Easygas, the new gas supplier, is offering customers what it says is an easier way over the hurdle of deposit refunds by accepting empty yellow, green or brown Liquigas cylinders in exchange for the new grey ones at no extra cost.
A company spokesman said the decision taken by Liquigas to withhold a large slice of the deposit on cylinders unless accompanied by a receipt, was creating a situation where customers had to fork out money to switch to Easygas, therefore, going against the spirit of free competition.
In a bid to solve the problem, Easygas is now accepting empty cylinders of its competitors in exchange for those of its own. It will then enter into talks with Liquigas directly on how the cylinders will be returned to the company.
The issue began when Liquigas insisted that customers who wanted to return empty cylinders and switch to Easygas 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.
This means customers who want to switch to Easygas will have to fork out an extra €20 to place a €25 deposit on an Easygas cylinder.
“This is creating an extra hurdle for customers to switch. Do customers have to go through this turbulence when switching from Melita to Go and vice versa or from Vodafone to Go and vice versa? The answer is no because the transition is smooth. The same should apply to the gas sector,” the Easygas spokesman said when contacted.
The spokesman said whether the cylinder was 10c cheaper or not was not the issue right now, adding that Easygas would always be at the forefront to give the best service possible and offer the best price.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the company said it was confident consumers would be able to start feeling the positive effects of the liberalisation in the gas sector in the coming weeks.
It noted that positive results were being obtained in the sector although there remained points which still had to be cleared.
A few days before Christmas Liquigas – which before Easygas entered the market had a monopoly on gas supplies – said it refused to allow distributors to sell Easygas cylinders on their trucks.
The matter was referred to the Office of Fair Competition which, on Christmas Eve, issued a “cease and desist” order and gave the green light for distributors to sell cylinders of both companies.
However, competition in the sector was stalled again when the issue of deposit refunds surfaced. Liquigas argued that over the years the deposit had increased to €25 in March this year from €1.16 in 1992 but only just over 4,000 cylinders of the 600,000 available were issued at this new deposit rate.
The Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, which represents gas distributors, defended the Liquigas decision, saying that most households never paid €25 as a deposit on their cylinders. The most they ever paid, it said, was €5 so the amount Liquigas was offering was reasonable.
GRTU director general Vince Farrugia said the €25 deposit had been introduced by the gas provider to encourage customers not to hoard gas cylinders unnecessarily as this practice was restricting the supply of new services that new customers were demanding.
“GRTU believes Liquigas is fair and there was no need for all the fuss. Easygas’ way out of the hurdle would be to lower the deposit on their own cylinders from €25 to €5 and make it easy for customers who so desire to switch supplier,” Mr Farrugia said.