Yerevan/Mediamax/. Volume of “Electric Networks of Armenia” Company’s investments in the sphere of electricity made 30bln AMD in 2010.

Mediamax reports that General Director of the Company Yevgeni Gladunchik said this at a news conference in Yerevan today. According to him, the volume of electricity consumption in 2010 increased by 4% and made 5bln kilowatt an hour, however, as compared to 2008, this index has reduced by 4%.

Yevgeni Gladunchik noted that in 2010, due to the credit of Japan Bank for International Cooperation at the volume of USD 35mln, they manage to fully equip 17 substations.

General Director of “Electric Networks of Armenia” Company informed that in 2011, they plan to complete reconstruction of Yerevan substation, which will be put into operation on July 1. “The capacity of this substation makes 20 megawatt and its launch will allow significantly easing the load on the center of the capital”, Yevgeni Gladunchik stated. According to him, this project is evaluated to make 4mln EUR.

Yevgeni Gladunchik noted that next year 50 more substations will be repaired in Armenia. Equipment at the sum of 7bln AMD is already purchased for the substations.

Commenting on the possibility of increase of gas tariffs and its influence on the price of electricity, Yevgeni Gladunchik stressed that “this is a very painful issue”. According to him, in 2010, due to efforts of the Ministry of Energy and the government in general, despite the growth of prices for gas, they managed to keep unchanged the tariffs for electricity for the population. Yevgeni Gladunchik stressed that tariffs for gas make 70% of the cost of electricity, and it is very difficult to minimize the process of the influence of gas price growth on the cost of electricity.