Tired of waiting for Enemalta to contribute to a fund to upgrade their equipment, petrol station owners have decided to deduct the amount from what they owe the corporation.
Carlo Cini, who heads the petrol station owners’ section within the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, said Enemalta had not contributed the €0.0047 per litre for 15 months. It is estimated that the corporation has to fork out about €500,000.
The issue revolves around Enemalta’s contribution to a fund set up by the station owners and managed by the GRTU for the maintenance of the equipment installed. By 2020 all petrol stations have to meet higher EU standards and will therefore have to change their pumps.
Mr Cini explained that, in the past, Enemalta used to maintain the stations’ pumps and underground storage tanks itself. But it was later agreed the owners would take on this task and Enemalta would contribute two mils (in the old Maltese currency system) for every litre sold towards the fund for the stations’ upkeep.
It is estimated that the major refurbishment of all 89 stations would cost about €25 million, but Mr Cini said there was only €4 million in the maintenance fund.
In January 2010, Enemalta stopped contributing to the fund but station owners are insisting it should stick to the agreement they had reached.
During discussions in April on their demands for an increased profit margin, the station owners had raised the issue and an agreement had been reached with Enemalta promising to pay its contribution to the fund between January 1, 2010 and March 31 this year.
The new profit margins were introduced on April 1 and would cover the equivalent of the contribution.
Mr Cini said the agreement was for the contribution to be settled by mid-year but it never materialised, so they have decided to take the matter in their own hands as from September 12. “We are fed up of waiting. Now what they owe us we’ll deduct from what we owe them,” Mr Cini said when contacted yesterday.
Earlier this year, petrol station owners submitted workings to the Malta Resources Authority on their operational costs to back their claims for a higher profit margin for the service they offer. They complained about a considerable increase in costs while their profit margin remained unchanged.
The owners demanded an extra 3c2 to the 5c7 mark-up they were receiving. They were planning to sideline 2c1 of the increase they claimed for the refurbishment of the petrol stations spread across the country. However, following a series of talks and even several threats to take action over lack of agreement with Enemalta on the issue, the MRA approved an additional mark-up of 0c8.