It had been in the offing for quite a while, but the news that the water and electricity surcharge has been nearly doubled from 50 per cent to 95 per cent was still shocking to many.

The government tried its best to play the political game of softening the blow by first speaking of a surcharge that could have gone up even further – to 115 per cent – and then, one day later, saying that it would subsidise the rate by a further 20 per cent.

But it does not change things much. That 20 per cent extra subsidisation on the part of the government will be paid up from our taxes anyway.

Still, there was not much that the government could have done in the prevailing circumstances. With the price of oil shooting up to new records every week – and with no light at the end of the tunnel in sight – it was pretty clear that there was no other option for the government to take.

The government has tried to mitigate the impact of such a hefty increase by stating that the 30,000 families who do not pay the surcharge or pay only a small part of it would still be benefiting from the special scheme that has been established for them. In this way, the people living mostly in need will not be affected at all.

Secondly, the capping on industry and hotels has also been left untouched, and this means that for them there will be no extra costs. This has been done to protect the economy as much as possible but, at the end of the day, it will be the government – read taxpayers – who will be paying up the difference.

Yet, for the majority of households, such a rise in their water and electricity bills will have an impact. The government has calculated that 82 per cent of households will be paying between e16 and e250 more every year, although the validity of such calculations is still to be determined.

One way of reducing the cost of energy is by consuming less and in this respect, the government should embark on a comprehensive campaign to inform people how they could save energy. Switching off appliances that are not in use – why keep water heaters switched on all day? – and not leaving others on stand-by is just one effective way of lowering costs.

Nobody expected such a swift rise in the price of oil over the past months. To think that in January 2005, the price of oil per barrel was $40 and now, three years later, it has surpassed the $140 barrier is something that nobody could have predicted. What is worse is that the price of oil is expected to continue moving upwards, and possibly jump over the $200 mark before the end of the year.

It is with this in mind that the government will be revising the whole system. It is clear that the surcharge scheme is no longer suitable in the circumstances, and therefore the government is working to revise the tariffs. This will be done over the summer season, and the new rates are to be announced sometime towards the end of September or early October.

While stating that this scenario is inevitable in the prevailing situation, on the other hand it must be said that the government must do a lot more in terms of investment in alternative sources of energy, a sector which has been given little attention over the past years.

Some will argue that alternative energy does not come cheaper than one based on fossil fuel, but at the end of the day use of other sources of power are also more beneficial in environment terms.