Energy-saving light bulbs cost the princely sum of 50 pence each here in the UK. That is less than 50 cents, which still leaves some profit for the department stores. There is no reason why they should cost any more in Malta.

Are we, in expressing our pre-gratitude to the government for this anticipated generosity, that poor that we cannot afford them? Or is the government that magnanimous to hand out the equivalent of €5 to every family? I suspect that the labour and organizational costs of handing out free light bulbs will far outweigh the cost of the bulbs themselves.

Energy-saving bulbs are reaching the low price levels of the traditional tungsten bulbs, which will soon not be available in the EU. It is a shame that importers seem to be treating them as some rare and expensive commodity – and in so doing help obfuscate the deception that is being played out on us consumers that we will soon be receiving some extraordinary government largesse – and whose distribution costs may well be larger than the bulbs themselves.

Far better perhaps to have them for sale at cost price (around 50 euro cents each) at local stores and supermarkets. That would attract customers to supermarkets.

And if there were to be a “gold rush” (as seems to occur every week at Lidl), it is not only because our consumers have been so badly fleeced by our importers that anything for sale at European level prices seems like a “bargain”.

Paul Sant Cassia

Cambridge

UK