Joseph Muscat has pledged that once elected a new Labour government would drastically reduce water and electricity bills.

He has not given any indication of how he intends to do this, although he seemed to favour the Sargas option.

Nor has he given a timeframe in which he intends to implement this promise.

Strangely enough, nobody has bothered to quiz him about this, and some people seem to think that once Labour is in power, within a few days/weeks/months our utility bills will be halved. This is pie in the sky.

The price of oil is what it is. It fluctuates and is regulated by supply and demand and you can hedge till you’re blue in the face – the savings, if any, will not make much of a long-term dent in the price of producing water and electricity.

The Sargas option was unveiled in late November 2011.

The company stated among other things that if feasibility studies started then (in November 2011) it would be able to deliver the plant by 2016.

That was 10 months ago, so if the PL chooses this option, the plant would not be delivered before 2017 – in time for the next elections.

I like many others, want my pie on the table where I can see it, touch it and eat it.

Dr Muscat should put his money where his mouth is and give us a definite timeframe in which we can expect to start paying less for our utility bills if and when a new Labour government is elected.

Why do I get the feeling that like Clint Eastwood, I’m talking to an empty chair?