Temporarily permanent

So now at last we have been informed of the criteria to be used for the removal of the fuel surcharge on electricity tariffs. Minister Austin Gatt was quoted in The Sunday Times saying that PriceWaterhouseCoopers used 1999 as the base year for their...

So now at last we have been informed of the criteria to be used for the removal of the fuel surcharge on electricity tariffs.

Minister Austin Gatt was quoted in The Sunday Times saying that PriceWaterhouseCoopers used 1999 as the base year for their calculations. According to the item once Enemalta's cost of fuel oil reverts to Lm31.6 million ("the figure extrapolated by PWC based on 1999 figures") the surcharge will be removed. But can the minister or PWC confirm that they have taken into account the fact that Enemalta is no longer using the same grade of high sulphur fuel oil that was being burnt in 1999 but a cleaner and costlier one? Otherwise it is next to impossible for the fuel oil costs to revert to the 1999 figures and the surcharge will become another permanent tax.

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