Today, Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) is reviewing the issue of revoking the license of Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA). The commission will examine the violations committed by the company and their possible consequences for the legality of its operations and the protection of consumer rights. What does this mean, and what impact could it have on the energy system?
Expert opinion: legal expropriation of ownership
Commenting on today’s PSRC meeting, energy expert Armen Manvelyan stated that the ongoing process amounts to an attempt at property expropriation.
“It’s clear that ENA cannot operate without a license, but the commission also cannot suspend the company’s operations, as that would risk cutting off electricity to consumers. In this sense, what’s happening is a classic case of legal theft of property,” he said.
According to Manvelyan, despite government interventions, the real owner of ENA remained the “Tashir Group,” while the state-appointed representative functioned only as an external administrator.
“Now they are trying to seize the ownership itself — likely by creating a new company, granting it a license quickly, and transferring all the assets under its control to manage the grid indirectly. This is essentially a redistribution of property, which will cause systemic issues due to unprofessional management,” he noted.
Violations cited by the commission
The PSRC’s report lists multiple grounds for possible license revocation.
Failure of the automated metering system
According to letters from interim manager Romanos Petrosyan, ENA’s automated electricity accounting system failed in January 2025, leading to the deletion of data dating back to 2018.
“The investigation revealed that many employees and equipment intended for licensed operations were being used for unrelated purposes. Moreover, the company used the vast resources of its natural monopoly to support the commercial activities of contractors sharing common economic interests. As a result, these entities received unjustified preferential treatment, improving their market positions and winning tenders — which led to financial outflows from ENA,” the report states.
Similar issues were identified in the Geghama, Araks, Kars, and Debed branches, where consumption records were falsified — electricity volumes were over- or underreported. Petrosyan reported that local supervisors had been instructed to “ensure” certain levels of electricity losses.
Misuse of resources
The commission also cited ENA’s provision of financial guarantees for other companies within the Tashir Group.
“The company pledged its cash assets and entire network infrastructure to guarantee loans exceeding 700 million USD taken by related entities. As collateral, ENA effectively used the entire national electricity distribution grid — an essential public infrastructure — creating severe financial and systemic risks to the security and reliability of Armenia’s energy sector,” the report says.
Furthermore, the deals were made secretly, without disclosure to regulators. The PSRC emphasized that ENA used its monopolistic resources to benefit associated companies, including Energy Supply LLC, which controls around 70% of the competitive electricity market.
Examples include a $7 million loan to “Tashir Capital” from Ardshinbank under ENA’s guarantee, and another multi-million loan from AMIO Bank to “Armholding,” also guaranteed by ENA.
The commission warned that such practices could endanger energy supply to consumers, generate financial instability, and undermine infrastructure safety. It also noted that ENA had previously submitted inaccurate data regarding network conditions, outage frequencies, and loss rates, which distorted the real picture of the electricity system.