Updated: 97 per cent of households getting energy voucher or allowance
A total 97 per cent of households in Malta and Gozo are getting an energy allowance or voucher, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said this afternoon.
Addressing a news conference he said that allowance cheques were being given out to families who consumed less than 10,000 units and who were not entitled to the energy voucher.
A one-person family will get €55, a two-person family €80, a three-person family €105, a four-person family €130, a five-person family €155, and a six-person family €180.
The actual cheques are to start being mailed on Monday.
Mr Fenech said that with this money, the government would be compensating for the increases in the utility tariffs brought about with higher cost of oil.
This exercise was costing the government €11 million, a million euro more than the previous estimate, which had been based on 2008 energy usage data.
In 2009, people had been more careful in energy usage with a good number going under the 10,000 unit threshold.
The allowance, the minister said, should cover the difference in the energy tariffs.
The minister said that because of the rise in the cost of gas, the energy benefit would also be increased to €15 in the case of families and €25 for pensioners.
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MARTHESE ,MUSSETT
Jul 25th 2010, 18:56
Giving with one hand,taking with the other.My friends,this year we re going to get these vouchers....next year we wont......and the tariffs will remain high.Vera BZAR FL-GHAJNEJN
r.cutajar
Jul 25th 2010, 17:33
These and thenumber in figures of families mentioned this morning by prime minister the hon L. Gonzi on his weekly radio programme on radio 101 is -allow me these figures should be of grave concern to thesame politicians who in the first place worked out the sums for the bills to be payed accordingly in the first place
Dear P.M. L. G and minister TF are you so proud in distributing so such a high percentage ofsustainabile benefits?
Come on it should be not yours'forte to dily daly with a population who unfortunately has not a whiff of French mentalety where protests are concerned and you are taking Full advantage of the nation's weakness .GEMGEM only
Thank you for the lesson=Black is White, fantastic and selling ice to eskimos is surely a ticket of politics as per PN classic snub. Well well done but really a sorry sorbid state for Malta.!
Jes Bartolo
Jul 25th 2010, 16:48
Darba wahda kien hemm Toni il-Lahlah u gabar xebgha tfal mir-rahal.
Qallhom li kien se jaghtihom helwa u l-ghada kien se jaghtihom ohra jekk imorru jaqduh. It-tfal kienu vera ferhana se jtiru ma' din il-proposta!! It-tfal kienu qed icapcpu u jghajtu:'Toni, Toni,Toni'
F'dak l-istorbju kollu Toni l-Lahlah kompla jghid: 'Hooo daqsxejn, jien se nohdilkom ghaxar helwiet kull wiehed ghax ma mortux taqduni x-xahar l-iehor'.
B'hekk kull wiehed mit-tfal mar tmien helwiet lura imma xorta baqghu jghidu li tahom zewg helwiet. Ghal inqas kien tahom xi haga Toni l-Lahlah mhux hekk, imbaghad ghal ghaxar helwiet naraw wara.
Hahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaj Sur Tonio!! Mhux hekk, tfaqqalna minn taht u trid il-grazzi wkoll
v mercieca
Jul 25th 2010, 10:25
“97% of households are receiving the allowance vouchers”.
Oh my God! Is it worth the administration of such vouchers when only 3% are not receiving this voucher?
Why don’t government reduce the tariffs instead and save us taxpayers lots and lots of money in the administration of these vouchers, or is it that these vouchers (or most of them) are just to fool the public as I read in another section of the press some days ago that a good number of these vouchers are not being used.
Tonio, go tell it to the marines.
simon cutajar
Jul 25th 2010, 09:54
I wish that if the nationalist goverment will , go back in power after the next electio ( Alla ihares qatt ) I suggest that they make Mr. Fenech as a prime minister . He's a truly loyal friend and like the maltese poeple ! Ghadek ma xbajtx titmellah bin- nies ? Jekk thares taht tinduna li hadd mu qed jemnek ! Ieqaf !
Victor Vella
Jul 25th 2010, 07:33
The monies that the minister is mentioning are not truly covering the cost of the energy tariffs. This is totally false. The government has an energy crisis and puts all the burden on the household consumers by giving a joke to the Maltese households. A normal invoice is going to cost the household 1100 euros annually while the benevolent government is giving a drop in an ocean of red sweat that Gonzi PN is collecting frm the blood of the Maltese people.
J Brincat
Jul 24th 2010, 11:20
In maltese we call this 'bzar fl-ghajnejn'
The last budget sent shockwaves to all households and the consumers' confidence and any remaining 'feel-good factor' have simply evaporated in thin air. Ask the businessmen and listen to their pleas!
P Refalo
Jul 24th 2010, 01:19
10,000 units for one year its TOO generous, i think that households still waste a lot electricity!
maria aquilina
Jul 24th 2010, 00:09
A waste of time and resourses.The reduction could have been done automatically on the bill.Also the voucher is issued in the nam eof the one on whom the house is registered,not on the one who actually pays for the elecrtrcity.If for example the husband on whom the bill is sent left the matrimonial home and is living somewhere else and the wife pays the bill,most probably the voucher is encashed by him and never given to the one who actually pays the bill.I am in that position.Has anybody thought about it?
