Opposition energy spokesman George Pullicino said in Parliament today that a future Nationalist government would not feel itself bound to buy electricity from the foreign operators of the power stations in Malta if the rates were uncompetitive.

Speaking in Parliament during the Budget debate, Mr Pullicino said the government would be committing a serious mistake and undermining Malta’s competitiveness if it committed to buying electricity at 9c6 when buying through the interconnector would cost less then 5c2 per unit.

At present, he said, buying electricity imported through the interconnector was far cheaper than the rates at which, it was reported, the government would buy electricity from the new gas power station and the BWSC plant which would be taken over by the Chinese.

This, he insisted, was unacceptable.

99 DAYS TO SUPPOSED INAUGURATION OF NEW POWER STATION

In his speech Mr Pullicino said Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and the prime minister could no longer be believed because their statements were being contradicted. A year ago, during the Budget debate, Mr Mizzi had assured the House that the new power station would be built within the two-year deadline set before the election. 

Thus, the biggest promise made before the general election was not being kept by the government. Transparency, another electoral promise, had also gone through the window and the agreements on the power station had still to be published.

But with 99 days remaining, even the building works had not even started. Mr Mizzi had also promised to commission the interconnector this year. That had not happened.

The government was boasting that it had reduced electricity tariffs, but it had never said how the drop in revenue was being funded. It had originally been said that the balance would be met by €30 million in upfront money by the investors in the power station. But that upfront money had not materialised.

Maybe, the funding was coming through the BWSC plant, much maligned by Labour, which was saving the government 52 million per year. Or maybe it was motorists who were making up the difference through high petrol and diesel prices even though oil prices were at five-year lows. Possibly, however, the cost of the reduced tariffs was being absorbed by government borrowing, with the debt rising by €3 million a day. 

And many consumers had been misled about the savings because while tariffs had gone done, they had lost their savings on the eco-reduction. 

Labour had said the BWSC was a cancer factory, yet the EU had reported that emissions in Malta had been reduced - thanks to this power station. Was it true that the BWSC machinery was being allowed to run beyond recommended hours, thanks to the savings from their efficiency.

On the tampering of Smart meters, Mr Pullicno said this was actually four scandals in one. Enemalta workers had been bribed by 1,200 people to tamper with the meters; The prime minister had decided that these 1,200 people should not be taken to court to face bribery charges;

Louis Attard, a person of trust of minister Konrad Mizzi, was involved in the case...

Interjecting, Mr Mizzi said this was not true and he had launched libel proceedings about this.

Mr Pullicino said it was Mr Mizzi who had appointed Mr Attard as liaison officer. Mr Mizzi again denied the claim. 

Mr Pullicino said Mr Attard was also head of accounts of the contracts division of Enemalta. Yet when he was arraigned he was accused of stealing electricity, but not of failing his duties as a public officer, which would have carried a higher punishment. Who was responsible for this? 

WATER QUALITY

When he spoke on the Water Services Corporation, Mr Pullicino hit out for the employment of a large number of workers for vote-catching purposes before the EP elections. It was also paying € 70,000 to some of its directors. And then Budget commitments, such as the distribution of Water Saving Kits to families, had not been kept.

He said the quality of water had deteriorated at times with a high presence of chlorides, as much as 700 ppm. Was this a case of increased groundwater extraction and reduced pumping from the RO plants in order to save money after the wage bill grew because of the staff recruitment?

Concluding, Mr Pullicino said that now that Mr Mizzi had returned from talks in China, maybe he would, at last publish the deals reached with the Chinese authorities and keep his promise of transparency.