Labour Leader Joseph Muscat yesterday said he supported a statement by unions urging people not to pay their water and electricity bills within the 45-day time window.

During an interview on Radju Malta, Dr Muscat described the unions' decision as "very responsible" considering that consumers were now being charged what was effectively a 185 per cent surcharge.

At a news conference last Friday, 11 unions issued what they promised was the first of a series of directives until a meeting is held with the Prime Minister to discuss the controversial bills.

Dr Muscat expressed doubt over how many people would be able to understand the new bills, describing the new tariffs as "institutionalised theft".

He said that when the tariffs were introduced last October, the government had promised to revise the tariffs every six months or whenever there was a 15 per cent price change.

"The price of oil went down drastically between October and November, and yet the government didn't revise the tariffs - it broke its promise," Dr Muscat said.

The government would "play around" with the tariffs before the MEP elections in June, but otherwise nothing concrete would be done, he said.

Dr Muscat said that an agreement on pairing at this stage is unlikely, and described the government's offer to choose the Speaker from the Labour benches as a red herring.

"There is no basis for an agreement on pairing as the government is not moving towards taking this decision," he said.