A number of families who are living on social benefits are still not being exempted from the water and electricity surcharge because the Social Security Department has not informed those who are eligible that they have to apply for the exemption, Labour Party spokesperson on social solidarity Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said yesterday.

Mrs Coleiro Preca referred to the 2007 budget speech in which the government announced that the number of people exempted from paying the surcharge would increase from 13,000 to 17,000.

She said the Department of Social Services had not informed those who they believed were eligible that they had to formally apply in order to be exempted. There were also a number of cases regarding people who had applied for the exemption but were still receiving water and electricity bills that included the surcharge.

Mrs Coleiro Preca said the government boasted that it was implementing measures because it was aware of people’s problems, but in practice it was continuing to let those who were in financial difficulties carry these unnecessary burdens.

She said this demonstrated that the government was not at all conscious of these problems.

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