ArmInfo.Unfortunately, in a crisis situation, when you solve one issue, another immediately arises and a peculiar chain develops, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said on the air on Facebook.
He noted that such a difficult situation has developed in the country that the country's energy system could fall into collapse. According to the Prime Minister, of course some citizens find it difficult to pay bills for gas and electricity, however <we are faced with the choice of either turning off the lights to several citizens, or the whole country may be left without electricity and gas>.
According to Pashinyan, in this situation, the government had to tighten its position. <As a result of this, over several days, the energy supply system received payments in the amount of 7 billion drams from subscribers. The fact is that large consumers, taking advantage of a non-standard situation, delayed payments to energy companies. It was through tightening our position that we saved the system from collapse>, the prime minister emphasized. He also cited statistics on how many citizens suffered as a result of a government decision to cut off electricity and gas to those who did not pay their bills. <The country has 775,000 consumers of electricity and 623,000 consumers of gas. To date, the electricity of 4.300 consumers has been turned off and 736 consumers have been turned off the gas. At the same time, for all consumers whose electricity were turned off, the debt amounted to more than 30,000 drams, and for gas consumers the debt was more than 80,000 drams>, Pashinyan emphasized.
The prime minister said that as a result of his statement that gas and electricity would not be turned off in the country, the situation was terrible and many people began to speculate on this. <I believe that you should turn off the electricity and gas for those people who are able to pay their bills, but do not pay. <Yes, we talked about the fact that during an emergency the electricity and gas will not be turned off, but we did not know how long this regime would last. If we declare that during the whole state of emergency people may not pay for electricity and gas, then the whole country will be left without electricity and without gas. The electricity and gas of the beneficiaries of the 11th and 12th social support packages did not turn off, since we know about their difficult social situation>, the head of the Cabinet emphasized, noting that these are about 3,000 consumers.
At the same time, the prime minister noted that the government cannot record all cases and know about all unsecured people. <The problem is that at least some of those people whose gas and electricity have turned off are really unsecured and we must help them. The government will find these people and help them solve the problem. I believe that all citizens of the country should be prepared for the fact that the coronavirus pandemic can last a year, or maybe more. And all this time, citizens will have to pay utility bills. In a crisis, you need to be ready for anything>, - Pashinyan concluded.
