The Malta Chamber for Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has called on the government to reduce energy tariffs for businesses before March 2015 – and also for the cuts to be more than the 25 per cent promised.

An extensively researched position paper prepared by the chamber showed that the official rate for industrial users currently stood at €0.18c per unit, while the average rate for the 22 highest energy consuming companies surveyed by the chamber was €0.16c/unit.

“The proposed reductions were not enough to, at least, equal the €0.09c/unit average rate in the EU28 which, while low by local standards, was uncompetitive when compared to an average rate of €0.04c/unit available in the US,” the chamber said in a statement.

“With the competitiveness of the private sector in mind, we are concerned that energy – in a small, resource-constrained country such as ours – is becoming a limiting barrier for economic growth,” chamber president David Curmi said during a recent meeting for Malta Chamber members with the Minister for Energy and Conservation of Water Konrad Mizzi.

Mr Curmi added that the effects of energy rates on the cost-competitiveness cut across the chamber’s entire membership.

The chamber also proposed that businesses located in close vicinity of each other should be allowed to undertake bulk buying and joint purchasing of energy. The proposal was also intended to safeguard jobs and the future of numerous SMEs.