Friday, 3rd October 2008 - 15:11CET
Updated: No final decision on new power tariffs, government insists
(Adds government reaction)
The government insisted this afternoon that it had not taken any decision on the new power and water tariffs, and what had been issued so far were only proposals for consultation.
The government was reacting to an angry chorus of complaints by the private sector and the trade unions over the proposals, issued on Wednesday.
The non-government members of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) in a letter to the Prime Minister had earlier described the proposed new tariffs as an unacceptable fait accompli.
The government said final decisions would only be taken after the views of all interested parties were heard. However the international economic scenario demanded that energy production had to be on a solid financial basis.
That the proposed new tariffs would be retroactive to October 1 did not prejudice the consultation process, the government said.
It also revealed that the Opposition had accepted an invitation for a presentation on the subject on Monday.
The MCESD in its statement said that there was no agreement on the proposals made to it on Wednesdaty.
"It is particularly unacceptable that these proposals are considered as having come into force on October 1, as indicated to the media," the social partners said.
They said the proposed measures appeared to lack all sensitivity to their social and economic impact. Even from this aspect alone, such measures were unacceptable.
The exercise had not taken into consideration the international situation and its inherent uncertainty, the MCESD said.
"The Council had formed the impression that these are not proposals, but decisions, which clearly shows that this was not a consultation exercise but, yet again, a fait accompli. This is an unacceptable situation when the council has a consultative role and groups all the representatives of the socio-economic sectors in Malta," the MCESD said.
"Since there is a total absence of an economic and social impact assessment, this will have to be made by the council itself, the Council cannot accept that the measures are introduced on October 1, a date which appears to have been decided arbitrarily," the Council said.
Earlier today the Federation of Industry said the proposed new tariffs would threaten thousands of jobs.
The GWU said the tariffs were a double blow for workers, undermining their purchasing power and threatening their jobs.
The MLP condemned the government for its lack of consultation. It said it still has to present its official position, but the new tariffs would instil uncertainty.
The UHM at a press conference said its calculations showed the impact of the new tariffs would be much higher on families than the government was saying.
The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association said the new tariffs would cause a huge increase in costs.
The Malta Employers Association also expressed its serious concern and demanded proper consultation on measures to ease the impact of the tariffs.
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Comments
All I can say is that I never compared the way of living in Malta to that of the UK.
The nice thing about Malta is that you can meet Friends and Family on a beach and enjoy each others company without spending alot of money .
By the way I wonder who the people living in Malta gomg out 2 or 3 times a week are?
Maybe you happen to be one of them and that is why you are unaware of the 30.000 people that are below poverty line. Or is it a case of I am Allright **** you Jack.
, but then again it depends how people like to live their lifes ,, if you call KEEPING UP with the JONES is right ,then I disagree,most households have 2 cars , Maltese go out to eat 2 to 3 times a week (ps that if you get a take away or pizza that is considered as eating out ) I am not refering that the wages in malta are enough far from it , but us Maltese have a better life ,If we wish to live in a materialistic then you have to work hard for it , I had to go out to work and my children were looked after by grandparents and had to pay a fee for it. NOTHING IN LIFE COMES FOR FREE
That is exactly what most of the people are talking about (or defending) here. If prices are allowed to go up in a way that will leave couples no alternative but to work double their work time 35+35+=70hrs. a week in order to make ends meet, than most people will not have their children and family around them bcause they would be working most of the time.
Many young married couples are already in this situation.Leaving their children with their grandparents in order to make ends meet. while they go out to work.
If you are refering to the situation in Malta 20Yrs. or so ago. Than I would have told you that you were right in your comment as than one person (usually the wife) stayed at home while the husband worked for a living.And they could cope with just one wage packet to pay all their expenses.
Normal families do not have wages like MP does, so the government has to be very sensitive how it would affect these average earning workers. We do not want more strain in our lives due to financial strain.
How would this person cope with paying for food, clothing , electricity etc.with what he has left?
So stop being negative and use your common sense.
All that I can say that if these new tariffs are accepted then we are doomed.
WE could and should have invested in alternative energy but the Governemnt didn't give a toss about it as it has a monoploy of the energy. I think that is against the EU rules.
The Government here is in a big almighty mess as it has failed to address this problem in a sensible way. It had all the time in the world.
This Government has too many problems to solve that have left unchecked, swept under the carpet or simply forgotten.
I think that it would fail to deliver the voters expectations. If that is the picture then it should resign as it is showing gross incompetence as too many mistakes have been committed in the past.
I ask the Government why does it always have to be the people to pay for your mistakes?
Why is it you never listen to the people?
The more disposable income people have the more they spend and hence more income to state coffers in the form of VAT and income tax. The latter should give government more breathing space to explore (and finally exploit) alternative sources of energy for our power station.
Many years have already been lost. Government should by now have long learned that there is no other solution other than starting, in phases, to turn to other sources of energy.
Innaqqsu s-surcharge bin-nofs ....
Innaqqsu s-surcharge bin-nofs"....
Ha Ha!!
consultation, no consultation, consultation, no consultation.... I am getting lost. Seems pretty clear that some sort of decision has been reached.
Sinclair, you cannot compare mobile operators with electricity providers. The infrastructure is totally different as is also the investment which is in no way comparable between the two.
The expenses involved will prevent any more than one operator from operating in Malta due to economies of scale.
As an example, compare a few million euros for setting up a mobile phone infrastructure with e.g. some 150 million just to increase the power station generation output. The charges to compensate for the investment and for making a profit can clearly be seen between the two.
Secondly, people are switching from landline to mobile and only keep their landline for internet use.
