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NEWS | Wednesday, 25 July 2007

Processing of surcharge vouchers falls behind, says MP

Sarah Attard Gialanze

Labour MP Marie Louise Coleiro Preca claims the government’s newly introduced vouchers exempting 30,000 families from paying the energy surcharge, have failed to address the problem of many families and elderly individuals who are falling behind due to the surcharge.
Coleiro Preca said that despite the introduction of the voucher scheme, the government did not increase the number of people who are completely exempt from paying the surcharge. On the contrary, those families previously exempted are now made to pay a large sum of the surcharge – families who were excused from paying a Lm20 surcharge are now being allowed just a Lm2 exemption.
In comments to MaltaToday, the Labour shadow minister for social solidarity said the government is paying for just a small fraction of the surcharge.
“In their speech regarding the budget, Ministers Tonio Fenech and Dolores Cristina stated that the number of families which would receive benefits on energy consumption needed to be increased through the introduction of the voucher scheme.”
She said that certain applicants are still waiting for their vouchers, despite being granted the exemption.
Coleiro Preca said the Department for Social Security had also fallen behind terribly in the processing of applications for the exemption and subsequently in the issuing of the vouchers, laying blame on those politically responsible for introducing systems and measures without fulfilling them.
The MLP spokesperson also said the government should make sure it addresses the crisis faced by employees of the Department for Social Services and for persons eligible for the energy benefits, and ensure with immediate effect that those who do not have the means to pay this exaggerated surcharge amount are aided before it is too late.



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