Liquigas asks MRA to probe rival

Gas supplier Liquigas has asked the Malta Resources Authority to “investigate thoroughly” its competitor, Easygas, over the amount of Liquigas cylinders it claims to have in its possession.

The request came as Liquigas submitted detailed calculations to show how it had reached the figure of over 6,000 cylinders it believes were hoarded by its competitor over the past four months, since Easygas formally entered the market.

“Liquigas has presented its workings to the MRA, discrediting the alleged figure of hoarded cylinders mentioned by Easygas,” a company spokesman said.

“The workings show and justify Liquigas’ claim that Easygas has hoarded 6,000-plus Liquigas cylinders. Liquigas is now waiting for the MRA to act on the workings and information and investigate thoroughly Easygas’ alleged figure,” he added.

The request further exacerbates the dispute between the two suppliers, with distributors caught in the middle and not being able to distribute gas because their supplier, Liquigas, is claiming to have run out of cylinders.

Irked with such a situation, the distributors staged another protest in front of the MRA offices yesterday. They first attempted to drive their trucks towards Castille in Valletta, but a large contingent of policemen at Portes des Bombes diverted them to Msida and back to Marsa.

Another protest was held on Monday over the shortage of cylinders, but this time the distributors also complained that the regulator had sent its inspectors to carry out surprise searches at their houses to check whether they had hoarded any cylinders.

This prompted Joe Attard, director at the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, which represents distributors, to accuse the MRA of being “strong with the weak and weak with the strong”.

He said the MRA officials turned up unannounced at distributors’ homes to verify how many gas cylinders they had, scaring their wives and children and taking photos of garages and backyards. In contrast, Liquigas and Easygas were given prior notice of their arrival.

However, the MRA denied this, saying it had informed all concerned that the declarations would be verified. The inspections were carried out on the basis of the declarations the MRA asked them to file about how many cylinders they had in their possession.

Between them, the distributors declared 4,520 cylinders – a day’s worth of stock – which have since been returned to Liquigas. Easygas, which is accused of hoarding over 6,000 yellow, green and brown cylinders belonging to its competitor, declared it had only 1,973.

Mr Attard warned the government and the MRA to change course and consult the distributors unless they wanted a dispute with the GRTU.

On Thursday, the MRA warned Easygas it would be fined €25,000 if the cylinders were not returned within five working days, with an extra fine of €600 a day until the order was obeyed. Easygas is disputing the order, arguing that, in terms of the law, it bought the cylinders from consumers.

The dispute began in January, when Easygas entered the market and started accepting empty Liquigas cylinders in exchange for its new grey ones. This allowed consumers to switch suppliers at no extra cost instead of having to give their cylinders back to Liquigas, which was only giving them a full refund on the deposit on presentation of a receipt.

Liquigas is in court with Easygas to demand the return of the cylinders.