David Schembri
Government giving out €11m to alleviate energy bill woes
All but extravagant electricity users will be receiving an allowance to mitigate the high energy prices. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
If you're careful with your electricity usage, check your letterbox next week as you might be in for a pleasant surprise.
With bills at an all-time high, the government will, as of Monday, be posting cheques totalling €11 million to nearly all households in Malta to ease the burden of higher energy tariffs.
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said this energy allowance would go to households that have not exceeded 10,000 units of usage in a year, meaning 97 per cent of them would be receiving some form of help to pay their energy bills.
The allowance, announced in the Budget, will see single-person households receiving €55, two-person households €80, three-person households €105, four-person €130, five-person €155 and six-person €180.
Apart from this, 28,000 low-income households already receive energy benefits that have recently been increased.
Mr Fenech said that for households with average consumption, the allowance would cover the hefty tariff increases of the past few months and for those consuming less than average the allowance could actually work in their favour.
Intended to offset the effects of higher oil prices on utility bills, the government was taking on the burden itself, rather than increasing the cost-of-living allowance (COLA), which employers would have to pay instead.
Explaining the rationale behind the flat rate, Mr Fenech said it was the only socially just measure, as giving allowances corresponding to usage would be tantamount to encouraging people to consume more.
The minister also said that, thanks to the tariff reform, people were consuming less, so much so that the number of households using less than 10,000 units yearly had increased over the past two years. This made more people eligible for the scheme and pushed up the government's original estimate for the allowance up by €1 million.
It is evident that the government has aimed this scheme at all but the profligate. In comments to The Times, engineer Marco Cremona, an avid environmentalist, said that 10,000 units a year amounted to 27 units a day and any more than that would be "extravagant".
While Mr Cremona said his two-person household consumed only 4.5 units a day, he said a normal family's usage would be around half the limit.
"I imagine that someone wasting 27 units a day would have four air conditioners on simultaneously and the pool's pumps running in summer, with the house being fully heated in winter," Mr Cremona said, adding that people who wasted this much were probably too rich to bother.
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14 Comments
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Charles Grima
Jul 30th 2010, 11:11
Somebody saying that a family of five wastes an average of 5 units (or thereabouts) per day has to be a pathological LIAR!
As part of a family of four (two teenage girls!), even NOT BEING THERE is enough to have the meter mark over 6 units. And I have a brand new A++ fridge among my constantly working appliances.
Before July's heat-wave, my average use was 11-12 units daily. I have everything normal people have, and living on the top floor maisonette, I have intense heat (even in winter!), the only place I do not have an a/c is in the bathroom, and I am thinking about that.
Even so they are never used all at the same time except an hour at bed-time.. and sometimes we even resort to sleeping in the same room.
But try as we might, even with changing to super-efficient products, we simply cannot get down below the magic 11 units daily....
So anybody saying here that he uses 5 or 6, SHOULD GET THEIR INSTALLATION CHECKED!
Hadrian Cassar Toreggiani
Jul 25th 2010, 17:15
In a way Mr. Cremona could be correct. I do it but I have PV solar panels giving me some 10 units a day.
So Mr. Cremona do not kid people; you either made a incorrect calculation or you think people are that stupid to believe your nonsense.
C.camilleri
Jul 24th 2010, 18:06
Gee...........thanks..............I thought Santa only works in December..................
leonardo vince
Jul 24th 2010, 16:32
A pleasant surprise indeed. kemm hu qalbu tajba l-gvern. Hallihom ha joghlew il-prezzijiet!!!!!
Pajjiz mignun.
lgalea
Jul 24th 2010, 14:37
Remember the one-off payment when the price of bread was increased? Bread did not go down in price but the size and weight of bread down. The same is going to happen with the water and electricity bills. This is a one-off payment while the bills continue increasing.
Joseph Grech
Jul 24th 2010, 13:42
I suppose this handout of funds obtained through citizen taxation is a ONE OFF PAYMENT. This administration is very good at this sort of thing! First they sell off national entities to outsiders. Then they allow these to increase bills. And then the present adminiistration ''alleviates'' people's distress with a one-off payment. Like David Copperfield, people find out all too soon they are unable ''to have some more''. What mismanagement this is...shame.
Frank Rizzo
Jul 24th 2010, 12:24
10,000 Units? Does anyone think that six persons in a household consume as much as one? What calculations are these?
Mary Rizzo
Jul 24th 2010, 12:16
I would like to ask Mr . Cremona what electrical appliances he has at home in order to consume 4.5 units per day. Does he have a toaster, kettle, water heater, fridge, freezer, TV, computer, washing machine, cooker, dishwasher, a/c, micro-wave oven, etc? Or our meters are mulfunctioning?
J Chetcuti
Jul 24th 2010, 15:09
I have all the appliances in your list with the exception of the a/c. We're a family of 5, and the average of my last 6 months is 5.75 units per day.
lgalea
Jul 24th 2010, 17:57
J Chetcuti keep on joking. We're laughing. Does your meter really register your consumption?
T Camilleri
Jul 24th 2010, 18:03
J Chetcuti
Let me tell you a story of a donkey owner who wanted to save money from feeding him. So a friend of his told him that if he took the donkey he will train it not to eat. They agreed and after a week the donkey was returned and his friend guaranteed that the donkey had learned not to eat as he had no eaten anything during the week that he held him. The donkey owner was grateful that he would now save money from the donkey's feed, but it happened that after three more days the poor donkey died.
I know of someone who keeps the refrigerator setting so low to save energy that he ends up throwing away a lot of food because it goes bad since the temperature is not low enough, but in the end he is saving on electricity. In winter he switches on the geyser for a couple of minutes just enough for the water not to be icy cold, but then all the family get a lot of colds and have to buy a lot of medicines but he is still saving on electricity.
l fenech
Jul 24th 2010, 12:02
I know of another way to help the present Government to alleviate energy bill woes"
d reiling
Jul 24th 2010, 11:17
i disagree completely with mr cremonas view of consumptions - we have air con but find that one of them uses about 4 units an hour the other two we have use about 2 units per hr - so it doesnt take much use to run up a perceieved heavy usage of 27units per day as stated - and as a result of this we rarely use them - mainly for overnight to ensure a good nights sleep with the ac units only being on for about 1-2 hrs then the fans take over - not ideal but its all that can be afforded realistically....our consumptions during winter (no ac) are about 9units per day for two people and as we have an extra perosn in the houseghold now that has jumped to 14 per day......as soon as we use the minimal air con it jumps t0 over 20 units per day....and when i say minimal i mean minimal.
Chris Grillo
Jul 30th 2010, 11:17
Exactly my sentiments mate... it is what I go through these days... daily recording the meter output, and being happy when I use less than 12...
But July has seen my output climb to an average of 20, with a peak of 27!!!