The Malta Resources Authority has given gas importer Easygas until tomorrow to return thousands of cylinders belonging to its rival company, Liquigas, which it has been hoarding for four months.
Joe Attard, a director at the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU, which represents gas distributors, said although this would be an important development since it would replenish the Liquigas stock, it was a short-term solution.
He accused Liquigas and Easygas of “behaving like children” and refusing to reach an agreement on the exchange of cylinders.
The problem began in January when Easygas started accepting empty yellow, green or brown Liquigas cylinders in exchange for its new grey ones at no extra cost if consumers wanted to switch suppliers. This was after Liquigas had decided that customers who wanted to return empty cylinders had to present their receipt to receive their full €25 refund in cases where this amount applied. Otherwise, customers would only be given a €5 refund.
Easygas had claimed this practice was creating a hurdle in the market, against free competition.
The matter was taken to court by Liquigas, which is demanding the return of the cylinders.
During a meeting with the MRA yesterday, the GRTU requested it to put a stop to the exchange of cylinders, which would mean Easygas could only collect and sell its grey cylinders while Liquigas could only collect and sell its green, yellow or brown cylinders.
However, Mr Attard said, the authority refused to take such action, saying its role was to regulate not control.
Last Thursday, the MRA asked the two companies to file a declaration giving the number of cylinders they had in their possession belonging to their rivals.
Liquigas said it did not have any cylinders belonging to Easygas and that the MRA had not informed it about how many of its cylinders Easygas had declared.
When contacted, the MRA said it had “no comments to make to the press at the time being”.
Meanwhile, gas distributors complained that the situation between the two suppliers had led to a shortage of cylinders and, as a result, they were losing business. They sell an average of 120 cylinders a day at this time of the year.
They held a protest outside the MRA offices in Marsa yesterday morning, complaining they had not been supplied with gas cylinders by Liquigas for days.
Liquigas said it was making an effort to urgently import new gas cylinders because of a shortage “caused by hoarding by Easygas”. It added, however, this would only solve the problem for a short period of time.