetyan promised to prepare specialists and structure the company differently. He also promised to provide high quality and set prices 30% lower than the market price. The board confirmed those prices on Tuesday: 2,400 drams yearly for one gas equipment, 5,700 for two, 6,900 dram for three and a value added tax for each.
The company foresees paying two visits to each subscriber a year. Since almost all subscribers have two gas providing equipments, one for cooking food and the other to keep warm, this means that the majority of subscribers will pay 5,700 drams a year. The “ArmRusGas” company will have 370,000 subscribers by the end of the year. Basically, this service is another way of doing business and getting profit for the company. “ArmRusGas” had fixed the average salary of the workers’ at 93.3 thousand drams, whereas it was 61,000 drams for the company. According to custom, the board lowered this salary to 85,000 drams. However, the reduction in the yearly profit was one of a kind. “ArmRusGas” had estimated to receive a yearly profit of 220 million drams from the business, but the board reduced this amount by 10 times and made it 18.8 million. Of course, Mr. Karapetyan was a little disappointed but he easily agreed. What remained unclear was whether or not the company would ask the board to change the bargain prices or the amount of profit after a while or if this was all planned out in order to show the potential of the independent board. Everyone knows that when the bargain price of any product or service goes up, the “owner of the product” and the board come to terms beforehand and then formally hold a meeting. The company fixes a price a little higher than the desired one when applying but the board doesn’t agree. It lowers it a little and confirms. Both the company and the board leave happy and content after the meeting. The consumer suffers the consequences. This time it was uncalled for. However, Mr. Karapetyan and board president Robert Nazaryan promised that they will make sure that the subscriber is content and that the number of accidents and intoxications lessens. It’s just that “ArmRusGas” had probably forgotten that the reason for last year’s intoxications and accidents were due to the low pressure of their gas.