“I calculate that the pro-rata system being used, coupled with the fact that bills are now being based on actual smart readings every two months, will mean that residential/domestic account holders will forfeit approximately €2.5 million a year of eco-reductions and a further €2 million annually due to the usage of higher tariff brackets on specific bills. Both of these losses to consumers would not have applied if billing were made for their actual consumption recorded for a year.”
George Pullicino MP had made this claim earlier, but it seems that his claim fell on deaf ears.
Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Pullicino, a minister in the Gonzi government, explained how he had arrived at his conclusion which, so far, has not been denied.
He referred to what he said when Parliament was debating the Budget, some months ago. On that occasion, he pointed out that consumers will now be receiving actual bills, rather than the estimated ones they were receiving every two months – apart from the six-month bills.
Every person is allowed 1,750 units of electricity a year, hence 287 every two months.
The problem is that if a consumer uses more than he is allowed to use in accordance with the eco-reduction, he loses it and cannot make up for this loss in the next two-month phase.
This is a change from what used to be the case when bills were issued on a six-monthly actual, so consumers may actually be worse off as a result.
Mr Pullicino said he is eager for someone to disprove this contention but so far no one seems to have reacted.
Other countries do not do this, he said. In Italy, for instance, there is a process of annual adjustment by which losses in one period are balanced against the gains in another. That, in Mr Pullicino’s opinion, is a fairer way of treating consumers.