Narek Karapetyan leaves Electric Networks of Armenia board
The powers of Narek Karapetyan, chairman of the Board of Directors of Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), as a board member have been terminated at his own request. ENA informed the Armenia Stock Exchange (AMX) in a letter dated September 24.
The letter was signed by ENA’s temporary manager, Romanos Petrosyan. A temporary manager appointed by the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) has been running the company since July 2025.
Narek Karapetyan served for several years as deputy chairman of ENA’s board and was later appointed chairman. In September 2025 he said he had held the post for nine months and had declined a salary.
Karapetyan is first vice president of the Tashir group and a nephew of ENA owner Samvel Karapetyan. In the June 7, 2026 parliamentary elections he was elected to the National Assembly on the Strong Armenia alliance list and heads the Strong Armenia faction.
Half-year results and nationalisation
ENA’s profit in the first half of 2026 was AMD 9.56 billion (about $26.3 million at the September 29 exchange rate), down 27.3% from AMD 13.16 billion a year earlier, according to the company’s unaudited financial statements published by AMX. Revenue rose 1.1% to AMD 98.8 billion, but electricity transmission service costs increased 13% to AMD 63.3 billion, while other income fell from AMD 8.1 billion to 1.5 billion. Operating profit dropped 36% to AMD 11.5 billion. No dividends were paid in the half-year, compared with AMD 11.6 billion a year earlier.
The PSRC approved ENA’s 2026 investment budget of AMD 46.7 billion. It is part of the 2024–2034 investment programme worth AMD 305.4 billion.
On July 3, 2025, the National Assembly amended the laws on energy and on the public services regulatory body, which, as ARKA reported, allowed the state to intervene in ENA’s management. In September 2025, Moody’s downgraded the company from Ba2 to Ba3 with a negative outlook. On November 17, the PSRC revoked ENA’s electricity distribution licence. The decision cited, among other things, the deletion of 2018–2024 meter data, falsified meter readings, breaches of investment programmes and risky loan guarantees in favour of related companies.
On April 9, 2026, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said ENA had been nationalised de facto and would soon be nationalised de jure. In June, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure published a draft government decision recognising 100% of ENA’s shares as an object of overriding public interest, a step required for their expropriation. Public hearings were held on July 29; the government has not yet made a final decision.
Moscow reacted sharply in September. Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu described what was happening to enterprises built with Russian investment as a “raider seizure”, and his deputy Alexei Shevtsov used the same term for the nationalisation of ENA. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin warned that infringing the interests of Russian business would not go unanswered.
