The Office of Fair Competition said the refund procedure adopted by Liquigas to refund €5 to consumers who failed to produce a receipt of their deposit on gas cylinders was just.
In a statement yesterday morning, the OFC said it had carried out an investigation and found that the refund procedure adopted by Liquigas was not intended to hinder competition in the door-to-door distribution of gas cylinders.
The request for deposits and the refund systems have been in place since the seventies when Enemalta Corporation was responsible for the production and distribution of LPG gas cylinders. Over the years, the deposit charge changed.
For a certain period a deposit equivalent to €1.16 (Lm 0.50) was paid.
The OFC established that consumers were right to ask for a refund on gas cylinders if they wanted to return them to Liquigas and when consumers failed to present a receipt of their deposit, Liquigas had decided to pay them €5.
In conclusion, the statement said the OFC is continuing its investigations to examine the distribution process in the market.
When contacted, a spokesperson clarified that the door-to-door gas distribution system was being considered. This implies the issue of licences to distributors and territories.
“Ultimately, the aim of the Office for Fair Competition is to ensure and safeguard competition, and not the competitors,” he said.
Any decision taken so far does not prejudice any other decision which might be taken in the future on the same matter, he added.
On Monday morning, gas distributors handed a letter to the Prime Minister asking the authorities to honour an agreement giving them sole distribution rights according to pre-established territories.
They requested compensation if licences for the new supplier, Easygas, which was selling gas cylinders from fixed points are not withdrawn.
Asked why the GRTU was not present for the symbolic protest by gas distributors outside Castille, director-general Vince Farrugia said the issue was not just about gas cylinders but a human matter.
“We wanted to show their human face because these people have families and they have invested money,” Mr Farrugia said.
There were 31 distributors who employed 100 people but their living was threatened as the government was not honouring a contract it had signed with the distributors in 1992.
In comments he gave to this newspaper, Mr Farrugia added that the Malta Resources Authority, the regulator in the matter, was meeting gas cylinder suppliers Liquigas and Easygas to decide how to agree on the deposit system so that consumers will be able to exchange cylinders of the two suppliers.
Easygas was considering a revision of the €20 deposit on cylinders it was requesting, possibly to €5, according to Mr Farrugia, so that consumers can easily opt to buy gas cylinders from the supplier they wanted.
He said the OFC decision did not affect the market.
When contacted, a spokesperson from Liquigas, however, denied such a meeting was held.
Moreover, distributors were to agree on a single distribution system with the minister by the end of the month, Mr Farrugia said.