The last time we used this headline, it was to describe the direction taken by the government in the last budget to reduce the deficit which will in turn, hopefully, lead to reduction of public debt.

This, we said, was a good strategy. We knew it would be painful and we knew there would be austerity measures. These measures were not aimed at filling a huge financial hole, but were largely put in place to prevent Malta from sliding down the slippery slope that Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and others find themselves on. Now Enemalta is trying to balance its books.

Over a short period of about two years, we have seen the prices charged for electricity almost double. At first, the government tried to paint it out to be the increasing international price of oil. We were told that the corporation had even reduced its losses through overhead wires to put it in the leading pack as one of the most efficient grids in Europe. We were told that Enemalta had some brand new sophisticated substations that reduce waste.

What we were told was a bunch of lies. This newspaper has been actively following the financial crisis, and with it the fluctuation of the price of oil. While there have been occasions where the government has had to buy at inflated prices, there is no way that what we have bought as fuel can justify the increase in utility tariffs. It is quite clear, one does not have to be an engineer or a financial analyst to see that the government has silently been subsidising Enemalta through high bills.

We cannot boast about efficiency and top notch technology when boiler seven is one nut short of another ‘trip’. The boiler almost has cult status, people call in to our offices to ask if “Number seven has gone again”, every time there is a power cut.

Instead of changing with the times and slowly increasing water and electricity bills, this government in a ham-fisted manner, ignored the losses which were being racked up year after year under the tenure of Minister Austin Gatt.

Minister Gatt, who in the meantime presumes to lecture on family stability, then proceeds to implement new tariffs which are about as anti-family as anything else could be.

Then one fine day, the government woke up and realised that Enemalta could not continue to refinance its loans as it was never paying them off in the first place.

Enter the tax payer… While it is illegal for the government to subsidise services such as electricity, it is very clear that subsidisation has taken route in a devious manner – through over inflated bills. One wonders what the European Commission would find if it undertook an investigation to that effect. The government will of course argue that there is no one else to provide power, and this is why we welcome the laying down of an undersea cable. One just hopes that it will be a European company that will be operating the supply and payment system. One simply cannot trust Arms to fight their way out of a wet paper bag. And one simply cannot trust the government either because we know we are paying for inefficiencies, waste and bad oil-buying decisions.