Civilnet
By Elen Muradyan
Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) plans to revoke the electricity distribution license of the Electricity Networks of Armenia (ENA), owned by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan. The draft decision, published on the regulator’s website, is set to be reviewed at the PSRC’s November 13 session.
According to the document, the commission acted on submissions from Romanos Petrosyan, the government-appointed temporary manager of ENA. Petrosyan reported that in January 2025 the company’s automated metering system failed and historical data from 2018 onward was deleted. He also cited “under-collection and over-collection” of electricity fees across several regional branches—including Geghama, Araks, Ghars, and Debed—allegedly resulting from internal directives to register artificial power losses.
A third ground cited for the suspension is the company’s provision of financial guarantees to other firms within Karapetyan’s Tashir Group. The PSRC claims ENA acted as a guarantor for multimillion-dollar bank loans, including a US $7 million credit to Tashir Capital from Ardshinbank and additional loans to Armholding CJSC, exposing the utility to financial and security risks that could jeopardize power supply.
The commission also accused ENA of systematically submitting inaccurate data in previous years—misreporting outages, losses, and network conditions—which it said distorted regulatory assessments.
The move comes under legal amendments adopted in July 2025 by the ruling Civil Contract party, which empowered the government to recognize ENA as a company of “overriding public interest,” assess its value, and compensate its owner following state takeover. Under the draft decision, Romanos Petrosyan will continue as temporary administrator.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had earlier declared that ENA “will not remain in Tashir’s ownership,” describing nationalization as an “irreversible process.” He outlined two scenarios: either full state control with professional management, or majority transfer to an “internationally reputable energy operator,” with the government retaining a strategic stake.
Political context
The campaign against Karapetyan’s assets began in mid-June 2025, immediately after the tycoon publicly backed the Armenian Apostolic Church amid Pashinyan’s escalating confrontation with Catholicos Karekin II. Karapetyan was arrested on June 18 on charges of calling for regime change, prompting immediate warnings from legal experts that seizing ENA could violate Armenia’s investment-treaty obligations.
Parliament swiftly passed legislation authorizing the state to install government-appointed managers and compel the sale of ENA without court approval. Opposition parties appealed the law to the Constitutional Court, calling it unconstitutional expropriation.
Karapetyan has since faced additional charges of fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering, which his lawyers denounce as politically motivated. His family filed an official investment-dispute notice against the Armenian government under the Cyprus-Armenia bilateral investment treaty, signaling a potential case at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
In October 2025, an arbitration tribunal in Stockholm ruled in favor of Karapetyan’s Tashir Group in an interim decision, ordering the Armenian government to halt any transfer of ENA’s assets until the arbitration case is resolved. Legal experts say the ruling, though provisional, increases Armenia’s exposure to treaty-based compensation claims if the state proceeds with nationalization.
Despite the arbitration warning, the government has pressed ahead. The confrontation over ENA has become a focal point of a broader campaign against Karapetyan’s business empire—launched after his public defense of the Church and his call for a “new political force” opposing Pashinyan’s rule.
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