The Nationalist Party will take the government to court over the way in which people’s utility bills have been charged, PN leader Bernard Grech said on Monday evening.

Speaking at a party activity as the PN kicked off its Independence Day celebrations, Grech said that ensuring a better quality of life for people means ensuring that the country doesn’t have a government which “continues to rob us.”

“They took a man who stole a can of tuna to court, but the ministers who have been robbing the people of thousands through their utility bills still roam free,” Grech said in his speech.

He was referring to a court judgement earlier this year which found that a billing method used by Automated Revenue Management Services Ltd (ARMS) was in fact resulting in the illegal over-charging of consumers.

The case made waves, particularly as the issue of ARMS possibly overcharging people on their electricity bills has been in the news ever since this case was opened in 2017.

A National Audit Office report published at the end of last year found that a significant number of accounts which were analysed had discrepancies which meant that consumers across had been overcharged by €4.6 million because of the way ARMS was calculated electricity bills.

The report led to the Nationalist Party mounting a campaign calling on people to take their water and electricity bills to their headquarters as it sought to address how they were being calculated.  Around 2,000 people subsequently took their bills to the party’s headquarters.

The party had pledged throughout the last election campaign that it would refund those who had been affected by the over-charging, but has now gone a step further.

“We will take this matter to court: we want you to contact us, and we will also speak to those who have already contacted us.  We aren’t going to let you continue to be robbed.  We want you to get your money back,” Grech told the party faithful which had gathered at the party’s Siggiewi club to listen.

The PN leader said that the party will be launching a website where people can register for this court action, and party officials will be contacting those who had already gone to the party’s headquarters over the coming weeks.

“This is how the PN will help you get the quality of life you deserve back.  You deserve better, and the PN will be there and will remain there for you,” he said.

It was an emotional speech for Grech, as he was speaking just over 24 hours after the death of his father – John Grech – on Sunday.

He said however that he was compelled by his sense of duty – something which he had acquired from the teachings of his father – to speak to the party faithful on the occasion of the party’s celebrations of Independence Day.

Throughout his speech he also spoke about how the wise decisions of the country’s forefathers left a country which was able to move away from colonial occupiers and into sovereignty and the European Union – but how today the Labour government had led the country into problems ranging from high inflation, criminality, and ever increasing poverty.

Meanwhile, PN secretary general Michael Piccinino spoke about how many youths want to leave Malta to live abroad – quoting an EY survey published last year – and said that the Maltese people deserve a better quality of life, which is the theme for the party’s independence celebrations.

The meeting was also addressed by PN MPs Mark Anthony Sammut and Paula Mifsud Bonnici, with the former focusing on Malta’s energy issues and the ARMS overcharging scandal, and the latter focusing on the situation in St. Vincent de Paule.