Johnny Xerri
Jul 23rd 2010, 22:20
What a load of crap.
I did not over consume and when I checked my bill on the waterservicecorporation website, the bill for 7 months amounted to €180. However, I was told that I would have to pay € 260 because the property was rented to me and I have to have been living there for over 1 year in order to get the energy voucher/allowance.
When I pointed out that I live for 9 months in Malta and for 3 months in Gozo and that I always live in rented property I was told by the customer care representative 'It's a problem then, you will never be entitled for the allowance/ energy benefit'
Thanks MR. KEMM INHOBB NIFTAHAR MINISTER (Tac Celsea) I will remember this, Im not entitled for the allowance like the rest, so PN will not be entitled for the no. 1
It is not a favour that Im after, but the right not to be discriminated, for my only fault is that I live in rented property.
Carmel Cassar
Jul 23rd 2010, 22:12
I am suffocating in this heat not using my air conditioner, so that I won't consume more than 10,000 units, may I ask the Minister if he is doing the same?
Some time ago he was reported to have said that he did not have any complaints from his constituents, well Dr. Fenech I come from your district and I am complaining, and if you did not have any complaints and people are happy why are you giving vouchers?
Frans Attard
Jul 23rd 2010, 21:44
BZAR FL'GHAJNEJN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joseph Vassallo
Jul 23rd 2010, 21:38
Meanwhile, WSC continues to play on the words "Domestic" and "Residential". I registered as a one-person household in 2007 and they arbitrarily changed it to "zero-persons" and have been overcharging me by some 30% according to their own calculator. Trying to get a refund from them, so far, has been like trying to get blood out of a stone. And how are mere mortals to know the definition of those two magic words, according to WSC's bible? They are just preying on the illiterate and the trusting customers.
Isn't it fraudulent to change somebody's signed declaration for the sake of profit? So they are now denying me the preferential tariff (that I didn't know existed) and presumable my economy benefits (I cut down to
j.camenzuli
Jul 23rd 2010, 19:12
The people who don't care about energy wastage are the ones that are getting utility bills help or assistance knowing that whatever their consumption the government is always there to foot the bill. Their are people on these Islands who had assistance with installing electric stair chairs, had a reserve parking saying they are suffering from various problems; yet these same people are walking normally.
P.Cassar
Jul 23rd 2010, 18:11
BUT ISN'T THIS VERY BAD ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT OR IS IT SHEER POLITICS ??? BECAUSE GIVING VOUCHERS TO 97% MEANS AN AWFUL HELL OF CLERICAL WORK, PAPER WASTAGE AND CALCULATIONS NOT INCLUDING THE MISTAKES AND TIME WASTING. BUT POLITICS SURMONT ALL THIS WITH GONZIPN.
carmel callus
Jul 23rd 2010, 14:04
@gerard cassar
Better receiving a cheque than having a reduction in the tariff. This is because those whose electricity consumption is low would receive the same amount as those whose consumption is high because they either afford it or else do not care about energy waste. On the other hand, if tariffs were to be reduced, the former would be subsidising the ones whose electricity consumption is high.
I Vella
Jul 23rd 2010, 15:48
This is only a one time voucher! what would happen next year and the years thereafter?!!!!
G.Portelli
Jul 23rd 2010, 14:02
TOO GENEROUS Mr. Fenech. I would have given it only to families who have done their best to consume less than last year. Say for example used 1000 Units less. Someone who was cautious will now pay from his taxes to subsidise someone else because this is SUBSIDY.
Mark Galea
Jul 23rd 2010, 13:42
Probably I am one of the few where the cost of the increased tariffs is less than the energy allowance voucher.
I suggest they do it every time there is an increase.
Gerard Cassar
Jul 23rd 2010, 13:38
First they charge you enormously then to appear to be doing something to alleviate the hardship rhey send you a cheque. Would'nt it have been easier to reduce the charge by the said amount.
No, while charging you exhorbitantly they want to appear as charitable persons and send you a check. This has been already said and published over a month ago and since then nothing happened.
S. Zammit
Jul 23rd 2010, 13:53
My first thought was just like yours, but then I realized that in that way they would also reduce the bills for offices, and shops, etc. when in fact this thing is strictly directed to aid families I guess. However I stand to be corrected as I'm not really into this kind of stuff.
D Mifsud
Jul 23rd 2010, 13:59
Apart from that..next year there will be no allowance and we will remain with the higher utility tariffs. Nice tactic..increase this year and hide it with allowances then next year no one will remember this increase. This has been used quite a lot by this government such as when it was given a one time allowance for bread when its price increased. I think this govt thinks that people are stupid. Or are they?
John Attard
Jul 23rd 2010, 17:33
We have just got to keep hoping; we have been through all this before, have we not? So keep your fingers crossed; maybe before Christmas time we might be lucky
Marco Cremona
Jul 23rd 2010, 13:36
The benchmark for eligibility at 10,000 units in one year is quite generous; as one would have to have very wasteful practices to surpass this benchmark. An average family should get by with less than half that amount.
No wonder that almost all families are eligible for this allowance.