Apart from this, there are only two mobile service providers in the mobile phone sector.
The others are just buying their service from them at a discount. It helps both the service provider and those buying their service because the service provider is assured of the time bought or a certain sum while those buying their service will make a profit.
The same applies to internet.
Hope this clarifies things for you
UK minimum wage is £5.73 an hour for a 39 hour week that is £11, 620 a year. Now rent for a modest 2 bedroom maisonette is about £750 a month that is £9,000 a year. Most people on minimum wage in the UK cannot afford to buy their own property which is not the case in Malta. Should one want to buy property in the UK the same modest 2 bedroom maisonette will send you back something in the region of £200, 000 after all expenses are paid and the mortgage on said property will cost somewhere in the region of £1200 a month.
Simple arithmetic shows that a person on minimum wage can barely earn enough on one job to pay for rent or mortgage and for basic services like electricity, gas, and water. So although the wages in the UK are higher the cost of living in the Uk are just as high.
@ J.Borg : the price of energy all over the world depends mostly on the price of fuel not on salaries of the consumers.
1) From what I've heard, and correct me if I'm wrong, renewable energy is actually more expensive. Switching to alternative energy has no economic benefit (even with current oil prices) but simply environmental benefits and also keeping in mind one day oil will run out. As far as I know, in liberalised markets when one can choose a supplier, those people who opt to buy 'clean' energy actually pay higher rates!
2) When will people realise that subsidies come out of our own pockets as tax payers!!!! So if the government does not charge the surcharge (or whatever it will be called in the future) but pay it itself, who is paying for the oil prices. Mhux ourselves with our taxes? Is that so hard to understand? So their proposal will ensure that who consumes pays. I do not see it so wrong. AND DON"T MISQUOTE ME! I am not happy with the situation, no one can be, but the reality is that. And whether the cause is the fuel price or enemalta inefficiencies, the money will have to come from somewhere. So let it come from the consumer and not tax everyone indiscrimately.
A change is always the best option as power does change people and parties.
The Maltese have created a democratic dictator.
You said that overseas they pay 3000 to 3800 euros per year.......
Can you please also quote what they get as regards wages.........are they in the same line as ours....
I could care less what they pay in UK or anywhere else for that matter (and you neglected to mention that in most EU countries, wages are higher)
As the FOI said, this is NOT the right time to tighten the grip round peoples' necks. When times were better, the government should have been astute enough to start reducing the subsidies bit by bit NOT remove all the subsidies all at once. Of course people are aghast! What did they expect? That people would tell them "Well done and keep it up, we're proud of you?"
In everything there is competition except in electricity and water
Connect Malta to the euro grid and we consumers can switch to electricity providers by a click on our pc's.
Consumers in europe buy electricity at extremely cheap prices in non peak hours so for us in summer would be great as night is not considered as peak time.
Electricity in europe is competitive as telephony so just connect us to euro grid and i bet most maltese will get electricity from EU at a cheaper price from electricity suppliers producing electricity from water damps, wind solar and nuclear driven.
We are in EU but our choice of electricity provider is the same should we believe that government is making profits from our new tariffs and surcharge? If he is loosing government has everything to gain if he connects us to euro grid. Unless this happens i keep believing that gov is making profits from surcharge vat and import duty of oil and wants us to keep making sacrifices for his buget expenditure
From a layman's point of view, yes we all need incentives and encouragement to seek to reduce our consumption. Each person needs to provide his/her share. A little from everybody goes a long way. However, shock tactics and bulldozing are counter-productive, in my opinion.
@ mr Piski,
Which is the other company were we can Buy? There is only one company.
and to the readers I tell Them WAKE UP forget what colour you are lets go to the street and demonstrate, So we can show the Goverment that we are not Stupid like he think we are.and don't Forget the Shopes will soon be Putting the Prices up and Who Can Blame Them.
emonstrate,so we can show the Goverment that we are Not Stupid like he think we are.
Why not invest in solar and wind turbins?
Oh ya, thats right, this is Malta and common sense is not welcome here.
Fair enough, but somehow we still manage to do with four mobile phone service providers (and numbers increasinig) and numerous Internet Service providers... so having two competing energy companies in Malta is not such a big deal in my opinion... I think it will actually better maybe we start seeing some decent customer service around...
unfortunately in five years time the electorate (who is very gullible) will forget and their power of incumbancy will come into effect to make sure they cling to their seats of power for another five years sucking our blood while they (Gonzi & co) live la dolce vita.........
Mr Piski from AD, we are isolated from the rest of europe.
Malta is to small to have more than one company to utilize economies of scale.
This has also been recognized by the eu commission which allowed our begging Government to charge a lower rate of VAT since Malta is a very small island isolated from the rest of the european grid and does not affect other eu countries.
So before you make comments and suggestions get a courant with our position since it is totally different from that prevailing in your own country.
@J Farrugia
Yes, he is from AD.
To all: it's about time we took to the streets to protest peacefully against all the flogging that we are receiving from the Government and the eu in every sector.
"Sopra corne, bastonati!"
Now that the price is going down, the SURCHARGE is removed and the rates blown up to the skies to avoid making any adjustments to the surcharge when the prices go down!
How nice!?
And to think how many times we have heard the PM and the whole of PN remind us how it was living under Mintoff's dictatorship in the 80's!!! I prefer NO promises than pre-electoral promises that are forgotten once elected.
Biex tiskongra trid tkun pur!
Bulldozing over the taxpayers to cover-up for Government inefficiencies seems to be the order of the day in this Government's euphoria at being re-elected.