As Simon Busuttil said recently, the PN is renewing itself to once more persuade and inspire the Maltese. Renewal, however, is not rejection: We are proud of what has been achieved by our party. Last year, the electorate felt it wanted to give someone else the chance to govern, to see if they could do a better job than we were doing, if they could offer a better product than ours.

At first glance the Labour product appeared to be better, certainly packaged more attractively. Packaging rather than substance is more important for the present government and, in this, they have the advantage that many people are still giving them the benefit of the doubt.  This product is now being 'unpacked' and tested and all its inadequacies are being exposed. This is especially true for the energy sector which played such a major part in the electoral campaign. So many promises were made, so many assurances given by the PL. After a year and a half we can now make an assessment: the number of broken promises is staggering, and growing daily. The government is also displaying a surprising reticence, a reluctance to divulge even the most basic information.

One example: In July 2013, Minister Konrad Mizzi promised that the revision of the National Plan for Clean Energy would be published by September of that year. A year later, this plan remains unpublished. Some still imagine, however, that the minister is energetic and carries out all his promises.

The government is still boasting that it kept its promise of reducing electricity tariffs but this did not happen because of any new gas-fired power station, as was the promise, but because of the BWSC plant built by the previous government. Thanks to this plant, about a million euros a week are being saved from the fuel expenses. This was the benefit of that power plant which the Labour Party had dubbed a "cancer factory".

Even here - in the reductions - there are failings. In one year, the government saved €52 million but only gave back €20 million! And, by the way, Heavy Fuel Oil is still being used, even though the Labour Party had promised to switch to diesel as soon as they were in government. What had been the biggest sin in our time has now become a bonus.

We must also not forget the promise that Enemalta would not be privatised. Has this been kept? Two-thirds of our electricity production has been privatised and is in the hands of private businesses. There are then two secret agreements reached by the government and still hidden. Transparency? What transparency? In spite of all this many still insist on continuing to give the government the benefit of the doubt.

The Nationalist Party, however, cannot and will not remain silent. We will continue to ask questions and seek answers to carry out our role as Opposition. Why is so much information hidden from the public? Those who are still giving the benefit of the doubt to the government should ask themselves whetherthey are happy that the government reaches agreements and signs contracts in their name without them knowing anything about what has been agreed and what commitments have been made on their behalf.

Enemalta workers also 'bought' the Labour product. Before the elections Joseph Muscat had solemnly promised that their take-home pay would remain untouched. It has become another addition to the long list of failed promises.

One promise the government is certainly keeping is that of bestowing favours, jobs and promotions to the chosen few, the closest friends. As an example, a call for applications for nine Executive Officers with Enemalta was issued but, in order to please the usual clique and avoid disgruntlement, they appointed 17. To make sure that certain privileged persons would be favoured, they did not ask for any qualifications except a 10-year seniority with the Corporation. It's not just the wife of Minister Mizzi who does well with this government.

The biggest collection of broken promises concerns the so-called "Energy Plan" announced with so much pomp before the elections. Almost no part of it has been respected. The Labour Party had, for example, assured us that they would be buying gas at a fixed price for 10 years. The reality is that they managed to get it only for five years, just as the Nationalist Party had predicted.

Before the elections people were also led to believe that we would have an onshore gas storage facility with 60,000 cubic metres capacity. What we will actually get is a huge ship, the size of three football pitches, permanently anchored at Marsaxlokk and with double the storage capacity.

The biggest broken promise regards, of course, the new power station itself. The rash but emphatic promise was that this would be built in two years. Everyone who expressed the slightest doubt was immediately attacked and ridiculed by the Labour propaganda machine. A large majority of the electorate believed the Labour promise but, as things turned out, it is now obvious that they were badly misled. The power station will not be ready by March 2015 and even the Prime Minister has now had to admit this, albeit indirectly and in his usual ambiguous way.

The project has been modified completely, corners cut, precautions ignored and drastic modifications carried out. Even so, it will not be finished on time and there is absolutely no indication when the new power station will start operating. This was presented as a solemn make-or-break promise by the Labour Party and Joseph Muscat himself assumed responsibility for its completion.

It is not enough for Government to state that it's keeping its word and will reduce electricity rates for businesses. How are these reductions going to be financed and justified? It was supposed to be the savings made through the new gas-fired power plant that allowed tariff reductions, so it is completely false of the government to claim that reductions were never tied to this. On behalf of the electorate, the Nationalist Opposition will continue to insist that the Government keeps its word regarding the energy plan and take responsibility for its evident failure.

George Pullicino is the PN's spokesman for the energy sector