GRTU suggests measures to ease impact of power tariffs on businesses

The GRTU has made proposals to the government aimed at mitigating the impact of the new electricity and water tariffs on businesses.

It said in a statement today that the rate of subsidy for investment in photovoltaics should go up to 70% for all enterprises that opt to implement such projects within 12 months.

There should also be a Power Conservation Programme with a quota allocation benchmarked on usage in Year 2008. This would give credits on the bill of those who successfully reduced their usage so that small and medium enterprises could benefit from reduced tariff payment on future bills. ·

Furthermore, enterprises which increasing their production or employment and as a result suffered increases in electricity billing should be awarded a tax credit of 60% on the additional electricity charge when compared to the same period a year before.

The GRTU said the €2.5M Electricity Support Fund for small enterprises should be put in place with immediate effect and raised to €10M.

The €20M Micro-Credit Support Scheme for SMEs should also be made available for micro and small firms which encountered liquidity problems to meet their electricity billing, as long as they made a written commitment not to reduce employment levels for 12 months.

The GRTU called for a two option billing system by Enemalta. One option would be based on a guaranteed price while the other would give enterprises the option to buy a two year fixed special rate depending on the electricity used by their service or product.

In other proposals, the GRTU urged Enemalta to extend the use of night meters, especially for the supermarkets, mini markets and other food retailers and wholesalers.

Special rates should be given to firms where more than 65% of their output sale was of essential products sold directly to Maltese consumers.