Armenia’s regulator says a draft bill accounts for rising costs of nuclear electricity, which could affect both businesses and households.

Armenian officials are reviewing a draft bill that factors in a long‑term increase in electricity generated by the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, according to Ashot Ulikhanyan, head of the Customs Policy Division at the Public Services Regulatory Commission. Negotiations on the project are still at an early stage, he said, as reported by Sputnik Armenia.

Ulikhanyan noted that legal entities in Armenia have already switched to liberalized electricity purchases—from alternative suppliers rather than from “Electric Networks of Armenia.” However, trade in electricity from power producers remains only partially liberalized, for a specific reason.

Electricity from the Armenian NPP and the Sevan‑Hrazdan hydropower cascade is relatively cheap. If it were fully released to the market, large firms (mining operations, factories, etc.) would immediately buy it, and ordinary consumers would end up paying higher prices. For that reason, those plants currently sell less than 10 percent of their output on the open market.

Still, both the nuclear plant and the Sevan‑Hrazdan cascade involve significant investment costs, which unavoidably affect their electricity production costs. Currently, the nuclear plant produces the lowest‑cost power in the country, but in the future, the massive expenditures needed to build a new reactor unit will inevitably raise its price.

Ulikhanyan added that, given these combined factors, the rationale for storing surplus power from the nuclear plant and the hydropower cascade may lose its relevance in the future.

The executive branch has decided to extend the operating life of Armenian NPP’s second reactor unit to allow execution of planned works. The Armenian NPP supplies roughly one third of the country’s electricity. Authorities plan to build a new reactor unit by 2036 to replace aging infrastructure.