Though Colder in 2014, Armenians Consumed Less Gas Than in 2013: Paper

From January–March 2014, the population of Armenia consumed 222 million cubic meters of gas, which is 3.2% less than the first quarter of 2013. Commenting on Gazprom Armenia's official figures, local daily Haykakan Zhamanak considers it remarkable that the average temperature in the Ararat valley during the first three months of 2014 was 1.7ºC, while last year it was 2.3ºC for the same period. 

"That is to say, it was colder this year but gas consumption didn't increase but decreased. No less important is [the fact] that in the mentioned period of this year our industry used only 49 million cubic meters of gas, which is about 30% less than the same period last year. Industry's reduction of gas consumption by a third shows the true — to put it mildly — bleak state of the economy," reports the newspaper.