Updated 2pm - Added ARMS statement
Nationalist party leader Adrian Delia on Sunday accused the government of deceiving people by billing them more often for their energy consumption, to make their energy tariffs appear lower.
Addressing the opening of the PN’s general council, Dr Delia invited people to bring their energy bills to the party's Pieta headquarters for examination.
He said the billing system was potentially costing people hundreds of euros.
The Sunday Times of Malta has reported concerns by the Consumers’ Association that people were being “cheated” out of lower tariffs on water and electricity and Partit Demokratiku has also expressed concern about the way in which ARMS Ltd. is billing households.
Expert analysis of leaked energy contracts for the new power station have also shown how Malta paid almost double the market rate for gas last year.
Dr Delia vowed that the PN would speak for all those who were paying over the odds for electricity.
In a statement, billing company ARMS insisted that the way it calculated bills had "remained unchanged since the current system was established in 2009" and that consumption bands and billing periods had not been altered.
The only changes to utility bills over the past decade, the company said, had been a 30 per cent increase in rates in 2010 and a 25 per cent decrease in 2014 and 2015.
Financial services
The PN leader hit out at the government for ruining Malta’s reputation in the financial services sector.
He warned that the sector would suffer if the government did not act.
Dr Delia said when he spoke out about this abroad, it was to try convince people that the sector employed serious professionals who did their due diligence.
He said he would show that Malta had a serious opposition that would work to restore trust in institutions.
IVF
Turning to the IVF debate, Dr Delia argued it was the PN in 2012 that had introduced IVF legislation.
Dr Delia said the party believed in life from conception to its natural end and would have no shame in saying it was a Christian-Democratic party.
The introduction of surrogacy would turn women into objects, he said.
Dr Delia blasted the PL for just being geared towards winning elections.
The PN was different, he said, in that it focussed on what needed to be done for the country. “When the PN was in government, it was the country that came first, not the party”. This was the major difference between the two parties, he continued.
The PL was only geared towards using the country’s assets for its own benefit, he said.
Not a single proposal - PL
Reacting, the Labour Party said that Dr Delia had not come up with a single proposal in his hour-long speech, and mocked his bleak view of life in Malta, saying "it's enough to make you wonder if the PN leader is living in Malta."
"Like others before him, he tried to give the impression that electricity rates did not come down, when contrary to what used to happen when the PN was in government, we now have among Europe's lowest electricity rates," the PL said.