YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–The seminar organized in Yerevan by the "Hagler Bailly" energy company from the United States focused on the privatization of Poland’s energy sector and the comparative analysis of the electric power systems of Armenia and Poland.
Presenting the goal of the seminar as that to enable Armenia to learn more about the privatization experiences of other countries–Pawel Radzilowski–who represented the DGA energy company of Poland–gave a warning to his Armenian colleagues: "Don’t repeat the mistakes of others–as it will cost you twice as much."
He also stressed that Armenia needs to form its energy market faster than other countries to stay competitive in the field. Yet–a competitive market is impossible to create without an independent regulatory authority. "If you don’t make your energy sector more competitive and productive–you are running the risk of finding yourself in a situation where fuel supplying countries will stop selling fuel and begin to sell electricity to you," Radzilowski cautioned. The requisite conditions for launching privatization are a pre-privatization analysis–enterprise cost evaluation–a privatization concept–etc.
The seminar paid special attention to the privatization of electricity distribution companies. Among the cost forming criteria for these companies was consumer structure–the economic status of the region where a given company is situated–investment situation–and others.