'No missing €10 million'

There was no missing €10 million in the information given by the government on the new utility tariffs, the Infrastructure Ministry said yesterday.

It was replying to the Labour Party which asked Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt to explain how he told social partners last week that he had scaled back the impact of the new power tariffs by €60 million, while in a statement yesterday he put the figure at €50 million.

Labour added that the minister had still not replied to questions by Labour leader Joseph Muscat on Sunday regarding the oil prices at which the original tariff proposals were pegged, and what the oil prices which formed the basis for the latest version were.

The Ministry said the revised estimate of the costs associated with oil purchases had been reduced by some €50 million.

Had Dr Muscat and the Labour Party seen the government documentation presented to the MCESD and later published, they would have realised that the figure of €60 million included the government's direct contribution to Enemalta for its public service obligation to provide street lighting, among other services.