The EU election result was no doubt a drubbing for the party I support. There will be the analysis of causes but allow me to use a simple issue that I have experienced just recently and on which I had to use this medium to voice my concern on behalf of an elderly couple - my in-laws. This regards a sudden change of category so that a garage was billed at commercial rates for water and electricity services. The bill was settled on receipt.

I ask who and why someone at the WSC got this omnipotent authority to decide how to categorise a premises without at least having the decency to inform the owner? This amounts to abuse of power and a denial of consumer rights and wrecks all those who are submissive and unable to stand up for their rights. This is not the sensitivity that the people expect.

Following my complaint, WSC called to set an appointment and check the premises.

Considering that my in-laws are elderly people, my wife offered to go and wait at their residence, as agreed with the WSC person, so that together with the meter reader they would check the garage which is just up the road.

My wife acted as agreed but no one turned up.

Calls on WSC Freephone are an insulting joke on the consumer. Calls on 2298 0507, being the number used by WSC to set up the appointment, got a male on the line blaming my wife for leaving it so late to check why the meter reader had not yet turned up. Then to add salt to the wound (Lawrence Gonzi's expression vis-à-vis Joseph Muscat's electoral tactics) my wife sees attached to the garage door a note that the meter reader has called, found the premises closed and would call again on the 17th.

I am still convinced that politics is a service to the people and part of that service is not just supporting the weak with all social assistance but also the control of a heartless bureaucracy that at times seems to steamroll over everyone. Most hurt are those people whose only form of protest is when they cast their vote.

I hate to imagine all those people who, due to their age or educational background, do not know how to obtain their rights in similar situations.

It is true that there are many urgent matters to be attended to by the Administration, but there used to be a section in ministries and other departments to ensure that the citizens receive what is rightfully theirs. This service seems to have changed course and is insignificant for those that actually need it.

Actions do not correspond with the declarations made about quality charters and customer service.