Armenia Fines Electricity Provider as Pashinyan Pushes for Nationalization Following Owner’s Arrest

The Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) announced a fine of 10 million Armenian drams ($26.2K) on Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), Armenia’s top electricity provider, for several technical and commercial violations. Just hours later, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called for the full nationalization of the company, which is owned by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan who is currently under investigation.

The fine came after a short-term inspection that took place between February 3 and 14, 2025, across three ENA branches. The PSRC looked into the quality and accuracy of electricity provided to consumers, as well as the condition of meters and how customer data was being recorded.

According to the PSRC, ENA had failed to follow several regulations:

• As of January 22, 2025, companies were required to replace all old mechanical three-phase meters with modern electronic ones. ENA did not fully comply.

• The electronic meters were supposed to record voltage levels and power factor every 30 minutes, but some were not doing so properly.

• Inspectors found that some energy bills were still being calculated manually, instead of using the automated data from the meters as required.

The company has one month to pay the 10 million AMD into the state budget. The Commission also ordered ENA to fix all similar violations by the end of 2025 and compensate consumers where necessary.

On the same day that the PSRC announced the fine, Armenian authorities arrested Samvel Karapetyan, the owner of ENA and head of the Tashir Group. Karapetyan, who holds both Russian and Armenian citizenship, was taken into custody after police searched his home in Yerevan.

His lawyer, Armen Feroyan, said Karapetyan has been charged with making public calls to overthrow the government. The arrest came shortly after Karapetyan voiced strong criticism of Prime Minister Pashinyan, especially over the latest attacks against the Armenian Apostolic Church. 

Karapetyan had publicly declared his support for the Church, which the government has been targeting lately. In a statement, he said, “If the politicians fail, then we will intervene in our own way.” The Armenian Apostolic Church later released a statement calling his arrest politically motivated and demanded that authorities stop what they described as persecution.

Russia also reacted. Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Moscow was closely watching the situation and would assist Karapetyan to ensure his rights are protected.

Following Karapetyan’s arrest, Prime Minister Pashinyan took to social media to announce his intention to nationalize ENA.

“I believe the time has come for ENA to be nationalized,” he wrote. “This will happen quickly, and my instruction to all ENA employees is to continue fulfilling their duties in good faith.”

In a later press briefing, Pashinyan denied that his nationalization push was in response to Karapetyan’s remarks or arrest. He claimed that ENA’s poor service had created what he called an “energy crisis,” pointing to ongoing power outages in parts of the country.

He added that he had already given officials a one-month deadline to figure out how to compensate the public for ENA’s failures. However, ENA has previously said it is not responsible for most of the outages.

Karapetyan’s Tashir Group acquired ENA in 2015 from Russian energy company Inter RAO. Since then, the company claims to have invested at least $680 million to improve Armenia’s power grid and reduce energy loss, helping keep electricity prices steady. ENA says these efforts have saved about $30 million a year since 2016.

Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the Pativ Unem bloc, warned that nationalizing ENA would damage Armenia’s investment climate. Artur Khachatryan of the Hayastan alliance echoed those concerns, saying it could lead to capital flight and a weaker economy.

Although Pashinyan has claimed to fight corruption and promote fair business practices, Armenia has not seen major foreign investments during his time in office.

The nationalization proposal is already being discussed in parliament, but no full legal details have been made public yet.

Meanwhile, former National Security Service (NSS) Director Armen Abazyan was removed from his post. While the government did not explain the decision, some media reports suggest he refused to lead an operation against Karapetyan. When asked about this, Pashinyan simply said that the NSS director deserves to rest a bit. 

The situation surrounding ENA, the government, and the Church shows a strong struggle over preserving democracy in the country. 

—

Support independent reporting from the region by subscribing to The Armenian Report. Our team is funded solely by readers like you.