GRTU calls for utility bills of small businesses to be slashed

The Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU has called for the electricity bills of small businesses to be slashed by 40 per cent in a one-time reduction.

The discount should apply to the period between October 1, when the new tariffs came into force, and their first revision expected to be made soon, the GRTU said in proposals submitted to the Malta Resources Authority last week.

All businesses consuming less than 1.2 million kilowatt hours per year should benefit from the cut, GRTU official Joe Attard told a press conference yesterday.

The GRTU accused the MRA of not having diligently fulfilled its responsibilities to ensure non-discrimination, effective competition, efficient functioning of the market and a high level of transparency by Enemalta as requested by the European Electricity Directive transposed into local law.

"The tariffs issued on December 5 did not have the approval of the competent authority and the MRA had not carried out a due diligence impact assessment as required by the EU directive," Mr Attard said.

He added that even after being asked to by Enemalta, the MRA failed to carry out the assessment, which was critical to many sectors of the Maltese economy.

Qualitative and quantitative impact assessments were carried out in other countries before a detailed report is issued, he noted.

"The Resources Minister and the authority acted against public interest, customer protection and the scope of the directive when they endorsed the backdated tariffs issued in December without proper investigation and analysis," he said.

The GRTU is incensed that small businesses have been made to cross-subsidise bigger users and GRTU president Paul Abela said members were not prepared to pay for anyone else's usage.

He said an agreement had been reached in a meeting between constituted bodies and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg to cut the cost of utilities for the biggest users by increasing the burden on smaller ones.

Following that meeting, held in October, the government had issued a statement saying agreement had been reached to revise the proposed tariffs in a way that would reduce the impact on large industry and protect jobs.

GRTU members were subsequently issued with a directive not to pay Enemalta more than the rate per unit that applied to them.

"We pay for what we use," Mr Abela insisted yesterday, adding that, while the GRTU was not directing its members not to pay their bills, it was insisting that Enemalta should charge small businesses at the rate of €0.13 per unit.

He said small businesses were even being charged peak-time rates for usage at other times, which meant that some small outlets were paying up to €1,300 extra a year for their consumption. This situation, the GRTU insisted, needed to be reversed immediately.

Moreover, there was also discrimination between different categories of the same type of businesses, with a restaurant forming part of a hotel paying less in tariffs than its stand-alone competitor.

The GRTU is also asking for a reimbursement for those businesses which, it said, were overcharged for a new account.

The GRTU is insisting that while Enemalta should not incur a loss in its operations, there should be stricter controls in place to benchmark all operations and processes. It believes that the recuperation of Enemalta's invested capital should be carried out on a longer period to reduce the impact on tariffs.

An unusually quiet GRTU general director Vince Farrugia said new tariffs needed to remove unfair burdens caused by discrimination and take the dwindling oil prices into consideration.

Mr Farrugia, who is contesting the upcoming MEP elections on the Nationalist Party's ticket, said SMEs employed about 65,000 people and these jobs needed to be safeguarded. He voiced his fear that if small businesses found themselves with their backs to the wall, they would have no other choice but to make people redundant.

Mr Abela called on Dr Gonzi to intervene and find a solution once and for all.