Anna Mallia | Wednesday, 29 October 2008

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Stop taking us for a ride!

There is one thing that is not making sense in all this hotchpotch over water and electricity tariffs: the government is blaming it on the international situation. But we do not believe it, and the European Union has proved us right.
According to the publication of the Directorate General Energy and Transport (the DG is equivalent to our Ministry) of the European Union dated 16 October 2008, and published opposite, the figures speak for themselves. The EU is informing us by this publication that the Maltese government on 13 October 2006 bought unleaded petrol at €704.61 per 1,000 litres, and sold it to us at €1,197; diesel was bought at €776.53 per 1,000 litres and sold to us at €1,206; and that the government bought light heating oil at €919.03 per 1000 litres and sold it to us at €933.
But what is more worrying is that if there is really an international crisis, it seems that this crisis is hitting us more than the other member states. This is because according to the EU and as these statistics show, in the EU there are 12 countries that are selling unleaded petrol to the their people cheaper than us and these are Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. Their price includes duties and taxes and VAT as well and yet they managed to obtain a better price for their consumers than us.
Regarding diesel, there are 11 countries in the EU that sell diesel cheaper than us and these are Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. The statistics show this very clearly. In fact we buy diesel at €776.53 per 1,000 litres and the government sells it to us at €1,206 per 1,000 litres. The figures show that we are buying diesel, unleaded petrol and heating gas oil more expensive than the other 26 member states.
The most worrying is the case of light heating oil in the third column. This is also know as heating gas oil which is used in our industries. 17 states manage to buy this product cheaper than us and these include Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France Germany, Ireland, Holland and the United Kingdom. It is worrying because Malta is paying the most for buying light heating oil out of the 27 member states.
Not only that, but there is something that does not make sense. Malta is saying that its light heating oil costs more than diesel. Malta reported to the EU that it is buying light heating oil at €919.03 per 1,000 litres and that it is buying diesel at €776.53 per 1,000 litres. When you talk to the experts on this subject, they will tell you that this does not make sense because light heating oil is bought at the same price of diesel, and at a discount because it is not refined as diesel.
So the question automatically follows: who is fooling whom? Are the government negotiators fooling the government? Is the government fooling the EU? Is the government fooling us?
There is something in these statistics which the government provided to the EU that does not make sense and the government owes us an explanation as to why the price of petrol and diesel and electricity did not go down for the month of October, and whether the hedging agreement entered into by the government was a senseless one.
The government has a lot of explaing to do and the first thing to lay before Parliament are the hedging agreements so that those who acted irresponsibly can be brought to book.
Why does the consumer always have to pay the price?

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