Alternattiva Demokratika said today that should it have any say in the next government, it would work to ‘green’ the power surcharge mechanism.
Harry Vassallo, party leader, said that AD had always recognised the need for the last government to make good for the rising price of oil. It was inescapable that the government could not fully subsidise the increase in the price of oil.

“We have always been critical of Labour's irresponsible proposal to slash the surcharge by half. This proposal is just a cheap electoral gimmick, and is environmentally a sacrilege, because the slashing of the surcharge will effectively give more subsidy to those families who are least energy efficient,” Dr Vassallo told a press conference.

“On the other hand we do not believe that a uniform rate of surcharge as imposed by Minister Austin Gatt is sufficiently effective both environmentally and socially. Therefore in our proposals for a coalition we have presented the electorate with a specific proposal on how the surcharge can be revised.”

The party spokesman on finance and the economy, Edward Fenech, said that rather than a flat rate of surcharge, AD was proposing a number of rates that would apply according to usage on a per capita household basis. “In this way families that are not energy efficient would pay more that the current rate. In this way the heavy users would be contributing towards slashing the surcharge for the efficient users,” he said.

Ralph Cassar, spokesman on industry and innovation, said Malta also needed to set targets for the production of energy produced from renewable sources.

He said proposals included a 4 to 5 turbine windfarm, a national programme of incentives to replace all filament lamps with energy saving lamps in households and investment in solar water heaters and photovoltaic systems.