Thursday, 8th January 2009 - 07:12CET
Gatt not keeping his word on tariff revisions - Muscat
Labour leader Joseph Muscat has accused Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt of not keeping his word on when electricity tariffs would be revised.
Speaking last night, he recalled that Dr Gatt had said that tariffs would be revised every six months or immediately when international oil prices varied by more than 15 percent.
Yet, although, since October, the international oil price had gone down by more than 15 percent, tariffs here had not been revised.
Dr Muscat said Labour had hoped the government would see sense over Christmas and revise the tariffs. But what it did instead was to start sending the bills.
He argued that in terms of the oil price in December, the surcharge should be 35 percent. Yet the people are being charged the equivalent of 185 percent. This, he said, was institutional theft aimed only at helping the government narrow its budget deficit and hide its inefficiencies.
In his comments, on One TV, the Labour leader warned his party against complacency in the forthcoming European Parliament elections. He said the PL is currently going through structural, organisational and cultural change which would lead to a new, progressive movement in the country.
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Comments
the only solution is having a 3rd party in parliament.
IE: the government will be a coalition so it won't do what it wants.
VOTE FOR ALTERNATTIVA DEMOKRATIKA next election
In the last 20 years PN acted as if it was everything plain sailing in Enemmalta and both powerstations. We had Austin Gatt promising that his party would never transfer the powestations' burden onto the taxpayers. We also remember Lawrence Gonzi way back in 1996, when he already occupied an influential position in the NP, criticising Alfred Sant for trying to fix Enemalta's problems in those 2 years. We also remember In-Nazzjon describing sewage taxation as the major bombshell dropped onto families, workers and pensioners!
Now Gonzi is taking us back on the same journey which his predecessors in the party worked relentlessly to hide from the public eye
Paying for what we consume should never be an issue but paying for inefficiencies, waste and even worse theft is unacceptable!!
Now tell me with which word from the above do you disagree
I love it! The Americans had Reaganomics. Thanks to our minority government (I'll explain later) we have "freakonomics"! And for those of you who claim it takes monts for crude oil prices to work its way through to retail, yes there is a lag time (weeks, not months), but in free economies, the oil companies eat that (mainly because it is such a rare event) in order to justify immediate increases at retail when crude goes up (much more frequent, historically). As for the minority government comment, yes, we have a government which does not have the will of more than 50% of the population. Combined, the PL and AD do, though - isn't it a shame that they can't form a coalition and topple the government? Or can they? I admit that I do not know the constitution well enough to say, but it is an intriguing concept, is it not?
The end result was an astronomic public dficit which could have avoided the 95% surcharge and this massive proportional increase in utility prices. This is the rsult of administrative inefficency and not the tranparency we were promised before last election.
The taxpayer was robbed off 135 million euro of his hard earned cash to satisfy the dockl workers and continues to be swindled in his utility bills. Our unions are trying their utmost to bring the sitation to normal levels. All except the GRTU whose chairman Mr. vince farrugia has chosen to betray his members by riding the PN float and is nowhere to be seen in all this mess. Now when his members need him most, he has chosen to betray what he was meant to stand for all these years.
Furthermore, to add insult to injury, households with one tenant or two, will end up paying more than households with more tenants. The Gonzi & Co. blundered again in their calculations and with all arrogance when Prof. Scicluna presented his studies about the tariffs and how unjust they are, the Gonzi just refused to change anything.
I want to see a billboard with a tray of 'qassatat', with the Gonzi looking at them and a slogan "He doesn't know better"...........and since this is the case he should call it a day and call for an election.
The recent change in fuel prices reflects the new price that Ene Malta paid for it's consumption for the next six months.
Are you implying that these products available in other countries are not refined because their prices were immediately lowered to follow the international price of oil?
Mario Gauci
Sure, they got 290 euros per week salary increase without having to take industrial action.
Karl Abela
We, the Maltese taxpayers, are paying for the incompetence and arrogance of Gonzipn and his Ministers. Agostini Pio did NOT keep his word. Gonzipn is doing exactly the opposite of what all the other world governments are doing. But he must be right and the others all wrong eh?
