Many households have received their water and electricity bills. Some have received two within a space of a few days. Many were shocked because although they knew that they would have had to pay more, they did not expect the increase to be so high; others took it in their stride and think that, after all that hype, the change was not that significant.

It is all a matter of perspective.

Yet, this past weekend, most people were quite angered with the matter-of-fact way that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced that the electricity tariff system will soon be revised to reflect the downward trend in the international price of oil.

This price has been going down since September, long before the new tariffs were announced, at a time when the financial crisis that hit first the United States and then rippled to other countries led to a drastic reduction in the cost of oil. The record price of $147 per barrel quickly started to fall and has now gone down to about one-third of what it was.

The government had said that the energy tariffs would have been revised if the price of oil went down to below $85 per barrel. That figure was reached well before Christmas, and yet the government kept mum as to whether it intended to keep its promise, in spite of pressure from the opposition and other quarters to speak up about its intentions.

It is only now – and this after the bills with the new tariffs have been sent and are being paid – that the government announced that the tariffs will be revised downwards.

Something must have gone wrong somewhere.

Thinking that the price of oil would have continued to go up, reserves were bought at a time when the price of oil was going up and reaching record levels almost every week. And so, for a time, the Maltese have had to pay or will pay for the oil that was bought at an exorbitant price.

The government has also been caught in a quandary for another reason. It postponed the sending out of the bills until after Christmas so as not to affect business at that time of the year, but then it ended up sending them up at a time when the price of oil continued to plummet.

To make matters worse, it had promised a revision of the tariffs when the price fell below $85 per barrel, but when the cost of oil did fall below that level, the energy bills were still not being sent because Christmas was still on its way.

Meanwhile, one must also consider the fact that the price of petrol and diesel went down in December, just before Christmas. The people are asking – why did this happen while the energy tariffs remained high?

The government should give a detailed explanation as to what has been going on in the past months. Otherwise people would be justified into thinking that they are being taken for a ride.

Many, in fact, are thinking that the government will be revising the tariffs as an election ploy, considering that the race for the European Parliament elections is gearing up. While this may not be the case – because, after all, the price of oil is going down and the people should on the whole benefit from reductions if it is being bought at cheaper rates than last year – one cannot blame the people for thinking on these lines.

And, while all this has been taking place, the 11 unions that have not accepted the tariffs as revised in November, continue to tell the people to postpone their payments until the end of the 45-day window they are entitled to.

They will be meeting the Malta Resources Authority later this week to clarify matters. Yet, with all the developments that have taken place, such a meeting has now become more or less obsolete.