It’s no news in Armenia that the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) can cut off a pensioner’s electricity for just 5,000 AMD of unpaid bills. The same, or nearly the same, can happen to any business. Any business — except, it turns out, one affiliated with “Tashir Group.”

According to our sources within ENA, a company called “T-Metal,” operating in Hrazdan and affiliated with “Tashir Group,” is engaged in the maintenance of metal structures. Over a prolonged period, this company accumulated a debt of around 800 million AMD (more than 2 million USD). While other consumers face the risk of disconnection and penalties after just one month of non-payment, not even a 5,000 AMD fine was applied to this “Tashir”-affiliated company — despite the 2-million-dollar debt.

Our sources indicate that ENA’s interim manager, Romanos Petrosyan, upon reviewing the situation, ordered a penalty of about 150 million AMD to be imposed on the company and granted a two-month deadline for payment. As a result, the total amount payable by the company rose to nearly 1 billion AMD.

It may seem illogical for “Tashir Group” to avoid this payment — essentially transferring money from one pocket to another — but the issue is that this 1-billion-AMD transaction would generate approximately 200 million AMD in Value Added Tax (VAT), which is paid to the state.

P.S. Tomorrow is the 20th — don’t forget to pay your electricity bill. And now, it turns out, everyone pays.