WUNRN
ARMENIA FINES RUSSIAN-OWNED ELECTRICITY FIRM, OVER PRICE
HIKE THAT SPARKED MASS PUBLIC PROTESTS
By RFE/RL's
Armenian Service – August 9 - http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-armenia-electricity-/27117963.html
The
Russian owned firm that owns Armenia's electricity grid has been fined $126,000
for what state regulators in Yerevan have described as a violation of consumer
rights. The July 8 ruling against Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) came after
weeks of protests in Yerevan and other Armenian cities against a nearly 17
percent electricity price hike that was due to come into effect on August 1……Amid reports of widespread misappropriation and
mismanagement by ENA's Russian leadership, many Armenians say they are the
victims of Russian corruption and oligarchs.
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28 June 2015 - About 15,000 demonstrators flood streets of Yerevan over government decision to raise electricity price by 17 percent.
Protesters claim the Russian-controlled power
grid company is riddled with corruption [AP]
An estimated 6,000 protesters remain on the
streets even after attempts to end the sit-in [Adrineh Gregorian/Al
Jazeera]
July 06,
2015 - Protesters in the impoverished former Soviet state have been
demonstrating since June
19 to demand a 16-percent hike in electricity tariffs be scrapped.
In an attempt to appease
the protesters, President Serzh Sarkisian last month
announced that the government would temporarily "bear the burden" of
the higher
prices.
Sarkisian also said the
increase, which had been scheduled to take effect on August
1, would be postponed while the government carried out an audit to assess whether
it was really necessary.
However, the protesters have dismissed the president's concession as inadequate…….