The system for people in rented homes to benefit from lower utility rates promised by former energy minister Konrad Mizzi six months ago is in its “final testing phase”, according to the ministry.

A group of tenants from the campaign Up in ARMS gathered at the billing company on Tuesday to register for the lower rates but were met with confusion by front desk staff, who had not heard of any new regulations.

Electricity pricing regulations divide household electricity use into two bands: a ‘residential’ tariff for the primary home of Maltese citizens and a ‘domestic’ tariff, which is 30 per cent higher or more, reserved for second homes and non-residents. Water prices also vary.

ARMS is currently finalising the implementation

Dr Mizzi announced last June that an agreement had been reached after years of complaints, allowing tenants to benefit from the cheaper rates without needing permission from their landlords, permission which is often abusively withheld.

But since then, the new regulations have not been implemented and tenants are still stuck in the same situation.

A spokesman for Dr Mizzi told the Times of Malta yesterday the commitment with the tenants and the European Commission, which greenlit the changes, was for the new system to be in place “at the beginning of 2017. Following government and shareholder instructions, in order to simplify procedures, ARMS is currently finalising the implementation of administrative and technical changes necessary to allow tenants to apply for residential rates for electricity consumed in their primary residence, without requiring prior consent of the current account holders,” the spokesman said.

“The above change in procedure to simplify access to residential tariffs by EU citizens follows other measures taken by government since 2013 to address instances of alleged discrimination against EU citizens.

“The implementation of these measures also led the Commission Services in November 2016 to formally close the Infringement Procedure it had opened in 2012.”

The announcement followed a six-year saga which has also­ seen a group of 100 EU nationals living in Malta institute a class-action suit against ARMS, claiming discrimination in regulations that make it inordinately difficult for them to benefit from residential rates.