This reminds me of the joke of a driver ringing his wife telling her that all the other drivers were going wrong way on the highway while his wife was watching the news that one stupid driver was driving the wrong way.
This is besides the ILLEGALITY of sending us estimates especially when the tariffs are so high. I may not have used a single unit of water and electricity in one month, and yet Gonzipn will send me the bill with this tariff applicable during that month. This is SHEER HIGHWAY ROBBERY BY GONZIPN.
What will Dr. Gatt do then - will he order the suspestion of this vital service for all..................
It is time to stand up and be counted.
So Mr Gouder advises that "when the international crude oil prices change, these are not immediately reflected within refined fuel prices (for electricity generation for example)".
Does this imply that the petrol and diesel sold from our service stations are not refined????
If I am not mistaken there has lately been a reduction in the price of these commodities.
WOW! Me and my what? Mr. Cutajar, I stand to benfit from reductions just like everyone else, or do I? Of course I want the tarifs to be reduced. I would be a fool if I did not. My comments on JM focused on Action vs Words and possible side-effects. Is JM in a position to prove the 'theft'? Can the PL or unions take the GM to court or push the regulator to take action?
Electricity costs are indeed incredible, and I do beleive thay are the cost of inefficiency. But then, reduce the bills and increase taxes? Watch what you wish for because you might get it.
What deficit created by the oil prices??? When oil shot up at $147, we were being charged a surcharge of 95%. Minister Gatt had promised in August/September that if oil would go below $85, the surcharge would be reduced. This has not happened.
The govt is doing the same thing the petrol stations did. When price of fuel went up, they didn't complain about selling their fuel at higher prices than they bought it. Instead when the price went down, they complained about making losses. The govt is doing the same. If oil goes up, the tariffs are immedeately (or after a short while) adjusted upwards. When oil prices went down, the tariffs remained the same.
I am not against paying for what I consume, and I am also not against removing subsidies, but I cannot accept the fact that the government is acting with us as if it were a business and trying to reduce the deficit not by removing inefficiencies or reducing costs, but by squeezing more out of us citizens.
Aren't we those who HAVE BEEN paying for all the services, including the oil prices you're mentioning? Did not YOUR government squander all our money in an electoral campaign full of lies and promises?
Or are you one of those people preferred by the government who can get your way in any case?!
"No no and no again, when the international crude oil prices change, these are not immediately reflected within refined fuel prices (for electricity generation for example). This will eventually have an effect.... three or six months down the line perhaps? "
Maybe this will happen in May, "kumbinazzjoni" a couple of weeks before the MEP elections?
spot on Karl. The people, the tax payers will be paying for the deficit.
now answer to my question: Who is responsible for the inefficiency of Enemalta and its administration?
@Adrian Gouder
You and your Nationalist Party are alone in opposing a reduction in the water and electricity tarifs and the surcharge, against the advice of all the Unions in Malta and the Partit Laburista
Government has abandoned people in these tough times. Instead of providing real help for families and businesses to come through the downturn sooner and stronger, the Nationalist Government is doing nothing but sit back and watch as the downturn gets deeper and longer. Professor Scicluna clearly showed that the Government`s workings are wrong. Malta cannot afford Gonzi`s schoolboy economic errors.
Nationalist Party apologists should stop being arrogant and admit that the Government`s economic strategy has failed.
Think about the reality before thinking about your votes for next June.
Yes Joseph is right and has taken the right direction, especially when you notice how much the oil Prices have been lowered. Droping off a few cents from the price of petrol is like throwing mud into ones faces
Unfortunately, the Maltese people are being treated as idiots by both the Government and Enemalta. I, personally, see nothing wrong in paying for what I CONSUME, but this is not the issue. The main issue is that the generation costs (directly influenced by the oil prices) seem to be also being loaded with the huge expence brought about by Enemalta's inefficiencies.
Who on earth does JM keep trying to fool... his own die-hards maybe? If JM is so certain that this is theft, then perhaps he should try to take the GM or Enemalta to court.
JM: Actions please, not pointless half-baked arguments and assumptions. Such words only serve to tire and annoy anyone you need to influence.