Unions free to seek clarifications from regulator, PM says

lgalea

Dec 23rd 2008, 23:59

J Busuttil
your Gonzipn was STUPID to buy when the price was high.
As for the 33 taxes, your Gonzipn has made thousands of new taxes, among them the VAT on thousands of items and services that we never paid any tan on them.
That is your Gonzipn government.
A conscienceless Gonzipn who robs the people of every single cent they have to award himself and his Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries 290 euroe Lm125 per week salary increase.
But when it come to ordinary people children of a lesser God they only get a 4 euro increase in their wages and salaries and are lumped with thousands of taxes, tariffs and contributions.
No wonder Gonzipn government is considered as motley a collection of Scrooges and Grinches.

J Busuttil

Dec 23rd 2008, 18:38

@ Marvin Mizzi
Yes the tariffs would be revised in March not because of the EP elections but because when the price of oil was going up over 100 dollars a barrel the Government bought oil in the manner of hedging ( this is the way labour and pro Labour GWU liked) so we have to wait till the amount of oil ALREADY bought is consumed. After that oil bought in lower prices will be reflected in new lower tariffs. I will remind you of another thing. If you are old enough (if not tell those who are) you will remember that in 1973 when the Labour Government increased petrol prices in an extraordinary way,if though the price of oil went down,the price of petrol remained HIGH. You may say that this is far away in time,but the 33NEW TAXES of the Labour Goverment of 1996-1998 is still fresh in our memories.

Marco Cremona

Dec 23rd 2008, 16:27

Who is responsible for deciding what the water/electricity tariffs should be? That is the key question in this discussion.

Is it the regulator (sic), i.e. the Malta Resources Authority (MRA), now falling under Minister George Pullicino?

Or Enemalta Corporation, under Minister Austin Gatt?

Or the Prime Minister, who is ultimately responsible for the governability of this country?

In theory, we should have a strong, autonomous and effective regulator that decides such matters... apolitically.

In practice, MRA is a farce and a complete waste of time and resources.... but is retained as the ineffective organisation that it is because it is a good scapegoat for government (as MEPA also is!).

The tariffs ball was tossed about between Austin Gatt and Lawrence Gonzi for the last couple of months. Now that it's a hot potato which nobody wants to assume responsibility for, it's being tossed into the count of MRA who are being told to endorse the mess cooked by Austin Gatt and the Prime Minister.

MRA have been spectators all along. Now they have been called into the fray, albeit reluctantly.

Do not hold your breath. The spineless MRA will rubber-stamp the new tariffs, as it has always done. Pathetic !

edwin czrauna

Dec 23rd 2008, 15:42

If nor wrong Mr. Second Prime Minister Austin Gatt has said that if oil prices increase by more than 15% of the 85 benchmark he will revise the tariffs immediately ???????
So can he keep his promsie for once???????????

Jimmy Magro

Dec 23rd 2008, 12:37

Democracies are based on the will of the people. For our will to be based on a rationale decision making process we need information. in the consumers language, we say that for consumers to make an informed decision they must be given all information. the same thing applies to making choices about our future. in the age of internet, facebook, egovernment, laptops, netbooks, broadband, sms, mms, freedom of information act, open government, dialogue, information, creativity and innovation, what is keeping government and its regulators to publish all the reports, workings, formulas, purchase prices, subsidies, quotas and come what may on the energy issue. i appeal to mlp, gwu, mut, and uhm that the first thing thay should ask government is to make all information public. why all this omerta? as if only those with double pension can understand these matters that can be simplified and explained during the 8-seconds intervention programme xarabank.
i have requested all information but all i got was a list of public press releases that left me at point zero.
can some wizkid explain to me how local fuel prices have been reduced by 25% while water and electricity prices have remained the same?

lgalea

Dec 23rd 2008, 12:21

Who took the decision to vastly increase the prices/tariffs when oil was already going down and now is in its lowest level in 5 years Gonzipn? YOU GONZIPN.

When oil was at this price we did not have any increase in tariffs or surcharge, so we expect that YOU GONZIPN stop stealing our money and remove all the tariffs and increases in energy products that YOU have imposed.

Marvin Mizzi

Dec 23rd 2008, 10:42

There is no need of clarification we now have the bills and we have to pay them. We have to pay for the inefficiencies of this government. The PM set the rates would be revised later on and the responsible Minister yesterday also said that i March they would revised. Yes on the eve of the EP Elections the government would reduced and pretend that everything is rosy again. But now we now the true face of this government -- he cheated the electorate before the last elections lest remember it this time round!!!!!!!!!!!