NEWS | Wednesday, 15 April 2009

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Charlot Zahra
The Malta Resources Authority has not approved Enemalta’s revised water tariffs two weeks after they were scheduled to come into force on 1 April.
The fact that the MRA is supposed to give its blessing to any new electricity tariffs before these can be implemented has effectively put the implementation of new tariffs on hold despite the Government and Enemalta Corporation’s declarations to this effect, effectively causing uncertainty among domestic and commercial users as to when the reduced tariffs will be introduced and to what extent.
Asked whether Enemalta Corporation had presented the tariffs announced last week to the MRA before making the announcement last month and whether the MRA had approved the electricity tariffs as proposed and if yes, when, a spokesperson for the MRA, which regulates public utilities said: “The Malta Resources Authority started working on the review as soon as it received them from Enemalta.
“MRA will of course make public its findings and assessments immediately these are concluded,” the MRA spokesperson said.
Asked whether the MRA approved of Enemalta announcing the proposed tariffs in the media prior to their approval by the MRA or not, and why, the MRA spokesperson did not mince her words.
“The Malta Resources Authority was not informed by Enemalta Corporation of its intention to go public with its proposed tariffs,” the MRA spokesperson said.
She added that the authority was “in the process of establishing a formal procedure for submission by operators of requests for approval of tariffs”.
On 23 April 2009, only nine days before the deadline for the next revision of the utility tariffs was due, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications Austin Gatt, together with Enemalta Chairman Alex Tranter, announced a reduction of 4c2 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for a single-person household.
Gatt said the revisions represented an average reduction of 22 per cent in residential tariffs and would come into effect on 1 April.
The proposed reductions were based on Enemalta’s projected cost base for 2009, which had been revised downwards to €159 million from €223 million at the beginning of the year.
Under the proposed tariffs, the first 2,000 kWh of electricity consumption would be charged at 11c9 per kWh as opposed to the current rate of 16c1 per kWh.
The next 4,000 kWh up to 6,000 kWh would then be charged at 13c4 per kWh, a reduction of 3c9 from the current tariff, while consumption between 6,001 kWh and 10,000 kWh would be charged at 15c2 per kWh, a reduction of 3c7 per kWh from the current tariff.
There would be no reduction in the rates for consumption in excess of 10,000 kWh and 20,000 kWh, which would remain at 20c9 per kWh and 23c2 per kWh respectively.
Under the proposed tariffs, the service charge and the eco-reduction mechanism would remain the same.

czahra@mediatoday.com.mt

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