(Adds video footage of Dr Gatt's comments)

Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said this afternoon that the new power tariffs would be introduced retroactively, from October 1, as previously announced.

Speaking at a press conference, he said the government had decided that the power tariffs announced last week would remain unchanged, but the government, in an effort to safeguard jobs, would assist 26 major companies when their bills exceed surcharge capping levels so that their costs would not rise by more than 40 percent.

He said the new tariffs were based on a projection that oil purchase costs over the coming year would be €21 million less than the past 12 months.

The new domestic tariffs would see an increase of between 55c and €1.80 per person per week, the minister said. He added that 122,939 accounts out of a total of 196,676 were expected to benefit from eco-reductions.

In the case of commercial users, the bulk of consumers, 37,000, would see an increase in their costs of some €5.50 per week.

The minister confirmed that the capping system on the surcharge would be gradually phased out over three years. He said the government would allocate just over €5 million to help large firms when their costs increased by over 40 percent of the surcharge threshold.

The minister said the government would also pay Enemalta €7.7million for its social obligations and €8.1 million to subsidise low income households.

He said water tariffs were expected to cost each person an additional outlay of between 83c and €1.19 per week but some non-residential consumers would actually see a decrease in their costs since cross-subsidisation would end.

The new tariffs would be regularly revised according to oil prices.