New electricity bills to feature more information

Frank Galea

Jan 16th 2010, 16:29

Something which has been missed altogether by this new way of presenting Water and Electricity bills is that the new system does not give the public the option to view one's own personal bill on the internet with the consequence that when one pays through internet, one has to phone up customer care in order to check whether his/her payment has been entered. I think this option should be given attention because 1) the consumer can regulate his/her payments from home and 2) customer care will receive fewer calls about this type of checking.

GiovDeMartino@Lawrence Schembri

Jan 14th 2010, 18:23

MHUX VERU li Malta ghandha ;l-oghla kontijiet tad-dawl u l-ilma u sewwa jaghmel il-gvern jaqta' d-dawl ta' min ma jhallasx. Mela nhallaslu jien? Joqghod attent bhalma naghmel jien.

laurence schembri

Jan 14th 2010, 17:57

William Gilbert, wake up and smell the coffee, or better still open a window for some fresh air and bit of wisdom.
Nobody is asking for something for nothing, our E&W bills are the highest in Europe as they are at present. Childish to mention how one spends his money, why not the 2000-plus people with their electricity cutt-off, I am almost sure it is not the Restaurant and buying of new Shiny Cars that stopped these unfortunates for paying their bills.

GiovDeMartino

Jan 14th 2010, 17:29

Jien mhux dettalji rrid, imma rrid li l-kontijiet jaslu bl-istess regolarita li jaslu, p.e. tal-Melita Cable. Tad-dawl l-ewwel taghmel xi sitt xhur ma tircievi xejn, imbaghad tircievi xi tnejn f'gimgha. Dan, jidhirli jien, mhux accettabbli.

J. Bonnici

Jan 14th 2010, 17:26

When the next Water and Electricity bill finally makes it to our homes it will include consumption for last year. My last bill was for the period 19 December 2008 to 17 June 2009 dated 26 October 2009 and it was for actual reading. Can someone with authority confirm that we will pay for last year's consumption at last year's rate? This is very important as otherwise it will be day light robbery.

Mary Mizzi

Jan 14th 2010, 16:20

With more information being supplied,mMaybe the consumer will no longer be kept IN THE DARK any longer on the goings on and mismanagement not the mention the purchase price of fuel at Enemalta...which is still without the audited accounts.

Past Chairmen and CEOs should be held responsabile for the goings on and not continue with their hefty salaries and allowances for the past 20 years.

r ferriggi

Jan 14th 2010, 15:05

I am not talking this for political reasons,,, as many do.

this situation in the energy bills has reached the lowest point.

many of us are lost. we do not know how much we owe. we do not want to pay estimated bills. wat is happening???

we have not recieved bills for months.

why is WSC and ENEMALTA causing all this confusion??

to make matters worse.... wen u calculate with the official calculator.... u will not discrepancies!!!!!!!!!

r millam

Jan 14th 2010, 13:55

I would have thought with these sky high bills there wouldent be a single person in Malta waisting electrisity or water. so adding another page to show us our carbon footprint would be pointles.

William Gilbert

Jan 14th 2010, 13:46

You know what? we take electricity and water in our homes for granted and we expect to use them for free. But we dont mind paying hundreds of euros in cheap entertainment, in disgusting meals at wannabe restaurants. We dont mind paying thousands of euros for expensive cars.
And mind you, those who financially are poor and and those that according to their tax returns do not afford the electricity bill, do not pay a single cent, they are being subsidised by the tax payers.

Leon Zawadzki

Jan 14th 2010, 13:37

How do you estimate 6% interest on estimated bills.
It's about time enemalta got real in the issue of correct up to date invoices for payments. My last water service / electricity reading was on the 22 September 2009. To date no actual reading invoice has been submitted for payment, why such a long delay ?????

Adrian Scerri

Jan 14th 2010, 13:36

Can someone tell me how my next bill will be calcualted now that the tariffs has changed and no meter reader came to take the reading? Anyone knows??

Li na Mangion

Jan 14th 2010, 13:32

I hope that with the new system we will pay for what we really consume and not for an estimated billing.

Phil Humphries

Jan 14th 2010, 13:19

@ Marthese Mussett.

I don't know what pre-payment schemes are planned here, but I understand the UK has a system whereby consumers who don't have a bank account, or who have previously fallen into arrears with their energy provider, can have a meter with a card slot. - The user takes a special card to a Post Office (or wherever) where it has energy credit added to it in return for cash. The user then puts the card into the meter and the credit runs down as electricity / water is consumed.

The biggest criticism of the scheme is that pre-paid energy is charged at a higher price, thereby penalising the poorer people, who, because of their unfortunate financial circumstances, are obliged to have these meters in order to prevent them from running up large bills they cannot afford to pay. The higher price is supposed to pay the operating costs of the scheme.

A sign of things to come here, perhaps?

