Household sizes being checked ahead of energy grant

The government has launched a process to check the number of people per household for the purposes of the energy grant announced in the last Budget.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said during a radio interview yesterday that lessons had been learned from the recent distribution of energy-saving bulbs. That distribution was based on the number of people per household as shown on the water and electricity bills.

However, in about 7,000 cases the number of people shown on the bill did not reflect the size in the household. Many of the cases involved people living in rented properties where the bills were still issued to the landlords.

Mr Fenech said that to avoid the problem repeating itself, the data from the water and electricity bills were being compared to statistics from the Public Registry. Where there was a mismatch, the authorities would write to the tenants asking them to explain.

Mr Fenech said this process was expected to be completed by the middle of the year, when the energy benefits would start to be issued.

The benefits are aimed at easing the burden brought on by increased water and electricity tariffs.