The GRTU has called on the consumer authority to investigate the prices at which energy bought from the Malta – Sicily interconnector is being sold in Malta.
Presenting its 2017 budget proposals to the media, GRTU President Paul Abela said that Italy had excess capacity which it was selling for lowers prices than the energy tariffs in Malta.
He said a second energy operator should be introduced in order to run the interconnector.
If this were to happen, energy prices would soon find a new equilibrium, Mr Abela said.
Asked to quantify how much electricity prices should be lowered, Mr Abela refused, saying that last year’s call for a 25 per cent reduction in energy tariffs had been ignored by the government.
The GRTU said new investors should be allowed to buy Enemalta shares on the same terms as Shanghai Electric, with the government still maintaining a majority stake.
It said Enemalta was still a monopoly and the price of this is being paid for by consumers, and impacting negatively on business competitiveness.
The GRTU said the picture of Malta electricity supply was a “sorry one”, as Enemalta was still the sole generator and distributor of electricity.
The GRTU said the government should open up the possibility for the private sector to set-up micro generation independent from Enemalta and integrated with the national distribution system.
It insisted that the private sector should be allowed to no depend on Enemalta and self-sustain through private production.
In another proposal, the GRTU called for the removal of audit requirements on micro-enterprises and non-trading companies.
It said the EU gave a clear signal that it looked favourably at such an initiative aimed at promoting the “think-small-first principle”.
The GRTU said it was taken aback that the government had decided to “rob” small companies of this opportunity without consultation.
If audits were to be made voluntary, it was estimated that 40 per cent of small businesses would opt to benefit from the exemption, the GRTU said.
The GRTU said this measure alone would save small companies 18 million in accountancy fees. Studies suggested that over half of the companies exempted still decide to hold an audit, the GRTU said.
On the environment, the GRTU said environmental street officers should be introduced to work at the local level.
Their primary aims would be to educate and to increase compliance by the private sector, the GRTU said.