The Nationalist Party had pledged night tariffs for electricity in spite of an audit firm’s warning they might not be feasible between 10pm and midnight, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi revealed yesterday.

Addressing a hastily convened news conference in St George’s Square, Dr Mizzi produced an e-mail sent from KPMG to a finance ministry official on January 17 this year.

The audit firm had been commissioned by the Government to draw up a feasibility report on the introduction of night tariffs between 10pm and 6am. This was to rely on the interconnector with Sicily which back then was scheduled to be operational by January 2014.

Ten days after studying the night tariffs proposal, the PN decided to take it on board and include it in its manifesto, Dr Mizzi said.

This, however, was in spite of an e-mail sent to a member of Mr Fenech’s secretariat in which KPMG said the cost of electricity could not go down significantly before 1am. This was because the demand in Sicily would still be relatively high until that time.

“The feasibility of a reduced tariff between 10pm and midnight is doubtful,” KPMG said in the e-mail, to which its draft report, which included some workings and an analysis, was attached.

Dr Mizzi described the night tariff proposal as a knee-jerk reaction by a “panic-stricken” PN-led administration which “had been totally surprised by Labour’s credible plan to reduce utility tariffs by an average 25 per cent”.

The PL’s own plans centre on the conversion of the Delimara power station to gas and the construction of an additional gas-powered plant adjacent to it.

Dr Mizzi said it turned out that work on the interconnector was delayed due to planning authority issues in Italy, casting further doubt on the feasibility of the night tariffs.

Meanwhile, the installation of smart meters, which was a crucial component of the night tariffs plan, had fallen behind to the point that until last March only 44,000 of these meters were operational, he added.

The PN had been totally surprised by Labour’s credible plan to reduce utility tariffs by an average 25 per cent

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, who drafted the PN’s manifesto, owed the electorate an explanation, he said. This incident again showed that the PN had no plans in hand for the energy sector and Dr Mizzi accused it of trying to deceive the people.

Asked by Times of Malta whether the Labour Government was still planning to introduce its own night tariffs, the Energy Minister said the project was still on the cards. However it would be premature to go into more detail at this stage.

Dr Mizzi refuted Oppo­sition claims that the cost of the reduction in utility tariffs could be recouped simply from the fuel savings on the BWSC plant, which is more efficient. He said that in spite of this plant Enemalta would still end the year with a loss of about €45 million.

In a statement the PN said the Energy Minister had yet to present his plan on how the Labour government would keep energy prices fixed for 10 years, as it had pledged to do before the general election. In the meantime, the Government had found enough time to employ Dr Mizzi’s wife with a monthly salary of €13,000.

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