Michael Vella

Jan 14th 2010, 12:54

Appreciate Dr Gatt....but we will judge Goverment come next election on the consequences of that FIRST page......

laurence schembri

Jan 14th 2010, 12:53

Dear Mr. Tabone, other European countries where wages quadruple to ours and are paying the same price for oil as we are have managed to put prices down, why can`t we. Every entity run by government is in a mess. Take Enemalta for instance, we were told some six years ago that bills will be received every two months, this has never happened. My last bill was for four-and a-half months, the next one god knows when.
What the customer is paying for, is; inefficiency in Enemalta, overstaffed, were the right hand doesn`t know what the left is doing and a Government that cannot manage its finances, so Joe Public have to come to the rescue. We have over two thousand households with their meter disconnected and if things keep going the way they are, there will be many more...and silly me I use to think the Drydocks were the only problem that we had in Malta. People that can afford to pay will agree with every word you`ve witten no doubt. Thousands other don`t.

M Tabone

Jan 14th 2010, 12:21

A step in the right direction, a real solution to a pressing problem. Somehow, some people are living in denial and are either decided not to accept the status quo or else want to pass the buck to someone else, it’s true we are faced with problems of shocks and affordability but users should pay a just price. There is no escape we can only let the problem grow bigger. I prefer paying a tariff rather than a tax but ultimately someone has to pay the bill. Unfortunately we are the generation faced with this bubble/blow and I hope that we will be courageous to take the bull by its horns and put the problem once for all behind us rather than snowballing it to future Malta. On the other hand the Supplier should mean business and seek the best deal possible to its deserving customers. All together we can change a huge problem into a lasting star for our country. Efficient production/consumption patterns are true lasting solution.

marthese mussett

Jan 14th 2010, 12:20

@A.Stafrace.Good comment.Can somebody let me know what they mean by prepaid system?

laurence schembri

Jan 14th 2010, 12:17

At least it will keep the Government amused and the customer desperate for dosh. Nice one Lawrence. Hit them till it hurts.

d reiling

Jan 14th 2010, 12:00

it would help if they could
1.....get the bills right
2....use the correct meter readings
3....stop the silly issue of estimated bills
4....use the customers readings immmediately and issue the correct bill accordingly and promptly
5....stop a two page bill - one page is enough
6....allow further discounts for early payment, advance payment, direct debit payments,or real time monthly payments.

J.Borg

Jan 14th 2010, 11:54

"The methodology of payment was being paid and it was now being made possible to pay bills by credit card, cheque and through internet banking....."

Aren't we already able to pay by means of internet banking through our internet banking system!!!!!

Robert Agius

Jan 14th 2010, 11:45

And how much with the smart meters installations cost??? anyone knows?

victor borg

Jan 14th 2010, 11:42

Every one including the manufacturing industry mhra but especially us pensioners would
have wellcomed a redused tariff and not all that soft soap by the minister

Russell Fenech

Jan 14th 2010, 11:41

Thanks for the "more detailed information on consumption and carbon footprint".

What we need are affordable rates.

maria curmi

Jan 14th 2010, 11:23

With all the fuss of Smart Meters but not a word of bills getting cheaper !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

R.Zarb

Jan 14th 2010, 11:19

"The minister said the 45-day time window by which bills can be paid will be retained. If not paid within this period, six per cent interest per annum will be charged as from the first 15 days."

And what about the other way round ? My family suffered a power surge in September 2008 which caused Euro3800 in damages. Repairs were all verified by technical people, all invoices were submitted to Enemalta and what did I get........ a cheque for half the amount in November 2009, which I didn't accept (eg.: to get Euro35 for a Euro240 microwave is disgusting to say the least).

Up to today I have not received any feedback from Enemalta except that "your case is being processed" and a number of lost work days when I had to visit their offices to answer 'any queries' (which were all in the documents already submitted).

The only praise I have is for the Customer Care Dept. who kept me updated all along, but I must surely give a BIG ZERO to all the rest especially the accounts/IT section.

WOULD IT BE THIS WAY IF ONE OF YOUR FAMILIES WAS INVOLVED ??
SHAMEFUL.

ACachia

Jan 14th 2010, 11:17

I agree with A Stafrace... How can we reduce the carbon footprint if ARMS Ltd is the first one who is to start issuing bills on 2 pages !

This is ridiculous ! Ever heard of DOUBLE SIDED printing ????

Edwin Caruana

Jan 14th 2010, 11:10

Dr. Gatt should tells how he will try and have effiecent corporations and have the rellative water and electricty tariffs reduced instead of bolosting ob being the only country in europe with smart meters but with one of the highest electricity tariffs.

R. Azzopardi

Jan 14th 2010, 11:07

@A Stafrace

What an excellent remark!!

Paul Barrett

Jan 14th 2010, 11:02

On the matter of environmental footprint - the new bills look like they are now going to take up two pages instead of one - i.e., double the amount of waste paper.

M Borg

Jan 14th 2010, 10:49

Minister Gatt should have told us about how WSC is going to improve its operations!!

Lodging a complaint in June 07 without a reply till this day is definitely not the ideal way customers shall be treated!!

A Stafrace

Jan 14th 2010, 10:42

.. and how is doubling the amount of printed paper more environmentally aware?


Also, does "administratively non-compliant" mean the bidders were not willing to wait until the govt runs out of excuses to charge ridiculously high prices for local power? or maybe the next general election is just too far away...