ARMS Ltd has denied allegations made by a client who claimed that the utilities billing company had ignored an agreement for him to pay bills in arrears and negligently cut off his electricity supply.

The company filed a counter protest claiming that Jason Vella’s allegations were unfounded and that he had failed to abide by the said agreement.

The company said that in December 2014 Mr Vella owed it €7,668 in seven bills.  Seeing that Mr Vella had failed to pay these bills the company said it had no choice but to initiate arbitration proceedings.

An agreement was reached on three out of these seven bills but Mr Vella had failed to abide by the terms laid out in the same agreement, which expired in May, ARMS said. It claimed that Mr Vella still owed it part of the sum due for last year and had also failed to pay invoices issued recently.

The billing company denied seeking double payment and rebutted claims that Mr Vella had suffered damages as the electricity supply was restored on the same day. It said he was responsible to make sure he paid for the service and should not have let the situation come to this. It was unfair that ARMS was thrown in bad light over the case, the company said. It said it was discouraging Mr Vella from taking the case further and warned that it would pursue its legal rights.

The counter protest was signed by lawyers Stephanie Abela and Andy Ellul.