You are right to say that the government seems to be prolonging the water and electricity tariffs issue until after the Christmas season (TMID, 9 December).

It seems clear to me that with the GRTU protesting that people are spending less and that this Yuletide more people will eat at home rather than spend money in restaurants, the government is doing its best to postpone the issue. Then, bang in the middle of January, I am sure that a solution will be found.

The problem remains that people are still saving up the little that is left to pay for their first hefty energy bill, when this finally arrives. Considering that the government is insisting that the tariffs will be backdated to October, people know that they will have to pay a lot of money to cover their energy expenses.

What I cannot understand is that the government is doing all this when the price of oil in the international market is going down. In fact, it is now just one third of what it was only six months ago. Apparently, someone made the mistake of buying oil when it was so expensive, when it could be bought at a much cheaper cost now.

That is the price we have to pay for hedging. Sometimes it goes right, sometimes it goes wrong. And this time it went enormously wrong for us.

P. Gauci

Sliema