Azernews.Az

By Jamila Babayeva

Armenia's capital Yerevan will plunge into darkness on August 1when the electricity tariffs will go up by 10 percent.

The capital's residents are going to turn electricity in their homes protesting against government's decision on price hike.

The civil initiative group "No robbery!" has called the citizens to join the protest action planned for August 1.

The protest action is aimed at urging the government to establish an independent commission to review the Public Services Regulatory Commission's decision, local media reported.

The commission decided to increase electricity tariff on July 1, despite mass social protests.

The commission said the price hike was inevitable because the country's electric networks was in a difficult situation with their debt reaching 16 billion 600 million drams ($40,291,354).

However, local experts say the decision is groundless and unjust.

The civil initiative group "No robbery!" called on people to turn off the electricity in their homes and get out with candles in their hands.

"We will start a demonstration with candles at 19:00. With these candles we will light up the darkness," the group's statement reads.

Experts say that the price hike would negatively affect the country where one third of the population are living in poverty.

The Armenians are already suffering from negative consequences of upcoming hike in the electricity tariff. Prices of several goods have risen over the past two weeks.