The PN yesterday continued to mount pressure on the government to “immediately revise downwards the price of fuel” as hoteliers and the Consumers’ Association demanded explanations and action.
PN Energy shadow Minister Marthese Portelli said it was not acceptable that people should continue to pay through their noses for fuel while the government waited until the expiry of its badly-negotiated hedging agreements.
“Joseph Muscat should cut fuel pump prices immediately and not wait until March when the hedging contracts negotiated by Enemalta come to an end,” she insisted.
“If Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi made a mistake, the government should say so. It is not fair that people are being made to pay high fuel prices until March because of Minister Mizzi’s mistake,” Dr Portelli charged.
According to European Commission statistics released yesterday, Malta has the third highest fuel prices within the European Union.
Joseph Muscat should cut fuel pump prices immediately
Dr Portelli reiterated the PN’s calls for the government to come clean and publish all the hedging contracts it signed on fuel procurement. She said the government did not even want to state who the members of Enemalta’s fuel procurement committee were.
“Labour’s promised transparency has disappeared,” she said.
The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association and the Consumers’ Association have voiced their concerns on the prevailing situation regarding the high price of fuels.
Following a call by the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU for an urgent meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development to discuss the issue, the MHRA said the Malta Resources Authority should investigate why fuel prices have not dropped as was the case in other EU member states.
On its part, the MHRA asked the government “to specifically update MCESD on the energy strategy being rolled out to ensure that the maximum benefit in energy savings due to the lowering of international prices will be passed onto the consumer whether individual or commercial”.
The Consumers’ Association too expects the competition authorities to look into the matter noting that, despite the liberalisation of the fuel imports market, “there seems to be a cartel in place”.
It said that it had submitted a formal complaint to the competition authority (MCCAA) to investigate the sector and to protect the interests of the consumer from practices that might be in violation of competition laws.