Residents of three Armenian villages report daily power outages, threaten protests

Residents of the villages of Arazap, Argavand and Vardanashen in Armenia’s Armavir Province say they have been experiencing frequent electricity outages over the past month, with power cuts occurring as often as twice a day and causing disruptions to daily life and water access.

Local residents say outages occurred in the past as well, but their frequency has increased significantly in recent weeks.

“Our water supply depends on electricity, so when the power goes out, we have no water either,” a resident of Arazap told Panorama.am on Monday, speaking on behalf of residents of all three villages. “They do not notify us in advance about the outages. This has been going on for about a month.”

According to the resident, when people contact the electricity distribution company to ask about the cause of the interruptions, they are often told that a utility pole has fallen.

“They tell us a pole has collapsed. Can a pole really fall twice in one day?” she said.

Residents say the outages create particular hardship during the agricultural season, when many people return home from working in the fields and are unable to access water or electricity.

“We come back from the fields covered in dust and mud, and there is no water and electricity,” the resident said. “What are we supposed to do?”

Residents warn that if the situation continues, they will hold protests and block roads to draw attention to the issue, saying they see no other way to resolve the problem.