Updated 9.25pm with minister's comments - Nationalist MP David Agius accused the government of breaching local and EU law concerning the computing of energy and water bills on Monday, and said that it was evident from the suffering of Maltese families that their bills were going up.

Speaking in parliament during the debate on the financial estimates of the Water Services Corporation, Mr Agius, shadow minister on energy, observed that Eurostat data just last week had confirmed that consumers were paying seven per cent more for their utilities.  

This was happening because consumers were now being invoiced 'actual' bills every two months and consumption was calculated over two months instead of over a year. Consumers thus fell within higher billing brackets. 

Although consumers were in many cases keeping to the 2000 kWh and 33 cbm per person quotas for annual consumption, those using more electricity or water during certain periods of the year were being billed at higher rates for the excess amount, as evinced by a considerable number of the initial sample of 100 bills which the Nationalist Party had examined. The second-highest rate for water consumption over 33 cbm, said Mr Agius, was five times as high as the lowest rate.

This method of computing bills contravened both the legal notice regulating such bills as well as an EU directive stipulating that consumption had to be worked out on an annual basis.

The government had not denied the opposition’s claims, but had instead called for an inquiry to be carried out, which lent credence to complaints as the Government was usually quick to issue denials, he said.

Government MP Edward Zammit Lewis praised the “efficient and effective” billing of consumers by ARMS, and condemned the “total confusion” spread by those wishing to gain political advantage by criticising a system which had been in place for many years.

He questioned Mr Agius’s competence in the working out of electricity bills, and asked him to identify which EU directives were being breached.

He also questioned how Mr Agius could decide whether bills were too high without access to clients’ consumption profiles.

Bills were computed on the basis of actual consumption, and consumers were provided with a breakdown of charges and with transparent avenues through which to contest their bills, as mandated by EU law, he said.

Water and Energy Minister Joe Mizzi called the Nationalist Opposition “hypocrites” as he referenced a 2013 communication sent from ARMS official Wilfred Borg to Colin Calleja within the Energy Ministry, which, he said, demonstrated that the Nationalist Party had been aware of the pro-rata calculation of energy bills since before the 2013 general election.

The then Energy Minister in 2010 had also discussed the bimonthly issuance of bills by ARMS that year. 

Mr Mizzi also said that the last time that electricity rates had gone up was in 2010, when they had been increased by 30%. They had subsequently been decreased by 25% in 2014 and 2015, had not gone up since then, and were not expected to increase in the foreseeable future.

He would be tabling proof to demonstrate this, he said.

Furthermore, during the month since the controversy had broken, he requested a complete investigation by the regulatory agencies on media reports and consumer complaints, and feedback was awaited.